Plotting Using LaTeX (Windows, UNIX)

Overview

This document provides you with a quick overview of how to plot to DotCIO's plotters using the LaTeX document preparation software. 

Procedures

Make your page big enough for the text:

To make a large size page in LaTeX, suitable for sending to the plotter, you need to set the \textwidth and \textheight values to be the width and height used by your text. Make sure at least one dimension is no larger than about 32 inches, to leave room for margins. (The maximum width of the plotter is 36 inches.) The other dimension can be anything from about 10 inches to the maximum plotter paper height (72 inches for the HP DesignJet 1055 CM plotters).

Set the paper size so the plotter knows:

It is also of crucial importance to set the paper size via the command \special{papersize=xx,yy}, which will get passed to dvips and then to the plotter. If you want "portrait" orientation, the width (xx) should be smaller than the height (yy). This means that you cannot specify a width larger than 36 inches, the width of the plotter. It's possible to plot in landscape orientation by making the width larger than the height. In this case, the maximum width is 72 inches and the height should not be more than 36 inches.

Suppose you want a page which is 34 inches wide but only 14 inches high. To get portrait orientation, you must specify a papersize where the height is greater than the width, yet you don't want to waste paper by specifying a height of 35 inches. Here's a trick: Use the command \special{papersize=12in,14in}. The plotter still must use its full width of 36 inches, but will cut the paper off at 14 inches high.

Fonts:

For plotting, it is usually best to use the built-in PostScript fonts, which can be scaled to any size you want. Helvetica is often a good choice.

If you want to use the Computer Modern fonts (perhaps because you have equations and need the math fonts), first be sure you have configured dvips to use the Postscript Type 1 (scalable) version of the CM fonts (the default on RCS Unix), and also include the command \usepackage{type1cm} in your LaTeX preamble so they can be scaled to a size larger than 25 points, the largest font size built into LaTeX.

To get color, use the color package. The examples below show how to scale fonts to the size you want and how to specify color. For more information on using the color package, use your previewer to view the file grfguide.dvi. On RCS Unix, this file is in the directory /campus/doc/text/Latex2e/Packages/Graphics; on Windows, use the search/find utility to locate the file.

Previewing on Windows Computers:

You can use a previewer, such as windvi, to preview your page. (zoom out until the entire page shows on your screen); however, the display will probably be more acurate if you run latex followed by dvips to create a Postscript file and then view it with GSView. To see the entire page as it will appear, select Media -> User Defined... and type in the width and height of your paper size in points (1in=~72pt).

Previewing on RCS UNIX:

You can use xdvi to preview your page. The fonts will not be in color, but if you zoom out (pressing "s" makes the whole page fit in the window), you can see the general layout on the page.

Using ghostview is usually not satisfactory (unless your paper size is tabloid size or smaller) because you can't set the size of page large enough to include the entire plot.

Sending to the Plotter from Windows Computers:

In GSView, open the Print window and select the plotter you wish to use from the list. (Note that you must have the correct printer installed.) Be sure "PostScript Printer" is selected, and click OK.

Sending to the Plotter from RCS UNIX:

After running latex to create the .dvi file, you can use dvips to create a .ps file and send that to the plotter using the lpr command. The example below sends to vcp7100:

dvips myfile.dvi -o

lpr -Pvcp7100 myfile.ps

If you wish, you may use the -X options available with lpr to specify grayscale or print quality. Do NOT use the "paper" option. (The way to specify paper size is to use \special{papersize=xx,yy} within the LaTeX file, as explained above.)

Ignore the message from dvips: "no match for special paper size found; using default" 

Examples

Portrait orientation with wide text (32″) and small height (10″):

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{helvet}             % Selects Helvetica PS font for sans serif 
\renewcommand{\rmdefault}{phv}  % Helvetica for roman type as well as sf
\renewcommand{\ttdefault}{pcr}  % use Courier for fixed pitch, if needed
\usepackage{color}              % enable use of color commands
\textwidth=32in                 % real width of latex text 
\textheight=10in                % height of latex text
\special{papersize=12in,14in}   % small width ensures portrait orientation
\thispagestyle{empty}           % no page numbers
\parindent=0pt                  % paragraphs are not indented
\begin{document}
\color{blue}                    % basic color for document text is blue
\fontsize{120}{140}\selectfont  % 120pt font (~1.6in high); 140pt linespace
\bfseries                       % begin using boldface type
\begin{center}
\textcolor{red}{The Text Inside These Braces is Red} \\ % use red temporarily
This Text is Blue \\
So is This \\
Because Blue is the Basic Color
\end{center}
\end{document}

Portrait orientation (text area 30″×32″), with included EPS graphic:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{helvet}              % PostScript font Helvetica for sans serif 
\renewcommand{\rmdefault}{phv}   % Helvetica for roman type as well as sf
\renewcommand{\ttdefault}{pcr}   % use Courier for fixed pitch, if needed
\usepackage{graphicx}            % graphicx package for including ps files
\textwidth=30in \textheight=32in % size of latex text
\special{papersize=34in,36in}    % portrait orientation
\pagestyle{empty}                % no page numbers
\begin{document}
\fontsize{80}{90}\selectfont     % fontsize 80pt, linespace 90pt
\bfseries                        % begin boldface
\begin{center}
This is a test of plotting an encapsulated ps figure inside a latex file.
\includegraphics[scale=4]{somefile.eps} % include an eps file of your choosing, scaled up 
This text is below the graphic, and can be considered its caption. 
\end{center}
  
\end{document}

Last Reviewed: 29-Jul-2018