[texhax] TeX -> PostScript, but in a resolution-independent manner
zsdc
zsdc at wp.pl
Wed Jun 4 06:57:05 CEST 2003
Hello,
I'm quite new to TeX (I've been playing with TeX for only few months and
I just started reading Donald Knuth's TeXbook), but I have already
decided it will be my typesetting system of choice. First I thought
about LaTeX, but now I think that the pure TeX is the way to go for me.
Few days ago, I found out that DVI files use bitmap fonts. Before I
found it out, I was using tex to convert my TeX files to DVI, and then
dvips to convert it to PostScript, which is my final target format. I
was sure that this way I get resolution-independent, smooth PostScript
data, which will print with the resolution of the printing device, with
no limits, but now I know, that I have to choose a resolution when
converting DVI to PostScript, thus loosing the smoothness of PostScript
format.
I thought that I obviously have to be making some stupid mistake,
because using TeX to produce PostScript output is probably what most of
people using TeX are doing, so there have to be a simple way to produce
device-independent PostScript, which I'm just missing.
But the only thing I have found somewhere so far, is that I have to use
-Pcmz switch of dvips to produce PostScript output with Type 1 scalable
fonts, but even with this switch I still get bitmap fonts in fixed
resolution (I'm using dvips 5.86e from teTeX on Debian GNU/Linux 3.0 Woody).
I'm terribly sorry to ask you about it, if there is a simple way to do
it, which I'm just to incompetent to find. I've been searching the web
looking for a sollution for many hours in the last few days and I have
already lost any hope to solve this problem by myself. I'll be glad if
you just tell me to RTFM, but please just point me to the right FM which
I have to read.
I know that using TeX to make a normal PostScript can't be a rocket
science, and I'm sorry to bother you with such a stupid question, but I
have really tried to solve my problem by myself, only to fail miserably.
And I can't use bitmap fonts, because the whole point in using
PostScript for me (instead of, say, a high resolution PNG) is to be able
to prepare one document for a flyer, which could be later rescalled to a
billboard without aliasing, etc.
Maybe there is a way to convert TeX files directly to PostScript,
without the DVI stage? Sorry if I'm just asking another stupid question,
there's probably some easy and obvious way to do exactly that. I know
that DVI is a stage between TeX and the actual native printer data, but
I don't quite understand yet, why PostScript wouldn't be better for that
very purpose.
When I write directly in PostScript, I have always smooth, scalable
fonts, but I'd like to use all of those fantastic TeX typesetting
features without giving up the font smoothness and having pixelized
fonts as a trade-off instead.
It would be really great if anyone could point me in the right direction.
Thanks a lot!
(Sorry for my bad english, I'm not a native speaker.)
-zsdc.
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