pic2fig - Fig preprocessor for drawing simple pictures

pic2fig file

Pic2fig is a Fig(l) preprocessor for drawing simple figures in Fig code. The basic objects are box, line, arrow, circle, ellipse, arc and text.

When pic2fig is executed, it produces an output file in the current directory. The name is constructed from the input file's name. If the input filename ends with .pic, then that extension will be replaced by .fig. Otherwise, .fig is appended to the input filename. If file does not exist, then pic2fig tries appending .pic to the name.

The input language for pic2fig is identical to that for pic, which is used with dtroff(l), except for extensions listed below. Things enclosed within .PS and .PE will be translated by pic2fig to Fig intermediate code which can be further translated into a number of graphics description languages. Text not within .PS and .PE will be passed unaltered to the output file. The default line thickness of drawings is 8 milli-inches. You may adjust this using the command:

.ps n

for n milli-inches. This command must be given in the first column. Changing the drawing thickness applies to solid, dashed, and dotted lines, as well as circles, arcs, and ellipses.

Normally, the distance between text is 12 points. If you're using larger text to label objects, this should be set to an appropriate larger value. This can be done using the

.baseline n

command, where n is any real value, whose units are in typesetter points.

The shading texture may be controlled with the command:

.tx N w1 w2 ... wN

where the wN are 32-bit integers expressed in hexadecimal. This command must be given in the first column.

Other input lines which begin with a period character are passed through to the output unaltered except for stripping the initial period character. It is recommended that you not use this feature unless you really know what you're doing.

Extensions and differences: Text in pic2fig can be any arbitrary TeX text. It is set in restricted horizontal mode.

Boxes, circles, and ellipses may have two attributes not available in pic: they may be ``shaded'' or ``white''. Because of restrictions in the current Imagen postprocessor, objects may not be given other attributes (eg, ``dashed'' or ``invis'') if they are ``shaded'' or ``white'' for that output device. Shaded figures are grayed in their interior. White objects force their interior to be whitened if it was shaded by another object. Objects are ``stacked'' on each other in the order in which they are defined in the pic2fig input file. The shading attributes are subject to restrictions of the capabilities of the output device used.

B. W. Kernighan, PIC - A Graphics Language for Typesetting