Re: st: high-DPI eps or emf files

[Sergiy Radyakin <serjradyakin@gmail.com>]

On Mon, Feb 3, 2014 at 6:58 PM, Friedrich Huebler <fhuebler@gmail.com> wrote:
> 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

Friedrich, perhaps I misread the following: "The alternative method to
create PNG files was suggested to me by Stata technical support:....."
in your article. Anyhow, whether this is your own or somebody else's
advice - it is very useful. Thank you for taking time to write it down
and put online.
Best, Sergiy Radyakin

> 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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