Thread: [Matplotlib-users] matplotlib plots into powerpoint

I have to put some matplotlib plots into a poster in Powerpoint that
will be printed out for a research review (my advisor requires the use
of Powerpoint).  I would prefer not to go the high dpi jpg or png
route, since these are going to be printed.  And Powerpoint won't
actually show you the graph on the screen if you insert eps or pdf.  I
think my best bet is wmf.  Should I be considering some other format?=20
If wmf is my best bet, how do I get my plots from matplotlib into wmf?
 I thought I remembered a wmf output option from ghostscript on
windows, but I just installed gs on my wife's windows  computer and
don't see it.

Thanks,

Ryan

>>>>> "Ryan" == Ryan Krauss <rya...@gm...> writes:

    Ryan> I have to put some matplotlib plots into a poster in
    Ryan> Powerpoint that will be printed out for a research review
    Ryan> (my advisor requires the use of Powerpoint).  I would prefer

Please purchase a copy of "The Cognitive Style of Powerpoint" by
Edward Tufte

  http://www.edwardtufte.com/tufte/books_pp

    Ryan> not to go the high dpi jpg or png route, since these are
    Ryan> going to be printed.  And Powerpoint won't actually show you

Are you worried about the printing being slow?  As long as the dpi is
high enough, the quality should suffice.  Does powerpoint handle svg?
The matplotlib svg backend is reasonably complete (no mathtext).

JDH

Hi Ryan,
You could try the emf backend directly from matplotlib. I just had my 
first go at using it and got a traceback. Then I put
import matplotlib
matplotlib.use('emf')
before the pylab import as suggested here:
http://matplotlib.sourceforge.net/backends.html
and it worked, although mathtext doesn't seem to work with it. It also 
produced a very jagged line in my test plot, where other backends 
produce nice smooth ones, so I'm not convinced I'd use it, but it might 
be OK for what you want.
Gary R.

Ryan Krauss wrote:
> I have to put some matplotlib plots into a poster in Powerpoint that
> will be printed out for a research review (my advisor requires the use
> of Powerpoint).  I would prefer not to go the high dpi jpg or png
> route, since these are going to be printed.  And Powerpoint won't
> actually show you the graph on the screen if you insert eps or pdf.  I
> think my best bet is wmf.  Should I be considering some other format? 
> If wmf is my best bet, how do I get my plots from matplotlib into wmf?
>  I thought I remembered a wmf output option from ghostscript on
> windows, but I just installed gs on my wife's windows  computer and
> don't see it.
> 
> Thanks,
> 
> Ryan

I will test out a 600dpi png in a powerpoint slide and see how I feel about=
 it.

I need to use usetex.  Does that work with the svg backend?

As a last resort, I will dump the data to a text file from Python and
use Matlab to generate wmf's (the horror!).  I am o.k. with it because
this is the last time I will ever have to do one of these (provided I
graduate soon).

On 4/11/06, Gary Ruben <gr...@bi...> wrote:
> Hi Ryan,
> You could try the emf backend directly from matplotlib. I just had my
> first go at using it and got a traceback. Then I put
> import matplotlib
> matplotlib.use('emf')
> before the pylab import as suggested here:
> http://matplotlib.sourceforge.net/backends.html
> and it worked, although mathtext doesn't seem to work with it. It also
> produced a very jagged line in my test plot, where other backends
> produce nice smooth ones, so I'm not convinced I'd use it, but it might
> be OK for what you want.
> Gary R.
>
> Ryan Krauss wrote:
> > I have to put some matplotlib plots into a poster in Powerpoint that
> > will be printed out for a research review (my advisor requires the use
> > of Powerpoint).  I would prefer not to go the high dpi jpg or png
> > route, since these are going to be printed.  And Powerpoint won't
> > actually show you the graph on the screen if you insert eps or pdf.  I
> > think my best bet is wmf.  Should I be considering some other format?
> > If wmf is my best bet, how do I get my plots from matplotlib into wmf?
> >  I thought I remembered a wmf output option from ghostscript on
> > windows, but I just installed gs on my wife's windows  computer and
> > don't see it.
> >
> > Thanks,
> >
> > Ryan
>
>

On Tuesday 11 April 2006 10:39 am, Ryan Krauss wrote:
> I will test out a 600dpi png in a powerpoint slide and see how I feel about
> it.
>
> I need to use usetex.  Does that work with the svg backend?

No.

Ryan Krauss wrote:
> I will test out a 600dpi png in a powerpoint slide and see how I feel about it.

You can always resize/rescale it...
I'm puzzled.

m.
-- 
Massimo Sandal
University of Bologna
Department of Biochemistry "G.Moruzzi"

snail mail:
Via Irnerio 48, 40126 Bologna, Italy

email:
mas...@un...

tel: +39-051-2094388
fax: +39-051-2094387

On Tue, 11 Apr 2006, Ryan Krauss apparently wrote:=20
> I have to put some matplotlib plots into a poster in=20
> Powerpoint that will be printed out for a research review=20
> (my advisor requires the use of Powerpoint).  I would=20
> prefer not to go the high dpi jpg or png route, since=20
> these are going to be printed.  And Powerpoint won't=20
> actually show you the graph on the screen if you insert=20
> eps or pdf.  I think my best bet is wmf.  Should I be=20
> considering some other format?=20

http://www.cis.upenn.edu/~mwh/tips.html
http://duramecho.com/ComputerInformation/HowToDoPowerpointPosters.html

hth,
Alan Isaac

Ryan Krauss wrote:

>I will test out a 600dpi png in a powerpoint slide and see how I feel about it.
>
Would OpenOffice.Org work better in this regard than PP ??  E.g., 
display eps.
(never tried it myself)

Gary writes:
 > Ryan Krauss wrote:
 > 
 > >I will test out a 600dpi png in a powerpoint slide and see how I feel about it.
 > >
 > Would OpenOffice.Org work better in this regard than PP ??  E.g., 
 > display eps.
 > (never tried it myself)

My experience has been that any character that belongs on a
presentation slide (i.e. that will be visible from a projector screen)
looks ok when converted to a  300 dpi bitmap, with the image reduced
and cropped in powerpoint.  ImageMagick does a great job:

convert -density 300 -trim file.eps file.gif

Regards, Phil