CADENCE plot to EPS/PS: text export

Are there any plans for "improving" plotting to PS/EPS (schematics),
in particular exporting text as text and not as "ugly" polygons?

Thanks in advance for the diskussion!

 

PM> Date: Fri, 07 Jan 2005 10:55:13 +0100

PM> Are there any plans for "improving" plotting to PS/EPS
PM> (schematics), in particular exporting text as text and not as
PM> "ugly" polygons?

PM> Thanks in advance for the diskussion!

PM

I have been getting around the system using some ugly hacks. Here's
what I do:

Print to a file using a postscript printer setup.
For example,

--- ~/.cdsplotinit ---
ps-rf|Hewlett-Packard LaserJet 8100, PS: \
:manufacturer=Hewlett-Packard: \
:type=postscript1: \
:spool=lp -d ps: \
:query=lpstat -o ps: \
:remove=cancel $1 ps: \
PDFile=/cad/printerDrivers/HP8100_6.PPD: \
:resolution#600: \
:maximumPages#30: \
:residentFonts: \
ldText: \
PD="(A)*PageSize Letter": \
PD="(B)*PageSize Tabloid": \
PD="(B)*LandscapeOrientation": \
aperSize="A" 4902 6402 99 99: \
aperSize="B" 6402 10002 99 99: \
aperSize="Legal" 4926 8202 90 90: \
aperSize="A4" 4758 6846 90 90: \
aperSize="A3" 6846 9720 90 90:
----------------------

Note the :residentFonts: and ldText: options.

Then use ps2epsi or epstool --bbox on the file to add bounding boxes
and previews as necessary.

Satya

 

Put :residentFonts: in your .cdsplotinit entry. That's exactly what it is for.

Andrew.

 

Why don't you output EPS directly? Just use type=epsf (say) rather than
type=postscript1

Andrew.

 

Thanks Andrew,

this is exactly what I was looking for (since years :-(

But: shouldn't this be the default behavior?
Instead of enable this with a not so obvious filter option.

Postscript can after all handle fonts
(in particular scaling).

And further I'm citing now (aware of ":residentFonts:") cdsdoc:

"Uses the plotter's resident fonts instead of the stroked fonts
displayed on the screen. The stroked fonts produce larger files
and plot more slowly."
;-)

 

Historically people wanted the text to look exactly the same on paper as it
did on the screen. Many, many years back (before I joined Cadence, and that
was nearly 10 years ago now), :residentFonts: was added.

The trouble is that changing the defaults inevitably upsets customers - so the
default was left as it was.

Regards,

Andrew.

 

My experience with epsf was that the plot was in colour. As the
background is white, not all colours are easy to read. I normally plot
to B/W laser, and then colour plots result in almost unreadable elements.

Maybe this has changed lately.

My biggest problem is the more or less random output of pages when
plotting a large design, and that these are all self contained plot
files with a large prolog making the plot take forever. I used to have a
script that cat'ed the postscript files together and removed all but
the first prolog. When using this, plotting took almost no time as the
prolog contain the definition of all the stiched fonts, as far as I
coult tell.

Maybe Cadence would optimize the plot routines, they could definitively
become a bit more PDF friendly. PDF wasn't the state-of art back then,
but it is now. Shouldn't be too much work, and PDF standard is open.
Maybe enough engineers should stand up and shout "me too" until somebody
get the message.

Could also be that ths is a PCR somewhere.

Kind regards,

 

epsf comes in a variety of different flavours - epsfi (with a preview
image), epsfiC (preview image, colour), etc - not very well documented
(I have a PCR on that).

I suspect there is a PCR for the PDF idea, but the more people that ask for
this, the more likely it is to get done. I agree entirely...

There's also suggestions to produce windows metafile format, and SVG, and
various other things like that.

Andrew.

 

.... but it's not over:

Exporting text as text this way works, but horizontal text is exported
under some small angle (see attachment) :-(
For example: when converting ps to fig (via pstoedit), the text elements
have a slope of 0.0175 (should be 0.0!).
I'm not fluent in postscript, but eventually the problem is in the
/rfsc/rfe/rfc-Definitions (with some rotation in there ...)

Is this a known bug or am I missing some further
magic (filter) option(s)?

