Re: st: high-DPI eps or emf files

[Friedrich Huebler <fhuebler@gmail.com>]

Laszlo, I am unable to reproduce your problem. How are you adding the
exported EMF file to your Word document? Could the problem be due to
your coauthor's display settings?

Sergiy mentioned an article by me and wrote that it "apparently quotes
a method recommended by StataCorp". To my knowledge StataCorp has not
stated its opinion (positive or negative) on any of the methods that I
described. When I wrote the article in April 2005 it was not possible
to specify the size of an exported PNG graph with Stata. This option
was added in Stata 9.1, released in September 2005 (see -help
whatsnew9-). My article is still useful, even with Stata 13, because
it shows how antialiased PNG graphs can be created with the help of
Ghostscript.

Friedrich

On Mon, Feb 3, 2014 at 6:10 PM, László Sándor <sandorl@gmail.com> wrote:
> Thanks, Sergiy, this was very helpful.
>
> The blurry issue happens on a coauthor's PC, and I won't bother him
> for a screenshot. In any case, I found some references about poor
> behavior with eps or emf:
> http://forums.adobe.com/message/2002708
> http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1422949/emf-with-forced-antialiasing
>
> So maybe I will try PDF, now available even under Stata for Windows.
> But why would that be better, I am not sure. And of course, EMF graphs
> could still be edited later one, while PDFs could not be. I am amazed
> that the graphics drivers for Windows formats are so bad on Windows.
> (OK, eps is not a Windows format, of course.)
>
> Still, thanks a lot!
>
> Laszlo
>
> On Mon, Feb 3, 2014 at 3:34 PM, Sergiy Radyakin <serjradyakin@gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> Laszlo,
>> wmf file is using a predefined logical coordinates which nominally map
>> to about 22 and 3/4 inches (32768*1/1440). Vector files are commands
>> (programs) for the executor on how to draw them. Different executors
>> may decide to draw them with a different degree of tolerance, or
>> interpret the commands (and distances) any way they like. That is
>> controlled by the mapping mode, and there is at least half a dozen of
>> those.
>>
>> I suggest you try a different "player". E.g. if you currently embed a
>> graph into Word, try to visualize the file in e.g. IrfanView, and  see
>> whether it is still blurry. If necessary, convert to PNG with
>> IrfanView.
>>
>> You can specify "resolution" in emf files. That's because there you
>> can embed pictures, and hence the whole graph can be represented as
>> one huge embedded picture in the EMF. Usually one can identify it from
>> the file size it skyrockets from a few kb to a few mb with this. I
>> don't think Stata will allow you doing this. IrfanView will save an
>> image as EMF.
>>
>> This older article by Friedrich Huebler apparently quotes a method
>> recommended by StataCorp:
>> http://huebler.blogspot.com/2005/04/creating-png-images-with-stata.html
>>
>> I'd go with a high resolution PNG, which I can later rescale with
>> IrfanView (select the slowest subsampling method, nowadays it takes
>> <1sec for any graph anyways, but the quality varies substantially).
>>
>> Finally, blurry look on the screen doesn't automatically mean blurry
>> printing. Try it out.
>>
>> How blurry is blurry? Can you share the a) original emf/wmf file; and
>> b) document with embedded blurry graph.
>>
>> Best, Sergiy Radyakin
>>
>> On Mon, Feb 3, 2014 at 2:16 PM, László Sándor <sandorl@gmail.com> wrote:
>> > Hi,
>> >
>> > I am mostly using Stata 13.1 MP for mac, but if I need to generate emf
>> > files, then of course this is about Stata 13.1 MP for Windows.
>> >
>> > I have the problem of eps or emf files generated with -graph export-
>> > do not seem high-resolution ("are blurry") in documents later on. I am
>> > no expert on these formats, but this sounds strange for vector
>> > graphics formats. Is the size of the image too small, then, and other
>> > apps magnify these file formats incorrectly? Can this is be fixed in
>> > Stata?
>> >
>> > I found this note, if it is relevant:
>> > http://stackoverflow.com/questions/2553300/dpi-for-emf-files
>> >
>> > Or is the following the only solution, really? A manual hack?
>> > http://stackoverflow.com/questions/15388048/change-resolution-of-emf-image-files-to-prevent-quality-loss-in-powerpoint
>> >
>> > If you have any experience with this, your thoughts would be more than welcome.
>> >
>> > Thanks,
>> >
>> > Laszlo

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