Re: st: high-DPI eps or emf files

[Friedrich Huebler <fhuebler@gmail.com>]

Sergiy,

Thank you for the clarification and for having mentioned the article.
The Ghostscript workaround to control the size of a PNG image was
suggested by Stata tech support in 2005, before the width() and
height() options were added to -graph export- when exporting to PNG.
With Stata 9.1 this workaround became obsolete. The only benefit of
Ghostscript is now that it can create antialiased PNG images. I will
edit the article to make this clearer.

Friedrich

On Mon, Feb 3, 2014 at 10:46 PM, Sergiy Radyakin <serjradyakin@gmail.com> wrote:
> On Mon, Feb 3, 2014 at 6:58 PM, Friedrich Huebler <fhuebler@gmail.com> wrote:
>> Laszlo, I am unable to reproduce your problem. How are you adding the
>> exported EMF file to your Word document? Could the problem be due to
>> your coauthor's display settings?
>>
>> Sergiy mentioned an article by me and wrote that it "apparently quotes
>> a method recommended by StataCorp". To my knowledge StataCorp has not
>> stated its opinion (positive or negative) on any of the methods that I
>> described. When I wrote the article in April 2005 it was not possible
>
> Friedrich, perhaps I misread the following: "The alternative method to
> create PNG files was suggested to me by Stata technical support:....."
> in your article. Anyhow, whether this is your own or somebody else's
> advice - it is very useful. Thank you for taking time to write it down
> and put online.
> Best, Sergiy Radyakin
>
>> to specify the size of an exported PNG graph with Stata. This option
>> was added in Stata 9.1, released in September 2005 (see -help
>> whatsnew9-). My article is still useful, even with Stata 13, because
>> it shows how antialiased PNG graphs can be created with the help of
>> Ghostscript.
>
>
>
>>
>> Friedrich
>>
>> On Mon, Feb 3, 2014 at 6:10 PM, László Sándor <sandorl@gmail.com> wrote:
>>> Thanks, Sergiy, this was very helpful.
>>>
>>> The blurry issue happens on a coauthor's PC, and I won't bother him
>>> for a screenshot. In any case, I found some references about poor
>>> behavior with eps or emf:
>>> http://forums.adobe.com/message/2002708
>>> http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1422949/emf-with-forced-antialiasing
>>>
>>> So maybe I will try PDF, now available even under Stata for Windows.
>>> But why would that be better, I am not sure. And of course, EMF graphs
>>> could still be edited later one, while PDFs could not be. I am amazed
>>> that the graphics drivers for Windows formats are so bad on Windows.
>>> (OK, eps is not a Windows format, of course.)
>>>
>>> Still, thanks a lot!
>>>
>>> Laszlo
>>>
>>> On Mon, Feb 3, 2014 at 3:34 PM, Sergiy Radyakin <serjradyakin@gmail.com> wrote:
>>>>
>>>> Laszlo,
>>>> wmf file is using a predefined logical coordinates which nominally map
>>>> to about 22 and 3/4 inches (32768*1/1440). Vector files are commands
>>>> (programs) for the executor on how to draw them. Different executors
>>>> may decide to draw them with a different degree of tolerance, or
>>>> interpret the commands (and distances) any way they like. That is
>>>> controlled by the mapping mode, and there is at least half a dozen of
>>>> those.
>>>>
>>>> I suggest you try a different "player". E.g. if you currently embed a
>>>> graph into Word, try to visualize the file in e.g. IrfanView, and  see
>>>> whether it is still blurry. If necessary, convert to PNG with
>>>> IrfanView.
>>>>
>>>> You can specify "resolution" in emf files. That's because there you
>>>> can embed pictures, and hence the whole graph can be represented as
>>>> one huge embedded picture in the EMF. Usually one can identify it from
>>>> the file size it skyrockets from a few kb to a few mb with this. I
>>>> don't think Stata will allow you doing this. IrfanView will save an
>>>> image as EMF.
>>>>
>>>> This older article by Friedrich Huebler apparently quotes a method
>>>> recommended by StataCorp:
>>>> http://huebler.blogspot.com/2005/04/creating-png-images-with-stata.html
>>>>
>>>> I'd go with a high resolution PNG, which I can later rescale with
>>>> IrfanView (select the slowest subsampling method, nowadays it takes
>>>> <1sec for any graph anyways, but the quality varies substantially).
>>>>
>>>> Finally, blurry look on the screen doesn't automatically mean blurry
>>>> printing. Try it out.
>>>>
>>>> How blurry is blurry? Can you share the a) original emf/wmf file; and
>>>> b) document with embedded blurry graph.
>>>>
>>>> Best, Sergiy Radyakin
>>>>
>>>> On Mon, Feb 3, 2014 at 2:16 PM, László Sándor <sandorl@gmail.com> wrote:
>>>> > Hi,
>>>> >
>>>> > I am mostly using Stata 13.1 MP for mac, but if I need to generate emf
>>>> > files, then of course this is about Stata 13.1 MP for Windows.
>>>> >
>>>> > I have the problem of eps or emf files generated with -graph export-
>>>> > do not seem high-resolution ("are blurry") in documents later on. I am
>>>> > no expert on these formats, but this sounds strange for vector
>>>> > graphics formats. Is the size of the image too small, then, and other
>>>> > apps magnify these file formats incorrectly? Can this is be fixed in
>>>> > Stata?
>>>> >
>>>> > I found this note, if it is relevant:
>>>> > http://stackoverflow.com/questions/2553300/dpi-for-emf-files
>>>> >
>>>> > Or is the following the only solution, really? A manual hack?
>>>> > http://stackoverflow.com/questions/15388048/change-resolution-of-emf-image-files-to-prevent-quality-loss-in-powerpoint
>>>> >
>>>> > If you have any experience with this, your thoughts would be more than welcome.
>>>> >
>>>> > Thanks,
>>>> >
>>>> > Laszlo

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