Thanks&regards,
PM

 

.... this is 5.0.33_USR2.
I have checked also 4.4.6: export is OK!
The problem is definitely in $cds_root/tools/plot/etc/ps.prologue:

4.4.6:
-rwxr-xr-x 1 cds cds 20136 Fri 05 Apr 2002 20:27:51
tools/plot/etc/ps.prologue

5.0.33:
-rwxr-xr-x 1 cds cds 20891 Wed 18 Feb 2004 00:41:00
tools/plot/etc/ps.prologue



PM

 

PCR 752273 covers this. I'm keen on this and am working a prototype to
be followed by specs and documentation.

 

Sorry for the delay in replying.

I don't use EPSF directly IIRC, because epsf doesn't support
residentFonts option. I don't like the stroked fonts, either on screen
or in print. I have no idea why it even makes sense to continue using
stroked fonts in this age of fast processors and good scalable font
rendering engines (freetype2 for example).

Enough of my rant. My apologies if my information is incorrect.

Satya

Andrew> Date: Sat, 08 Jan 2005 15:56:48 +0000

Andrew> Why don't you output EPS directly? Just use type=epsf
Andrew> (say) rather than type=postscript1

Andrew> Andrew.

Andrew> On Fri, 07 Jan 2005 08:50:56 -0700, Satya Mishra
PM> Are there any plans for "improving" plotting to PS/EPS
PM> (schematics), in particular exporting text as text and not as
PM> "ugly" polygons?

 

PM> Date: Tue, 11 Jan 2005 13:08:49 +0100


PM> ... but it's not over:

PM> Exporting text as text this way works, but horizontal text is
PM> exported under some small angle (see attachment) :-( For
PM> example: when converting ps to fig (via pstoedit), the text
PM> elements have a slope of 0.0175 (should be 0.0!). I'm not
PM> fluent in postscript, but eventually the problem is in the
PM> /rfsc/rfe/rfc-Definitions (with some rotation in there ...)

PM> Is this a known bug or am I missing some further magic
PM> (filter) option(s)?

PM> Thanks&regards, PM

PM

If you read my post, you will find the ldText: option. This fixes
the angled of the text.

Satya

 

Thanks, this should be an option, but as said: it's magic ;-)
Who is here old und who have to be fixed?
Should we call it a feature?
An what about :newText:? or maybe :modernText:?
Anyway 'cdsdoc' won't tell me anything about ldText:

PM

 

PM> Date: Wed, 12 Jan 2005 08:12:20 +0100

PM> Satya Mishra wrote: Exporting text as text this way works, but
PM> horizontal text is exported under some small angle (see
PM> attachment) :-( For example: when converting ps to fig (via
PM> pstoedit), the text elements have a slope of 0.0175 (should be
PM> 0.0!). I'm not fluent in postscript, but eventually the
PM> problem is in the /rfsc/rfe/rfc-Definitions (with some
PM> rotation in there ...) Is this a known bug or am I missing
PM> some further magic (filter) option(s)?
PM> Thanks, this should be an option, but as said: it's magic ;-)
PM> Who is here old und who have to be fixed? Should we call it a
PM> feature? An what about :newText:? or maybe :modernText:?
PM> Anyway 'cdsdoc' won't tell me anything about ldText:

PM> PM

I got this answer from a CAD support person at our company. Apparently
it is documented on Sourcelink. But the description is not very
obvious.

Glad that it helped.
Satya

 

Thank you Satya for your discussion readiness,
may be someone with CADENCE should participate too??

PM

 

Cadence users regularly use our ps2vector software to batch convert
PS/EPS output to SVG, WMF, EMF, CGM, MIF, DXF or HPGL vector formats.
Or, the ps2bitmap module to render to a TIFF, GIF or JPEG raster image
at any dpi resolution. The software is commercially available on Sun
Solaris, HP-UX, AIX, Linux and Windows platforms. More info at the URL
below. Please contact me directly if interested.

Jeroen Dekker

 

This is wrong. epsf _DOES_ support :residentFonts:

I just tried it and proved that it works.

Andrew.

 

Andrew> Date: Tue, 01 Feb 2005 14:19:12 +0000

Andrew> On Tue, 11 Jan 2005 12:52:53 -0700, Satya Mishra

Andrew> This is wrong. epsf _DOES_ support :residentFonts:

Andrew> I just tried it and proved that it works.

Andrew> Andrew.

Andrew

My apologies for the incorrect information. For some reason I had it
in my mind that :residentFonts: didn't work with epsf. I also tried it
and it does work.

As usual you are correct!

Satya