Inman, Brant A. M.D. wrote: > Thanks to all the responders. Here are some replies to the comments: > > > 1) Concerning the term TIFF "format". > It may be that the journals are misusing the term TIFF, but it would > also appear that wikipedia is as well. The first sentence in the wiki > link sent below states: > > "Tagged Image File FORMAT (abbreviated TIFF) is a file FORMAT for mainly > storing images, including photographs and line art." > > Either way, the semantics of the word TIFF are probably not that > important for the current query. If a publisher wants images in TIFF, I > would like to provide them in that format, regardless of whether or not > I deem the request proper. After all they are the publishing experts! > > 2) Converting PNGs to TIFFs with Photoshop. > This is principally what I have done in the past that has given the poor > results that I have noted. I thought that it could be something that I > was specifically doing wrong so I consulted the medical imaging and > design department of my institution (Mayo Clinic) which informed me that > there is often a loss of information, some times quite large, in these > types of image format conversions. They suggested that it is best to > work with the TIFFs from the start if possible, which is why I am trying > to explore this option in R. It is interesting that my imaging > department was able to convert the WMF format to TIFF with much better > success. However, since Photoshop does not support WMFs, I am unable to > do this myself. I have downloaded ImageMagick and will try that. > > 3)Lack of gratitude by R users. > It is interesting to note upon reviewing the R-help files that many > queries (perhaps even the majority?) do, in fact, convey gratitude. > Unfortunately, I have also noted that there are several messages from R > developers that appear to feel underappreciated. I suspect that one > reason that R is experiencing an explosion of users is precisely that > people appreciate and value the donation of free time provided by > statistical experts--such as Harrell, Weigand, Ripley and Kort in this > thread--for the development of accurate and powerful statistical > software. Furthermore, the support provided for the software in the > form of R-help is outstanding, again something that I think is part of > the package deal that is attracting new users to R. In other words, one > should not assume a general lack of gratitude on behalf of R-help users > but should see the growth of R as evidence that the software and its > developpers/supporters are indeed greatly valued. I do not think that R > would be used much if people did not appreciate the nice packages, > functions and help provided. Indeed, those of us that have access to > multiple software programs (I have access to JMP, SPSS, SPLUS and SAS) > choose R as our primary method of analysis because we feel that the > sharing environment supported by CRAN is a better way of doing > statistical computing. Enough said. > > 4)Flexible journal policies. > Of 4 papers that I have submitted in the last 3 months for publication > in 3 journals (all to cancer related journals), all were subjected to > online file checkers that forced me to upload TIFF files instead of > PDFs. Not only do they check the format, but also various other > resolution related items. In other words, I would not have even made it > past the online submission stage if I only PDFs to work with. > > 5)Using the bitmap function to make TIFFs. > This sounds like a very attractive option. I have tried this option > using the simple code below: > > ------------- > attach(cars) > plot(speed ~ dist) # Simple plot to test > bitmap(file='C:\\...\\test.tif',type = "tifflzw", res = 1200) > > Error in system(paste(gsexe, "-help"), intern = TRUE, invisible = TRUE) > : > gswin32c.exe not found > > ------------- > > Despite what the error message suggests, I do have a functional > Ghostscript 8.54 program installed on my Windows XP machine with the > executable found in the directory: C:\Program > Files\gs\gs8.54\bin\gswin32c. I am not sure why R is not finding the > program. I tried making a Windows environmental variable, R_GSCMD, with > this system address but that did not have any success. Does the > gswin32c file need to be in my R PATH? > > It needs to be in your Path. If you open up a "DOS box" and type gswin32c, I bet you get the same error message. You can fix this by editing the Path (via My Computer/Properties/Advanced/Environment variables, as you seem to know). If you use the R_GSCMD route, you may get in trouble with the embedded space in "Program Files" ("dir/x c:" will tell you the equivalent space-free name). Also, remember that environment changes do not affect running programs so you may need to exit R and restart.
-- O__ ---- Peter Dalgaard Ă˜ster Farimagsgade 5, Entr.B c/ /'_ --- Dept. of Biostatistics PO Box 2099, 1014 Cph. K (*) \(*) -- University of Copenhagen Denmark Ph: (+45) 35327918 ~~~~~~~~~~ - ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) FAX: (+45) 35327907 ______________________________________________ R-help@stat.math.ethz.ch mailing list https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help PLEASE do read the posting guide http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code.