[OS X TeX] converting pdf to eps ... where can I find pdf2eps?

[Maarten Sneep]

On 7 jul 2004, at 15:12, Michael S. Hanson wrote:

> On Jul 7, 2004, at 5:14 AM, Maarten Sneep wrote:
>
>> On 7 jul 2004, at 11:05, George Nurser wrote:
>>
>>> So ... how do I convert the pdf figures to eps? There is supposed to
>>> be a program pdf2eps, but  I don't seem to have it (Panther +
>>> Image magick). Anybody know where I can get it from?
>>
>> I had a discussion about this with an editor from Elsevier Science. 
>> Your best
>> bet is to use gs, and while you're at it: replace all letters with 
>> their outlines.
>
> 	I'm willing to bet there are some significant shortcomings to the 
> following, but one could easily print a PDF to a PostScript file from 
> within Preview.  Select "Output Options" from the drop down menu, 
> check on "Save as File" and select "PostScript" instead of PDF.  I 
> have no idea if the fonts and other considerations mentioned in 
> Maarten's helpful message are affected, but for something "quick and 
> dirty" at least, it seems hard to beat.

That method will leave you with a severe headache, as it will print to 
a full A4 page, or whatever paper size you have set, screwing up your 
positioning and margins. It also isn't eps, but ps, and the difference 
is important here. You'll need a lot of post-processing, so it isn't 
even "quick and dirty" -- well dirty maybe ;)

BTW, it is just my description that is long, the command itself is:

     gs -dNOPAUSE -dNOCACHE -dBATCH -sDEVICE=epswrite 
-sOutputFile=your-output-file.eps your-source-file.pdf

Replace filenames as needed.

Or turn it into a script:

#!/bin/bash
while test $# -gt 0 ;
do
     case $1 in
	*.pdf)
	    /usr/local/bin/gs -dNOPAUSE -dNOCACHE -dBATCH -sDEVICE=epswrite 
-sOutputFile=${1%.pdf}.eps $1
	    ;;
	*)
	    echo "File $1 not recognised, skipping"
	    ;;
	esac
     shift
done
# end of script.

Save the above to a file: pdftoeps seems to be fine, make it 
executable, and run with it. You can even use it with dropscript. 
Usage: pdftoeps *.pdf (make sure that all pdf files are single page 
though).

Maarten

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