[R] Summary of importing vector graphic formats written by R into Open Office

[Agustin Lobo]

PROBLEM:
OpenOffice (specifically Impress) imports emf files as the ones
generated by the
R GUI in Windows with poor quality. Is there another vector format 
written by an R graphic
GUI that could be
imported into OpenOffice (specifically Impress)?

SOLUTIONS:
Currently None. The suggested vector files are either not provided by an
interactive
graphic GUI (SVG) or cannot be imported and displayed as an slide by
Impress (EPS).

NOTES:
OpenOffice has partial (but operational) support for SVG
(http://wiki.services.openoffice.org/wiki/SVG_Import_Filter)
PDF import will be new for OO.org 3.x.


SUGGESTED WORKAROUNDS:

- Use Cairo package (singularitaet at gmx.net)
A quick search on r-project.org pointed me to the Cairo package. Maybe
you can try that.

- Use svg() devices (ripley at stats.ox.ac.uk)
, R 2.7.0 RC has an svg() device on Unix-alikes, and there are
RSvgDevice and RSVGTipsDevice packages on CRAN.
I've seen so many problems with SVG renderers (especially related to
fonts) that I would prefer not to rely on it.

- Use PS or PDF (ripley at stats.ox.ac.uk)
You do have PS and PDF on the Windows Rgui menu -- they are vector
graphics formats.

- Use LaTex (marc_schwartz at comcast.net)
..., specifically the Beamer package. This will generate PDF slide
files, which you can then display using the full screen viewing features
of applications like Adobe's Reader. This is what I with R/Sweave.

More information here:

http://latex-beamer.sourceforge.net/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beamer_(LaTeX)

- Use EPS files (marc_schwartz at comcast.net)
	Import the R EPS files into OO.org as per your normal routine. Then,
when ready, print the document to a PS file, using a PS compatible
printer driver. You don't actually have to have a PS printer, just
install a PS driver. When you go to print the document, there will be an
option someplace in the dialogs to "print to file". Do so. This will
give you a PS file, with the high quality vector based EPS images, not
the bitmapped previews.
     Then use 'ps2pdf' to convert the PS file you create above to a PDF
file. This leaves you in essentially the same place as LaTeX, where you
can then use the full screen viewing mode of a PDF viewer.  I used to
use this option several years ago, before I began to use LaTeX almost
exclusively.

- Use png (singularitaet at gmx.net)
. So what please is wrong with png? I am using it with Word (If for
some reasons I cannot use LaTeX -- some coauthors are unfortunately
quite resistant there...)

-Use eps and then make pdf (singularitaet at gmx.net)
. Plus have you tried to make pdf's from the impress slides with the
eps graphics? Works perfectly for me. Acrobat reader can than do the
presentation in full screen mode as well. This indeed makes eps an
option again!

- Use Lyx (landronimirc at gmail.com)
.. for the reticent, there is always LyX.. [1] To a certain (to full?)
degree, it can be used together with Sweave. Look here [2] for certain
pointers.
[1] http://www.lyx.org/
[2]
http://cran.at.r-project.org/web/packages/RcmdrPlugin.Export/RcmdrPlugin.Export.pdf


As there is no real solution to this problem, I wonder if
developers of R graphic GUIs could consider adding
SVG format as one of the available formats to the "Save As" tab of R
graphic GUIs
(according to my web search, problems at importing emf files by OpenOffice
have been reported since so long ago that there is little hope that this
problem will
ever be solved within Open Office).

Thank you all.

Agus
-- 
Dr. Agustin Lobo
Institut de Ciencies de la Terra "Jaume Almera" (CSIC)
LLuis Sole Sabaris s/n
08028 Barcelona
Spain
Tel. 34 934095410
Fax. 34 934110012
email: Agustin.Lobo at ija.csic.es
http://www.ija.csic.es/gt/obster