🚀 go-pugleaf

    I need some assistance and advice concerning the use of PostScript
and Encapsulated PostScript figures in scientific publications.
Our lab is currently involved in molecular modelling and simulation
research.  One of the UNIX packages we use is MindTool.  It produces
rather nice ball-and-stick molecules from 3D coordinate data.  The
rendered graphic can be saved to disk as a PostScript file.  However,
it lacks certain features we require (annotation, multiple molecules,
etc.)  In the past one of our industrious researchers would print
out each molecule individually, print a separate page of annotations,
and then manually cut and paste them together!  Clearly, we would
like to keep all this production work on the computer.

    We also have a PC in the lab with CorelDraw 4.0.  I had originally
thought that CorelDraw would read in PostScript files, but alas it
does not.  I then compiled GhostScript 2.6.1 on an SGI and used
the supplied 'ps2epsi' (PostScript to EPS) conversion script to
create EPS files with bitmap previews.  Still, none of the CorelDraw
import filters will touch it.  The CoreTRACE and Illustrator *.EPS
filters say they "Could not understand the file".  The EPS (thumbnail)
filter is even less helpful, complaining about some "Internal
error".  The manual and online help are of no use.

    A colleague then suggested I try xfig 2.1 for X11.  xfig was
compiled on one of our research RS/6000's (running AIX 3.2.5).
While I could read in the EPS files and have the previews displayed
on-screen, pictures with embedded EPS objects simply would not
print on our QMS-410PS nor on another lab's Sparc laser printer
(it complained of an illegal instruction somewhere in the PostScript
output).  Is this a problem with Transfig? Showcase 3.2 on the SGI
can load/preview/print the EPS files, but again, it is geared
towards presentation graphics and lacks the precise control over
rotation, scaling and positioning that we need.

    I apologize if this seems complicated or confusing, but I've
iterally spent the past week trying to solve this problem.  Another
lab showed us IslandDraw on their Sparc and it looks like *exactly*
the thing we need.  Unfortunately, I've been told a single license
is around $1200.  I just need to combine several EPS objects together
on a page, draw some arrows in between and type in some text.
$1200 would seem unjustifiable.  As a last-ditch effort, a friend
of mine is going to try reading in the GhostScript-created EPS
files into PageMaker for Windows to see if it will preview and
print them.

    My question basically comes down to this:  are there any tools
available at reasonable cost that can place/rotate/scale EPS objects
on a page, and is able to draw simple graphics (arrows and text)?
Ideally, the software will run under UNIX and X11, but I'm not too
picky about that now.  Thanks for having the patience to read
through all this, and I hope I'm not asking for the impossible.  :)

    Followups have been set to e-mail to keep newsgroup clutter down.
I will summarize my findings when I am successful in producing this
figure.  :)
-- 
Brian Tao:: taob@io.org (Internex Online, 416-363-4151, 80 lines, v.32bis)
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