TeXShopConverting Graphic Formats
In the past, graphic files for TeX documents were often in eps or tiff format. It is sometimes necessary to convert these files to pdf format. Various Unix utilities are available to do the conversions, and the list below contains utilities I have found helpful.
The conversions about to be described require two programs: ghostscript and ImageMagick. Both programs are available within the MacTeX install package.
- Ghostscript contains a conversion program called "epstopdf." To convert an eps file named "myfile.eps" to a pdf file "myfile.pdf", open a terminal window and type "epstopdf myfile.eps". The version of epstopdf in the distribution can convert eps files even if they use Macintosh line feeds rather than Unix line feeds. If you drag an eps file to the TeXShop icon, TeXShop will call epstopdf automatically to convert, and then display the resulting pdf file.
- ImageMagick is a wonderful program by ImageMagick Studio which can read, write, and manipulate images in many formats. ImageMagick can convert tiff files to jpg, eps, and pdf files, and convert eps files to tiff files. To convert "file.tiff" to jpg, type "convert file.tiff file.jpg". To convert it to eps, type "convert file.tiff file.eps". Once you have an eps file, you can use epstopdf to convert to pdf.
Richard Koch
Department of Mathematics
University of Oregon
Eugene, Oregon 97403
(541) 346-5630
Email: <
koch@math.uoregon.edu
>