# Summary

Modes

Edit mode: this is used to edit, re-size or rotate .eps files.
Stack mode: collects .eps files together to make a collage with a title, captions and legend.
Overlay mode: arranges .eps files together in arbitrary positions and sizes in order to generate composite graphs or graphs with insets. Also used to add page numbers to collages.
Create mode: makes free standing .eps files.
Transform mode: creates .pdf, .jpg, .tif, .pcx, .bmp files from .eps files.
Formatting commands: these introduce font changes, superscripts, subscripts, accented characters and plotting symbols into collage captions, titles or legends or into free standing .eps files.

Using Editps

Program Editps provides a simple yet powerful method for manipulating PostScript files that conform to the EPSF standard. Such files can be generated from SIMFIT but, for histology sections, scanned photographs, logos or bit maps, any standard image manipulation package can be used. If you do plan to mix SIMFIT graphs with histology sections or photographs, you should get your image manipulation program to output EPSF standard image files that are clipped to an aspect ratio of 3:4, 1:1 or 4:3, with accurate BoundingBoxes. Such files can be edited, stacked to create collages, overlayed to generate composite graphs, or transformed into other popular graphics file formats. In addition, PostScript files consisting of just text, plotting symbols and lines can be generated. Captions, titles and descriptive text can be added to collages, and page numbers or other textual details can be added to overlays.

Using Editps it is possible to take one or several PostScript files and create a new file in any size or orientation. This can then be printed on any printer, or incorporated into any document using any word processor, slide show program or document preparation system. However, the files supplied must conform to the EPSF standard and must have correct BoundingBoxes. All PostScript files generated by the SIMFIT package are consistent with this format. To use Editps successfully you must have the GSview/Ghostscript package installed on your PC, and SIMFIT must be configured to use it.

Note that the original .eps files you read into Editps for editing, stacking, overlaying or transforming are not altered in any way.

The EPSF standard

PostScript is a graphics language which is very convenient for scientific graphics, since it stores the graphical data in vector format. This means that the files are compact, they can be edited in a text editor, and they can be viewed or printed at any size and at the maximum resolution of the peripheral. PostScript files have the extension .ps, but those that only consist of one page and that conform to certain conventions have the extension .eps.

However, the most important feature of .eps files for the user is that they should have a BoundingBox specifying the dimensions of the graph or text. BoundingBoxes in .eps files are used by EDITPS to re-size, move, rotate, etc. Clearly, if the BoundingBox dimensions are incorrect, the graph will not be re-scaled correctly. So you should always use program GSview in the suppress-clip, show-BoundingBox mode, then you will be able to see the graph overlayed on the page size selected, but with the BoundingBox also displayed as a dotted rectangle. If the dotted rectangle does not surround a graph correctly, then re-name the file as a .ps file and use GSview to transform to .eps which will automatically add a correct BoundingBox to the resultant .eps file.

GSview can also be used to add a preview to the file if you need to see the graph as you prepare your document, or want to print at low resolution but, for the highest possible resolution, you should print the final version of your document using a PostScript printer if possible.

SIMFIT .eps files

PostScript files generated by the SIMFIT package not only conform to the EPSF standard, they also have a unique feature; they are written in a special structured manner which allows you to edit them in a text editor. This feature also allows EDITPS to edit text strings on graphs. Note that Editps will work perfectly with any SIMFIT PostScript file but not all the functions provided will work with arbitrary PostScript files.

PostScript octal codes

SIMFIT allows you to use all the characters in the standard fonts, not just the ones directly accessible from the keyboard, but to do this you have to resort to using the octal codes. These PostScript octal codes can be viewed at any time from the menus in Overlay mode or Create mode, which use GSview to display the SIMFIT document pscodes.ps. If you intend to create special effects or print all the characters and pictures in the standard fonts, you should print out a copy of the file pscodes.ps for reference, using GSview if you do not have a PostScript printer.

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