Getting and Installing Xfig and Fig2dev
You need the fig2dev program in addition to xfig to be complete.
Xfig saves figures in its own, proprietary .fig format.
The fig2dev program allows you to print and export figures.
Fig2dev translates the .fig files to various languages and formats such
as PostScript, png, jpeg, pstricks, tikz, etc.
Xfig and Fig2dev
Related Software
You can get the sources for xfig and fig2dev from
https://sourceforge.net/projects/mcj.
The file
xfig-full-3.2.6a.tar.xz
contains the sources for both programs, xfig and fig2dev.
The files
xfig-3.2.6a.tar.xz and
fig2dev-3.2.6a.tar.xz contain the sources for either one of
xfig or fig2dev, respectively.
To unxz and untar the files, do
- tar xJf xfig-full-3.2.6a.tar.xz
or
- unxz -c xfig-full-3.2.6a.tar.xz | tar -xf -
This is the installation procedure of xfig.
See the README file for more details.
For information about how to use internationalization facility
of xfig,
see also Internationalization.
After getting the source of xfig, navigate to the directory
xfig-3.2.6a.
Type ./configure; make -j; make install-strip
The above command builds the program
(-j … parallel build, compile with as many threads as possible)
and installs it
(install-strip … strip the debugging symbols)
below /usr/local.
Here is the installation procedure for Fig2dev.
See the README file for details.
For information about how to use internationalization facility
of fig2dev,
see also Internationalization.
After getting the source of fig2dev, navigate to the directory
fig2dev-3.2.6a.
Type ./configure; make -j; make install-strip
The above command builds the program
(-j … parallel build, compile with as many threads as possible)
and installs it
(install-strip … strip the debugging symbols)
below /usr/local.
Xfig On Microsoft Windows
There is a version of xfig ported to run under Microsoft Windows using the Cygnus X server.
See Wayne Wang's xfig for Windows,
then click on "Software Tools" then "Install xfig on Windows".
Both need an X server (e.g. Hummingbird Exceed, or Cygwin/X to run. See:
http://www.cygwin.com/xfree/)
Xfig On the MacIntosh
There is a version of xfig ported to run on the MacIntosh under MacPorts.
See:
http:macports.org
Installing Other Software
In addition to xfig and transfig (fig2dev).
you will also need to install
GhostScript and
netpbm,
- xfig invokes GhostScript (the gs command)
when displaying PostScript images,
and exporting in bitmap formats (e.g. JPEG, XPM, etc).
GhostScript must be compiled with pbmraw, ppmraw, pcx256, jpeg,
and tiff24nc driver.
GhostScript can be found at
ftp://prep.ai.mit.edu/pub/gnu
and its
mirror sites,
or at
ftp.cs.wisc.edu/ghost/aladdin.
- fig2dev invokes commands in the netpbm package
when exporting in some formats.
Commands that may actually be used are:
pbmtoxbm, pgmtopbm, pnmdepth, pnmscale, pnmtopng, pnmtotiff,
ppmquant, ppmtoacad, ppmtogif, ppmtopcx, ppmtopgm, ppmtojpeg and ppmtoxpm.
netpbm can be found at
http://download.sourceforge.net/netpbm/
or
ftp://ftp.x.org/contrib/graphics
or its
mirror sites
in /contrib/graphics.
Be sure that it includes ppmtojpeg. This may be found only in the newer
releases, such as 9.0 and 9.1
Installing Ghostscript's Type 1 fonts under X
You can use Ghostscript's high quality Type 1 fonts on your X server (and therefore in xfig).
Copy the necessary files from Ghostscript's fonts directory to /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/Type1/ (or wherever your X server Type 1 fonts are).
$ cp /usr/share/ghostscript/fonts/*l.pfb /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/Type1
Append the file
/usr/share/ghostscript/fonts/fonts.scale to Type1/fonts.scale.
The first line in the latter file contains is the number of fonts listed in that file.
Change that number to include the additional fonts.
Now run mkfontdir(1) to update the font database:
$ mkfontdir
If your operating system has the chkfontpath command, alternative is to add
the Ghostscript font directory to the X server font path:
chkfontpath -a /usr/share/ghostscript/fonts/fonts/
In either case, if your X-server is running already you have to tell it to reread the font databases with
xset(1):
$ xset fp rehash
Related Software
Libraries
-
Xaw3d (Three-D Athena Widget) library
- If Xaw3d is used instead of normal Xaw,
widgets such as buttons will have 3-D appearance.
It is available from
ftp://ftp.x.org/contrib/widgets
and its
mirror sites
in /contrib/widgets.
-
XPM3 package
-
This package provides facilities to handle images in XPM format.
It is available from
ftp://ftp.x.org/contrib/libraries
and its
mirror sites
in /contrib/libraries.
-
JPEG library
-
This package provides facilities to handle images in JPEG format.
The official distribution site is
ftp://ftp.uu.net/graphics/jpeg.
It is also available from
ftp://ftp.x.org/contrib/libraries
and its mirror sites
in /contrib/libraries.
Related Applications
Here is a list of related applications.
See also
Scientific Applications on Linux (SAL)
for more applications for Linux
(many of them may also work on other UNIX-compatible platforms) and
http://homepage.usask.ca/~ijm451/fig/
which a site maintained by Ian MacPhedran that has some other links for
FIG-related applications. Also,
http://www.hologuard.com/useful-resources/learning-centre/21 lists some FIG-related applications.
fig2dev (TransFig)
-
fig2dev provides the facility to
convert figures created with xfig into various formats.
You must have fig2dev because
xfig invokes it when
Exporting
or Printing.
fig2dev is part of the TransFig package.
