output ( macro/python )

The PostScript graphics format was developed by Adobe and is still the main format for printers under UNIX. Since traditionally meteorological maps were aimed for print-outs, PostScript is historically the default output of Magics. No third-party library is required to generate PostScript files and the driver is always available to users. This output driver provides also output in PDF and Encapsulated PostScript (EPS). PostScript and PDF can contain multiple pages, while Encapsulated PostScript only contains one page at a time.

One advantage which PostScript based formats offer is that the output is vector based. This means the user can in a viewer software zoom in and still get a clear representation of the data.

In past versions of Magics, the PostScript driver had a special property by having a plot always scaled to 95% of its size to allow for the frame to be better visible. This is now changed to 100 %(full page size), but can for backwards compatibility be overridden by setting 'output_ps_scale'  to 0.95.

Quick links

Postscript examples

PNG output

KML output

SVG output

2 Comments

  1. Martin Janousek

    In case this is the right place can you please explain here the role of super_page_x_length and super_page_y_length for setting the page size (e.g. to make an A3 plot)?

  2. Sylvie Lamy-Thepaut

    super_page_x_length and super_page_y_length are controlling the size (in cm)  of your output. If you want a A3 plot, you can set

     super_page_x_length = 42.
     super_page_y_length =  29.7

    If you do not specify any special value for page_x_length and page_y_length, you plot should scale to fit the A3 page.

    There was a plan to introduce 2 new parameters super_page_format = a3/a4 ... and super_page_orientation = landscale/portrait. We could think about that, if you think it is a good idea.