Re: [ferret_users] Publication quality image export question

[Paul Young <Paul.J.Young@xxxxxxxx>]

Hi Ilias,

For publication quality plots, I'd go with a postscript/encapsulated  
postscript file. You can produce these from the *.plt files that  
ferret produces using the "Fprint" utility from the command line. E.g.

$ Fprint -p $ORIENTATION -o $OUTFILE metafile.plt

where $ORIENTATION = portrait or landscape, and $OUTFILE is the  
desired name for your postscript file (with the .ps extension). Some  
users make changes to the plot (titles, line thickness, plot  
arrangement etc) using external programs such as Adobe Illustrator  
(search the archives for more on this). Using postscript (over gif,  
jpeg etc) means that you can make edits to line thickness etc that  
would not be possible with jpeg, gif or png, and really is the best  
option for publication.

....If you want to save the file as a gif, jpeg, png etc to save  
space, then convert from the postscript with either use a program like  
Illustrator (the Save for web, or Save for Office (png) option), or  
the free command line tool ImageMagick (http://www.imagemagick.org/script/index.php 
). You can control the resolution, along with many other attributes,  
easily with the latter.

Hope this helps,

Paul


On Mar 10, 2010, at 8:26 AM, Ilias Koen wrote:

> Good morning,
>    I am a new ferret user and I am attempting to export a series of  
> publication quality graphics.
>
>    Do you know how if it's possible to output GIFs at 300dpi  
> resolution or at a pixel size that can pull publication for ex  
> 4000x4000 pixels? From our understanding the .GIF export is  
> connected to the screen resolution, or there is a maximum resolution  
> that ferret cannot export bitmap graphics above that limit. We  
> haven't found any other clear documentation on the .GIF export  
> function for ferret other than the following http://ferret.pmel.noaa.gov/Ferret/faq/controlling-the-size-of-gif-output 
>  Any tips or hints on practices people have performed in the past  
> would be greatly appreciated especially for publication quality  
> graphics export.
>
> The other command option "set mode metafile" produces a PLT file  
> that is pretty large, we're wondering if there's good method to use  
> less space per image.
>
> Are there any other methods to export graphics via ferret other than  
> the two mentioned above ?
>
> Thanks Ilias Koen.