# Stack mode

Stacking one or more .eps files to create collages

To use this option you supply either individual files or else a library file with the names of all the files required for the collage. Then the number of columns required is chosen and the collage is viewed, copied to a file or printed. Text added to the graph will be ragged right justified with mutiple spaces suppressed and at a width determined by the collage width. Line breaks can be forced if that is required, e.g. for tabbing.

The type of files required
This option works best with a set of SIMFIT PostScript files that all have the default portrait style and the same y:x aspect ratio, and where they have all been clipped to the same aspect ratio. If you have .eps files that have been clipped incorrectly, differentially scaled, saved in landscape orientation, saved in several different aspect ratios, or prepared from another application, there could be complications. Editps will attempt to re-scale and re-position any .eps files supplied so that plots fit into constant width windows, but this will not always give a sensible result with files that are not in portrait orientation with identical 3:4, 1:1 or 4:3 aspect ratios.

Clipping, aspect ratios and collage windows
When you save a graph from program Simplot you can choose to clip to 3:4 (horizontal), 1:1 (square) or 4:3 (vertical) format and, to prepare a collage, the best results will be achieved when all graphs have the same aspect ratios and clipping frames. For maximum versatility, however, you can alter the default windows used for stacking to correspond with the desired aspect ratio. The way this works is that the horizontal dimensions of the collage windows will be the same, but the vertical dimension will vary for the alternative aspect ratios.

To make an arbitrary collage with .eps files of any shape, you should use Editps in Overlay mode, then add any title and text in Stack mode (with 1 file).

Adding figure captions

If a sub-figure has an associated cation then it will be shown under the plot. The default captions are blank but you can choose default options like Fig.1, Fig. 2, etc. or set the captions individually. Note that you can input special prefixes to generate captions like Example A, Example B and so on, or you can suppress all captions.

If the captions on all sub-figures in a row are suppressed, then the row of graphs between that row and the next one will be moved closer together, which is desirable with large numbers of files. Of course, the captions must not violate the rules of PostScript. This means that if you want Fig. 1(a, Fig. 1(b or similar, with unbalanced parentheses, you have to use Fig. 1\(a, Fig. 1\(b, etc.

The figure captions can include text formatting commands but must not contain incorrect PostScript character strings.

Adding a collage title

You can use an edit box to create a collage title which can have multiple lines if required. If you leave any title line blank then that title line will be suppressed, but any non-blank title lines will be printed. As with the captions you have to obey PostScript rules about unbalanced parentheses, but text formatting commands can be used.

Adding text

You can type in any text which will be ragged right justified and printed underneath the collage. Muliple spaces will be ignored as will your own line breaks. This text can use text formatting commands which are explained in the section on using Editps in Create mode and summarised in the section about formatting commands. Note that, in order to include formatting commands to change characters within words without introducing interword spaces, you must use parentheses to indicate literal strings, e.g. {ma}{ntilde}{ana}{ } in sentence in Spanish.

Collage dimensions

You can alter the left hand margin and top of the paper position to make your collage any size you want. The re-scaling parameter only changes the overall size of the collage, not the position of the top and left hand margin. If you make a collage that is too large to fit on the default paper size (A4), e.g. by requesting more than 3 columns, you will not be able to see all the collage in Gsview/Ghostscript. The remedy is to shrink the collage to half size, say, by setting the overall scaling factor to 0.5, say.

Centralising
If the number of files to be plotted does not fill out the bottom row of the collage, you can choose to centralise the files in the last row, or they can be printed in left-justified mode.

Landscape collages

To create a landscape collage, just make a portrait file and use editps in Edit mode to rotate and translate as required.

Adding page numbers to collages
If a collage file that has been created by Editps is read into Editps and the option to overlay is selected, then page numbers or any arbitrary text can be added to the collage by creating an extra text file interactively.

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