[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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