Re: printing figures with development version

[Ben Abbott]

On Apr 2, 2009, at 5:18 AM, Ben Abbott wrote:

> On Apr 1, 2009, at 11:32 PM, Shai Ayal wrote:
>
> > On Thu, Apr 2, 2009 at 2:21 AM, Ben Abbott <address@hidden> wrote:
> > > On Apr 1, 2009, at 5:16 PM, Rik wrote:
> > >
> > > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> > > > >
> > > > > Subject:
> > > > > Re: printing figures with development version
> > > > > From:
> > > > > Ben Abbott <address@hidden>
> > > > > Date:
> > > > > Sat, 28 Mar 2009 13:38:38 -0400
> > > > > To:
> > > > > "John W. Eaton" <address@hidden>
> > > > >
> > > > > To:
> > > > > "John W. Eaton" <address@hidden>
> > > > > CC:
> > > > > address@hidden
> > > > >
> > > > > On Mar 28, 2009, at 12:17 PM, John W. Eaton wrote:
> > > > >
> > > > > > On 27-Mar-2009, Ben Abbott wrote:
> > > > > >
> > > > > > | What you see is intended. You'll need to adjust the figure's  
> > > > > > paper
> > > > > > properties. Specifically, "papersize" and "paperpositon"
> > > > > > |
> > > > > > | If you'd like an 6.4in x 4.8in eps file
> > > > > > |
> > > > > > | figure (1)
> > > > > > | clf
> > > > > > | plot (randn (50, 1))
> > > > > > | set (gcf, "paperunits", "inches"); # the default is "inches"
> > > > > > | paper_size = [6.4, 4.8];
> > > > > > | set (gcf, "papersize", paper_size)
> > > > > > | set (gcf, "papertype", "<custom>")
> > > > > > | set (gcf, "paperposition", [0, 0, paper_size])
> > > > > > | print (gcf, strcat ("figtest", version, ".eps"), "-depsc")
> > > > > > |
> > > > > > | This will be much simpler once the all listeners for these
> > > > > > properties are in place.
> > > > > >
> > > > > > If I print to a .eps file, I expect that the bounding box of the
> > > > > > figure will be fairly tight around the figure so that it may be
> > > > > > included directly in another document without a lot of extra
> > > > > > whitespace surrounding it.  I think that is most useful.  I  
> > > > > > also don't
> > > > > > expect to have to fiddle with paper properties to make that  
> > > > > > happen
> > > > > > (how would I know that 6.4x4.8 inches are good values?).
> > > > > >
> > > > > > Earlier versions of Octave did not add extra whitespace around  
> > > > > > the
> > > > > > figure, so I think we will see a lot of complaints about this  
> > > > > > change
> > > > > > if it escapes into a stable version.
> > > > > >
> > > > > > What is the motivation for the change?  Is there something good  
> > > > > > about
> > > > > > this design choice that I'm missing?  If the change is purely for
> > > > > > Matlab compatibility, then I think this is one of those things  
> > > > > > that we
> > > > > > should not copy.
> > > > > >
> > > > > > jwe
> > > > >
> > > > >
> > > > > The current implementation produces compatible behavior ... except
> > > > > that the BoundingBox defined by gnuplot is not tight, and the one
> > > > > produced by Matlab is.
> > > > >
> > > > > The current implementation may be modified to obtain the desired
> > > > > result by changing the papersize for the eps output to ...
> > > > >
> > > > >  papersize = paperposition + [50, 50, 100, 100]/72;
> > > > >
> > > > > Where the paperunits are implied to be "inches". The 50pt border  
> > > > > is a
> > > > > gnuplot feature.
> > > > >
> > > > > I'll prepare a changeset.
> > > > >
> > > > > Ben
> > > > Per John's observation, I think this will generate a lot of  
> > > > complaints
> > > > from people used to the old style.
> > > >
> > > > Of more immediate concern to me, there are 22 figures in the Octave
> > > > documentation that are auto-generated by Octave code.  The output  
> > > > format
> > > > is png for the HTML documentation and pdf for the pdf documentation
> > > > (Duh!).  Under the old code these figures slipped into the text  
> > > > nicely
> > > > but they now have about 1/3 of a blank page above and below  
> > > > them.  If it
> > > > is certain that this is the new format for the print command I will
> > > > re-code the figure generation scripts to include all of the
> > > > papersize-setting commands above.  If there is an option to flip
> > > > Matlab-compatability on or off I would prefer to use that and not  
> > > > change
> > > > the scripts.
> > > >
> > > > Cheers,
> > > > Rik
> > >
> > > Rik,
> > >
> > > I certainly get all the credit for this problem. I was focused on  
> > > the goal
> > > of compatibility with Matlab and didn't consider the documentation.
> > >
> > > In any event, I think the best solution would be one that is  
> > > compatible with
> > > Matlab, and is simple to implement.
> > >
> > > My first thought was to run the lines below prior to producing the  
> > > figures
> > > for the documentation.
> > >
> > >       image_size = [6.4, 4.8]; % in inches
> > >       border = 0; % For postscript use 50/72
> > >       set (0, "defaultfigurepapertype", "<custom>")
> > >       set (0, "defaultfigurepapersize", image_size + 2*border)
> > >       set (0, "defaultfigurepaperposition", [border, border,  
> > > image_size])
> > >
> > > This *should* produce pdf files at 6.4x4.8 inches.
> > >
> > > Unfortunately, these defaults are not passed onto the figures :-(
> > >
> > > Even so, as the defaults not set for the figure is a bug, I  
> > > recommend this
> > > solution.
> > >
> > > Rik, do you know enough c++ to take care of setting the figure's  
> > > default
> > > properities? (I don't).
> >
> > you would have to change the following 2 functions in src/ 
> > graphics.cc:
> > default_figure_papersize
> > default_figure_paperposition
> >
> > also, in src/graphics.h.in, you would have to change the line which  
> > has:
> > radio_property papertype , "{usletter}|uslegal|a0|a1|a ..."
> > and move the curly brackets to surround <custom> instead of  
> > {usletter}
> >
> > Shai
>
> Hi Shai,
>
> opps, I wasn't clear.
>
> I don't want to change the defaults for all octave sessions, only  
> for the one that is running.
>
> For example, the default axes fontsize can be set from the command  
> line by ...
>
>         set (0, "defaultaxesfontsize", 18)
>
> Then new axes will then have the tick labels with size 18pt. For  
> example ...
>
> octave:1> plot (1:10)
> octave:2> get (gca, "fontsize")
> ans =  12
> octave:3> set (0, "defaultaxesfontsize", 18)
> octave:4> figure
> octave:5> plot (1:10)
> octave:6> get (gca, "fontsize")
> ans =  18
>
> Ben

Shai, Rik, All ...

I should be more suspicious of late night programming ... after a  
nights sleep and my coffee, I am unable to reproduce my trouble with  
the default today.

Rik,

If you place the lines below in a startup script ... say startup.m

        image_size = [6.4, 4.8]; % in inches
        border = 0; % For postscript use 50/72
        set (0, "defaultfigurepapertype", "<custom>")
        set (0, "defaultfigurepapersize", image_size + 2*border)
        set (0, "defaultfigurepaperposition", [border, border, image_size])

And then start octave using ...

        octave --norc --persist startup.m

Those default figure properties will be in effect, and any pdf's  
generated will be 6.4x4.8 inches.

(sigh) ... For a sanity check, I'll spend some time trying to  
reproduce my difficulties.

Ben