Simple and advanced Simfit graphics options

The simple graphics procedure is designed to allow you only a few elementary editing possibilities before getting on with your analysis. If you want professional quality graphics harcopy choose [PS] and save .eps files, as these can be used retrospectively to create hardcopy in any format, e.g., jpg, png, pdf, svg, or xps. Otherwise choose [Windows] and print, copy to clipboard, or save in Windows type hardcopy, such as the enhanced metafile format (.emf).

Transferring from simple to advanced graphics

If you press the [Advanced] button in simple graphics, the data can be transferred directly into Simplot, where you will have access to extensive editing facilities. However, as this may prove too distracting, you can also copy the data into ASCII text coordinate files to be added to your graph plotting archive for retrospective use.

Archiving data sets for retrospective plotting

Each time you save a data set, the filename can be added to your archive of recent graphics project files. This makes it very easy to create library files retrospectively, or to use your project archive interactively with program Simplot.

Saving ASCII text coordinate files for Simplot

These are created so you can postpone the phase of creating special plots. You may want many plots overlayed, variable size symbols and line thicknesses, alternative fonts, error bars, arrows, insets, information panels, extra text, etc. If so, do not edit the graph now but save coordinate files for the data of interest. Use Maklib to group these together as a library file, or use your project archive to re-create the plot later in Simplot. Do not save curve fitting data since Simplot can use data files and ignore the extra column of weights, but you should save best-fit-curve-files from the displays or (if you forget) use the best fit parameters with Makdat. To get error bars, take the curve fitting type data file with all replicates and use program Editfl to generate a file with means and 95% confidence limits or - a chosen no. of sample standard deviations, or do this interactively using Simplot. To use the Greek alphabet, maths symbols, super-scripts and sub-scripts, you alter keys associated with the text strings. PostScript users can also include pointing hands, bullets, scissors using ZapfDingbats or ISOLatin1 accented characters.

Advice for PostScript and LaTeX users

Note that LaTeX and most word processing programs can import Simfit PostScript files into documents as these are in the encapsulated Postscript format (i.e., *.eps).

By changing offsets (extra margins) and scaling (stretching) of axes you can make the plot any size and place it anywhere on the printed page. However, it is best to save default size graphs then use program Editps to re-size, re-plot, make collages, etc.

There is no need to install Ghostscript or Gsview as you can still use all the Simfit PostScript features but use a PDF viewer such as SumatraPDF or Adobe Acrobat Reader to view or print Simfit pdf files.

PostScript configuration

Each time you successfully save a *.eps file the settings are written to a configuration file in the ...ProgramData\Simfit\user\cfg folder called w_ps.cfg. This is then read for default settings each time PostScript graphics are used. Do not prevent Simfit from over-writing w_ps.cfg by making it read-only, but you can store special .cfg files to install your frequently used settings. To restore the PostScript defaults just delete the w_ps.cfg file.

Setting line width

The global line width used by the Windows graphics is the first item in w_ps.cfg, while the PostScript global line width is the third item. These are different because Windows line width, as set from the Simfit Windows hardcopy editing control, is in units of pixels which are not device independent, while PostScript line widths are in scaled PostScript units which are device independent. The relative line widths are the same.

Printing directly from the Windows control

This allows you too set the percentage of the printer width to be used for the hardcopy, and also the printed line width which will depend on the global line width set in w_ps.cfg, and the printer dpi. The scaling factor for such hardcopy can be determined by experiment and will depend critically on the global line width selected by the Simfit Windows hardcopy control displayed on all Simfit graphics.