[R] problems with submitting an eps-file created in R

[Prof Brian Ripley]

On Fri, 22 Jul 2005, Christian Bieli wrote:

> Dear all
>
> I've got some problems submitting a manuscript, because I can't manage
> creating the favourable eps-file of a graph created in R. The journal's
> graphic requirements are as followed:
> format: eps
> width: max. 6 inches
> resolution: min. 1000 dpi

EPS files do not normally have a resolution.

> supported fonts: Arial, Courier, Helvetica, Symbol, Times, Charcoal,
> Chicago, Geneva, Georgia, Monaco, Zapf, New York

Most of those are Windows fonts, and not accurately defined.

My guess is that the checkers are not properly aware of Adobe's standards 
and want something other than an EPS file.

> Itried to ways of getting appropriate file:
>
> 1.Creating eps-file in R by drawing into a x11-device and then:
> /dev.copy2eps(file = "file.eps", onefile = TRUE, paper = "a4", family =
> "Helvetica",  pointsize=1, print.it = FALSE,  fonts = "Helvetica")
>
> /2. Generating a postscript-file in R with /

Should be onefile=FALSE.

> //postscript(file = "file.ps", onefile = TRUE, paper = "a4", family =
> "Helvetica", width = 6, height = 2.2, pointsize=1, print.it = FALSE,
> fonts = "Helvetica")/
> an trying to convert it in ghostview.
>
> Neither approach brought the favoured result. The error message I got
> from the quality checking program was :
>
> Warning: Document is Missing Non-Standard Font
>
> One or more non-standard fonts used in this image is not embedded. 
> Standard fonts are: Arial, Courier, Helvetica, Symbol, Times, Charcoal, 
> Chicago, Geneva, Georgia, Monaco, Zapf, New York.
>
> In order to repair this problem, save your document with fonts embedded.
>
> Error: Missing Fonts
>
> Challenge
> One or more linked or used fonts cannot be found. This is caused by DigitalExpert not being able to locate fonts on your system. All fonts used in the document must be active or have a defined and valid path so that DigitalExpert can find them.
>
> Solution
> The only way to repair this problem is to make the fonts available to DigitalExpert, and then reprocess the files. In order to make fonts active, either activate them using a font management program, or move them into the system:fonts folder.
>
>

> 1. Obviously there's a font problem. Helvetica IS installed in my OS
> (windows 2000). Why "DigitalExpert" does not recognize the "Helvetica"
> font as a standard font? I thought the fonts option would embed the
> specified font in the file. Am I right or is there another way to embed
> fonts?

No, the help file explicitly says that it is your responsibility.
EPS files do not normally have fonts embedded, but they do have DSC marks 
telling the enclosing application to do so.

> 2. Is there a way to set up the resolution of the created ps/eps-file in
> R (until now I did the settings in ghostview)?

EPS files do not have a resolution.

> 3. I did not find particulars about the pointsize option. What is the
> effect of changing the pointsize value?

It's on the help page.

-- 
Brian D. Ripley,                  ripley at stats.ox.ac.uk
Professor of Applied Statistics,  http://www.stats.ox.ac.uk/~ripley/
University of Oxford,             Tel:  +44 1865 272861 (self)
1 South Parks Road,                     +44 1865 272866 (PA)
Oxford OX1 3TG, UK                Fax:  +44 1865 272595