Gnuplot: Difference between revisions
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<code>sed -i 's/(0.0)/(0)/g' filename.eps</code> |
<code>sed -i 's/(0.0)/(0)/g' filename.eps</code> |
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Once you have your eps file exactly as you like it |
Once you have your eps file exactly as you like it you can convert it to PDF format using epstopdf. Executing the command |
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<code>epstopdf filename.eps</code> |
<code>epstopdf filename.eps</code> |
Revision as of 14:41, 17 May 2014
Overview
Gnuplot is a program for plotting scientific data. The resulting figures can be of very high quality, provided that attention is paid to detail. Impressive examples can be found on the gnuplot homepage. This page does not provide a detailed manual for gnuplot, but instead focuses on specific aspects typically accounted in the CSML when creating figures for manuscripts.
PDF terminal
The version of gnuplot installed on all local machines has been compiled with PDFlib, which makes it possible to directly produce PDF images. Such figures offer the important advantage that they are fully scalable and yet have a small file size. Choose this terminal via
set term pdf enh
Sometimes, fine-tuning of the resulting PDF figure is most conveniently done in Adobe Illustrator: each component of the figure will appear as an object that you can move, resize, etc.
Encapsulated PostScript terminal
Often when the output of a gnupot script requires further formatting it is easiest to do so using the Encapsulated PostScript (EPS) terminal. This is essentially the same as the PostScript terminal except that it contains some extra lines that allow it to interface with other programs. Invoke the EPS terminal as follows:
set term eps [options]
set output filename.eps
For possible options see the instructions for the PostScript terminal on this page.
To edit the resulting .eps file it is convenient to use sed. For example to change all instances of 0.0 to 0 one would use
sed -i 's/(0.0)/(0)/g' filename.eps
Once you have your eps file exactly as you like it you can convert it to PDF format using epstopdf. Executing the command
epstopdf filename.eps
will create the PDF file filename.pdf
.
Using symbols in labels
General usage tips
- Journals typically prefer Helvetica as the typeface for figures.