It can often be advantageous to design your final plot using an X-windows graphics device. This provides more versatility in the form of a graphics cursor and dynamic lookup table, and also allows you to see the plot more easily. Once the plot looks right in the X-window, you can then run the drawing commands again specifying a suitable PostScript device instead.
If you choose to do this, it can be a big help to ensure that the X-window you are using has the same shape as your selected PostScript device. This prevents you accidentally drawing things within regions of the X-window that are not available in PostScript. To find the require aspect ratio, do:
% gdclear device=epsf_l % gdstate device=epsf_l
This clears the PostScript device, and then displays the bounds of the BASE picture (all the other pictures were erased by GDCLEAR). The results will look something like this:
Status of the epsf_l graphics device...
The current picture is a BASE picture.
Comment: Base picture
Current co-ordinate Frame: BASEPIC
Picture bounds in the BASEPIC Frame:
Axis 1 (X) : 0.000 to 1.455
Axis 2 (Y) : 0.000 to 1.000
This tells you that the aspect ratio (the ratio of the width to the height) of the PostScript device is 1.455. You should now make an X-window with this aspect ratio:
% xdestroy xwindows % xmake xwindows -height 500 -width 730
The xdestroy command deletes any existing X-window, and the xmake command creates a new one with a height of 500 pixels and a width of 730 pixels, giving the required aspect ratio. Of course, you could produce a larger or smaller X-window so long as the ratio of width to height is close to 1.455.
Another tip to ease prototyping on an X-window--when you run CURSOR, always store the selected positions in an output positions list, using Parameter OUTCAT. When you come to produce the PostScript files, you can then supply these positions lists as inputs to LISTSHOW, in order to mimic the annotation produced by CURSOR when you were prototyping.
KAPPA --- Kernel Application Package