[R] r under linux: creating high quality bmp's for win users

[Mike Prager]

Christoph Lehmann wrote:

>I produce graphics with R under linux, but my collaborators often use 
>windows and cannot import eps pics e.g. in msword
>
>what is the standard way to get e.g. bmp's with the same quality as 
>eps.  going the way: creating eps, convert eps2bmp using 'convert' doesn't 
>yield good enough bmp's

It is impossible to get BMPs with same quality as EPS, as the latter is 
mainly a vector format, so it scales perfectly.  It also uses hardware 
(PostScript) scalable fonts.

The simplest way to meet this need might be to ask your collaborators to 
either update or explore their copies of MS Word.  The version I am using 
(MS Word 2002 SP3) not only imports and prints EPS files correctly, it adds 
previews so they can be seen while editing. Although EPS support has varied 
among Word versions, it seems to be getting better in recent years.

Slightly off-topic:  The Windows metafile formats are native Windows vector 
graphics, sometimes recommended as substitutes for EPS.  In my experience, 
they suffer two problems: (1) They are not portable across platforms; and 
(2) the way they choose fonts is machine-specific, which can cause some 
very annoying problems.


-- 
Michael Prager, Ph.D.
Population Dynamics Team, NMFS SE Fisheries Science Center
NOAA Center for Coastal Fisheries and Habitat Research
Beaufort, North Carolina  28516
http://shrimp.ccfhrb.noaa.gov/~mprager/