Object Graphic Output, was Re: CGM files

[davidf(at)dfanning.com (David Fanning)]

William Thompson (thompson@orpheus.nascom.nasa.gov) writes:

> Isn't it true that object graphics produces only bitmapped output?

No. In fact nothing could be further from the truth.
Object graphics strives to produce printer "independent"
output by using the object version of the PRINTER device.
Output sent to the PRINTER is written in the default
printer-specified language, either PCL or PostScript.

And I will admit that it is truly WYSIWYG ooutput.
Unfortunately, this is not always WYHIM (What You
Had in Mind). And it almost always takes a hell of
a lot longer to print than you were expecting. :-(

It is these problems that are being addressed now
and we will see some relief in IDL 5.3. I think the
Windows Metafile output is one way to approach
some of these problems, at least for Windows users.

Cheers,

David

P.S. And, of course, it is still possible to
get JPEG, GIF, and TIFF output from object graphics
as well.

-- 
David Fanning, Ph.D.
Fanning Software Consulting
Phone: 970-221-0438 E-Mail: davidf@dfanning.com
Coyote's Guide to IDL Programming: http://www.dfanning.com/
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