GhostScript
-
xfig will invoke GhostScript (the gs command)
when displaying an imported PostScript image.
GhostScript is copyrighted by Aladdin Enterprises,
but it is (at least older versions are) distributed under GPL,
and it is available from
ftp://prep.ai.mit.edu/pub/gnu
and its mirror sites,
or ftp.cs.wisc.edu/ghost/aladdin.
AutoTrace
-
Converts bitmap to vector graphics - has a Fig file output driver.
Available from http://autotrace.sourceforge.net.
Written by Martin Weber.
cdraw2fig
-
Converts `Cheap Draw' format to Fig format.
Cheap Draw 2.0 was written by Bob Pratt and is available from the UNIXPC
archives at osu-cis.
chemtool
- A chemical structure editor for X11 available from
http://ruby.chemie.uni-freiburg.de/~martin/chemtool/chemtool.html
that writes Fig output (and relies on transfig for anything more fancy than xbm)
figbuild
-
figbuild reads xfig files (Version 3.x, tested with 3.1, 3.2) plus
its own config file for heights, and generates a Radiance input
file. Written by Peter Apian-Bennewitz at Fraunhofer ISE, Germany.
See:
http://www.ise.fhg.de/radiance/pabs-toolbox/figbuild/figbuild.html
GIMP
-
A comprehensive image manipulation program, GIMP (Gnu Image Manipulation Program)
is freely available from http://www.gimp.org/.
gnuplot
-
gnuplot is a plotting package which can output in Fig and other formats.
The official distribution site is
http://www.gnuplot.info/.
grass2fig
-
The GRASS GIS (Geographic Resources Analysis Support System)
is an open source Geographical Information System (GIS) with raster,
topological vector, image processing, and graphics production
functionality that operates on various platforms through a graphical
user interface and shell in the X Window System. It is released under GNU General
Public License (GPL). See http://grass.itc.it/.
The grass2fig program will convert a GRASS binary vector map to a
Fig file.
gzip (gunzip)
-
xfig will invoke gunzip when reading gzipped files.
gzip (gunzip) is a product of the
Free Software Foundation,
and is available from
ftp://prep.ai.mit.edu
and its mirror sites.
hp2xx
-
hp2xx can convert HP-GL files into other formats
such as PostScript, LaTeX or Fig.
It is available from
ftp://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/hp2xx.
jfig
-
jfig is a Java-based drawing program that is based on xfig.
See
http://tech-www.informatik.uni-hamburg.de/applets/javafig/applet.html
mifXfig
-
mifXfig will convert files
between MIF format (of Framemaker(TM)) and Fig format.
See
http://www.ida.liu.se/~vaden/teaching/m2f/
for details.
Msphinx
-
A friendly package to handle satellite images.
- Main features:
- Msphinx includes two types of analysis and processing functions:
- Functions to process the basic data geometry and projection planes.
- Functions to manipulate and modify the graphic display and print.
- Communication capabilities:
-
- Data writes from external user programs (C or Fortran) into the memory planes.
- User-to-user data exchange (text or images).
- User image data base visualisation.
- Direct links to other packages:
- Mgraph (2d and contouring plotting)
- HDFLook (HDF read write files)
- Xfig (Facility for Interactive Generation of figures)
- mpeg_encode (mpeg format nimations)
Find it at: http://loasys.univ-lille1.fr/Msphinx/Msphinx_gb.html
netpbm
-
fig2dev will invoke the appropriate command from the netpbm package
when exporting figures
to bitmap formats.
netpbm is available from
ftp://ftp.x.org/contrib/applications/drawing_tools/xfig
and its
mirror sites
or from
ftp://ftp.cdrom.com/pub/X11/contrib/utilities.
pic2fig
-
Convertes PIC format (used with troff, ditroff, etc) to Fig format.
It is available from
ftp://ftp.cs.orst.edu/localsrc/graphics
or ftp://ftp.x.org/contrib/utilities
and its
mirror sites
in /contrib/utilities.
plot2fig
-
Converts UNIX plot format to Fig format.
Available from any GNU site.
plotutils (GNU)
-
includes an application for XY plotting (graph),
a plot filter (plot), a Tektronix translator (tek2plot),
a program for displaying font character maps (plotfont),
and a library for drawing 2-D vector graphics (libplot),
all of which produce output in xfig format.
by Robert S. Maier <rsm@math.arizona.edu>.
See:
http://www.gnu.org/software/plotutils/plotutils.html
pstoedit
-
pstoedit can convert PostScript files into Fig format.
It is available from
http://www.pstoedit.net/pstoedit.
xfigbar and xfigpie
-
Two C programs to produce bar and pie charts as Fig
files. Written by John Conover <john@johncon.johncon.com>,
these programs are available at:
http://www.johncon.com/john/archive/xfigutilities.shar.gz
xgraph
-
xgraph is a plotting package which runs in X11.
The version on
ftp://iworks.ecn.uiowa.edu
in comp.hp can output Fig files.
xpaint
-
xpaint is a painting program which runs under X11.
It is available from
http://www.danbbs.dk/~torsten/xpaint
and any SunSite machines such as
ftp://sunsite.unc.edu/pub/Linux/apps/graphics/draw/.
xv
-
xv can be used to display images in various formats
and allows some editing of those images (cropping, color editing scaling/rotating etc).
By default, xfig will invoke xv
when the Edit Image button is pressed
in the edit PICTURE object panel.
xv is shareware and is available via anonymous ftp from
ftp://ftp.cis.upenn.edu/pub/xv.
[ Contents |
Introduction |
Credits ]