Re: [ferret_users] problem with pour quality Fprint output for ferret-6.9 but not ferret-6.8.4.2

[Billy Kessler <william.s.kessler@xxxxxxxx>]

Hi Lev - I've gotten used to this! I wrote a short script to edit the postscript out of Fprint; it doubles the line weights (in place). I run it automatically between Fprint and ps2pdf.

The script is pasted below, called fix-line-wt, run as:

Fprint ... -o ps_name.ps metafile.plt
~/ferret/fix-line-wt ps_name   ! omit ".ps"
ps2pdf ps_name.ps

In general it is easy to edit line weights in Fprint postscript, which is a plain-text file. These are always of the form "N.dddddd lw", so are easy to search for. For example, sometimes I want a very thick line; then I would manually edit "3.000000 lw" to say, "9.000000 lw".

Billy K
----------------------
# script to increase line weights of Ferret output
sed 's_3.000000 lw_6.000000 lw_g' < $1.ps >! foo; \mv foo $1.ps
sed 's_2.000000 lw_4.000000 lw_g' < $1.ps >! foo; \mv foo $1.ps
sed 's_1.000000 lw_2.000000 lw_g' < $1.ps >! foo; \mv foo $1.ps

> On May 4, 2016, at 10:01 AM, Ansley C. Manke <ansley.b.manke@xxxxxxxx> wrote:
> 
> Hi Lev,
> I'm not aware of anything that would have caused this. There has been development in the graphics side of Ferret as we implemented PyFerret graphics - which uses different underlying graphics libraries.  The changes that were made that affect both Ferret and PyFerret are really just in the drawing of axis lines, not in the text, but it's possible that some change in that work  caused what you're seeing.
> 
> We're planning a  Ferret and PyFerret release later this month.  We'll be encouraging everyone to install PyFerret if possible.  The improved line quality and text drawing are only some of the benefits to Ferret users in moving to PyFerret.  I've attached a plot from this PyFerret script, using our current PyFerret version.
> yes? set text/font=serif
> yes? use etopo20
> yes? ppl conset 0.25
> yes? ppl shakey 1, 1, 0.2, 0, 3, 9
> yes? shade rose
> yes? go land 1
> yes? frame/file=pyferret.pdf
> Ansley
> 
> On 5/3/2016 6:12 PM, Lev Tarasov wrote:
>> Hi all; 
>>     Is there a way to fix the lousy Fprint quality of ferret-6.96 with its varying darkness of labels? 
>> 
>> Attached are two plots created with identical scripts, 
>> using: 
>> ferret-6.8.4.2 : fer8.4.pdf 
>> ferret-6.96 : fer96.pdf 
>> 
>> The former looks fine, the latter is not publishable. 
>> 
>> THe script is: 
>> use etopo20 
>> ppl conset 0.25 
>> ppl shakey 1, 1, 0.2, 0, 3, 9 
>> set mode meta 
>> shade rose; go land 1 
>> can mode meta 
>> shade rose; go land 1 
>> can mode meta 
>> effectively spawn  Fprint -o $1.ps -l cps metafile.plt 
>> 
>> How can I fix this so that I can use the newer ferret versions? 
>> 
>> Cheers, 
>> 
>> Lev 
>> 
>> Lev Tarasov -   Dept of Physics and Physical Oceanography, 
>>         Memorial University of Newfoundland. 
>>                 email: lev@xxxxxx 
>>                 http://www.physics.mun.ca/~lev/ 
>>         Tel (709)-864-2675 
>>         Fax (709)-864-8739
> 
> <pyferret.pdf>

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
William S. Kessler
NOAA / Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory
7600 Sand Point Way NE
Seattle WA 98115 USA

william.s.kessler@xxxxxxxx
Tel: +1 206-526-6221
Fax: +1 206-526-6744
Web: http://faculty.washington.edu/kessler/