how to print

[rouxdenis]

Bonjour
I don't have any print item in file menu (WinFig4.x only). 
(by now I print via export EPS to latex process like LyX)
any ideas ?
d'avance merci

[Paul]

I have the same problem. Just downloaded WinFIG44 and there is no "print" item in the file menu.
I have another problem with WinFIG3. It just prints blank sheets. I have in the past managed to print with it,
but recently reisntalled evenything to get rid of a virus, and now it won't print.
I had an issue earlier too: Whne it did print, lines of width 1 did not show up. Only width 2 or more.

Do I need to install Ghostscript? I tired that once before too, without success.
I use windows, and Ghostscript instructions use Unix terminology, which I couldn't relate to the PC.

[Paul]

I succeeded in installing Ghostscript from here

http://code.google.com/p/ghostscript/downloads/list?q=label:Featured

The file for Windows to download is  gs871w32.exe and it installs fine

Then export to .jpeg works, but export to .gif does not (creates an empty file)

Export to .pdf creates a file that Adobe reader 9 will not open. Says the file is corrupt.

I can print the .jpeg file: Only problem now is - scaling is a nightmare.

Instead of keeping the page size (A4) the drawing is expanded to fill the page.
For example, a single . "period" becomes an 8" diameter black disc.

To stop this, you can put a rectangle around the A4 outline, so the drawing size is now the page size.
Unfortunately, when printing the resulting .jpeg, something puts a 0.25" borser all around, so the result is still shrunk and not real size.

A drawing program must be capable of printing drawings in exact real size. I hope to use WinFIG to produce a paper template for a piece-part, and I will stock the template to a sheet of material and then cut round it. I also hope to use WinFIG to draw printed circuit patterns, and then print them real size on a transparency for photo etching. However, I there seem to be a lot of sclaing issues to achieve real size.

Can anybody share their progress on this matter?

[Andreas]

Hi,  there is no built-in print function, but that is on purpose. The best results are obtained from exporting a PostScript file (or Latex or any other) and print that PS file via GhostScript. GhostScript has a render engine that is specialized for perfect printing quality, whereas WinFIG also has to consider render speed.

Exporting to bitmap files such as JPEG or PNG uses GhostScript. The tool chain is like this:

WinFIG creats FIG -> fig2dev creates PS -> GhostScript creates JPG

But since GIF is a proprietary format it is not supported by GhostScript. Therefore fig2dev cannot use GhostScript for that. Instead it calls an external tool named ppmtogif. This is also written in the FAQ. ppmtogif is part of the Netpbm project, which also provides Windows binaries. Check here. But I would actually recommend not using GIF any longer. It has been superseded by PNG.

If PDF export is not working, first check if the files have zero length. Try calling fig2dev on the command line like that:

fig2dev -L pdf inputfile.fig outputfile.pdf

It will display additional error messages. Just like for creating bitmaps, creating PDFs is done like this:
WinFIG creats FIG -> fig2dev creates PS -> GhostScript creates PDF

It's likely the GhostScript call has failed.

I did not really understand the problem regarding the JPEG printing. Is the JPEG created ok? If so, it would be up to your image viewer to print it correctly with the right scale. However, I could again suggest using PNG, because it's loss-less. JPEG in contrast is not loss-less and that is good for photographic images, because it decreases file sizes a lot, but not for schematic drawings, because lines get blurred.