R help - May 2002 - good procedure for creating plots for PowerPoint

I am generating some graphs (on GNU/Linux using R 1.5.x) for a
PowerPoint presentation my boss is giving next week.  He just tried
cut/pasted a plot off of a PDF file I had created, but he complained
that the fonts were too small and fuzzy, and that he couldn't change
the background.  I have been playing with png(bg=transparent), but I
am not sure what appropriate height,width parameters and whether I
should modify my plot colors.  Any pointers on generating good quality
figures for PowerPoint?

Thanks!

-- 
Russell Senior         ``The two chiefs turned to each other.        
seniorr at aracnet.com      Bellison uncorked a flood of horrible       
                         profanity, which, translated meant, `This is
                         extremely unusual.' ''
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You can use the par() options. Note that you have to set them every time you
open up a new device. Here are the settings I have found to be useful:

setPowerPointStyle <- function() {
    par(font=BOLD);
    par(font.axis=BOLD);
    par(font.lab=BOLD);
    par(font.main=BOLD);
    par(font.sub=NORMAL);
    par(cex=1.2);
    par(cex.axis=1.2);
    par(cex.lab=1.2);
    par(cex.main=1.4);
    par(cex.sub=1.2);
    par(col="black");
    par(col.axis="black");
    par(col.lab="black");
    par(col.main="black");
    par(col.sub="black");
    par(lwd=2);
    par(pch=1);
    par(ps=12);
    par(tmag=1.2);
    par(mar=c(4, 3, 3, 1) + 0.1);
    par(mgp=c(1.5, 0.2, 0));
    par(tcl=0.3);
}

Then I save the pictures to PNG format with 'width=5' and
'height=5',
pointsize='14'.

Cheers

Henrik Bengtsson

Dept. of Mathematical Statistics @ Centre for Mathematical Sciences
Lund Institute of Technology/Lund University, Sweden (+2h UTC)
Office: P316, +46 46 222 9611 (phone), +46 46 222 4623 (fax)
h b @ m a t h s . l t h . s e, http://www.maths.lth.se/bioinformatics/

> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-r-help at stat.math.ethz.ch
> [mailto:owner-r-help at stat.math.ethz.ch]On Behalf Of Russell Senior
> Sent: Wednesday, May 08, 2002 1:38 AM
> To: r-help at stat.math.ethz.ch
> Subject: [R] good procedure for creating plots for PowerPoint
>
>
>
> I am generating some graphs (on GNU/Linux using R 1.5.x) for a
> PowerPoint presentation my boss is giving next week.  He just tried
> cut/pasted a plot off of a PDF file I had created, but he complained
> that the fonts were too small and fuzzy, and that he couldn't change
> the background.  I have been playing with png(bg=transparent), but I
> am not sure what appropriate height,width parameters and whether I
> should modify my plot colors.  Any pointers on generating good quality
> figures for PowerPoint?
>
> Thanks!
>
> --
> Russell Senior         ``The two chiefs turned to each other.
> seniorr at aracnet.com      Bellison uncorked a flood of horrible
>                          profanity, which, translated meant, `This is
>                          extremely unusual.' ''
> -.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.
> -.-.-.-.-.-.-
> r-help mailing list -- Read
> http://www.ci.tuwien.ac.at/~hornik/R/R-FAQ.html
> Send "info", "help", or "[un]subscribe"
> (in the "body", not the subject !)  To: r-help-request at
stat.math.ethz.ch
> _._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._.
> _._._._._._._
>
>
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r-help mailing list -- Read http://www.ci.tuwien.ac.at/~hornik/R/R-FAQ.html
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If you have Adobe Illustrator available then you can use 
postscript(), and the quality will be very good.

After creating the postscript file, open it with Illustrator. 
Illustrator (unless it's a very old version) will add a preview 
image. Save it in Illustrator's "Illustrator EPS" format. Then use
PowerPoint's "Insert Graphic from File" command.

Your boss will probably be able to change the background in 
PowerPoint, but it would be better to do it in Illustrator.

caveat: I do this on a Macintosh, and you didn't mention what 
platform he's using for his PowerPoint. I think it likely my 
procedure will work with Windows' Illustrator and PowerPoint.

With the postscript driver you can set the height and width of the 
plot to something appropriate for a PowerPoint presentation. It will 
probably take some trial and error on your part to get the margins 
and other graphical parameters right, since what fits  when viewing 
the graph on the screen may not fit when it's sized for Powerpoint.

-Don

At 4:38 PM -0700 5/7/02, Russell Senior wrote:
>I am generating some graphs (on GNU/Linux using R 1.5.x) for a
>PowerPoint presentation my boss is giving next week.  He just tried
>cut/pasted a plot off of a PDF file I had created, but he complained
>that the fonts were too small and fuzzy, and that he couldn't change
>the background.  I have been playing with png(bg=transparent), but I
>am not sure what appropriate height,width parameters and whether I
>should modify my plot colors.  Any pointers on generating good quality
>figures for PowerPoint?
>
>Thanks!
>
>--
>Russell Senior         ``The two chiefs turned to each other.       
>seniorr at aracnet.com      Bellison uncorked a flood of horrible      
>                          profanity, which, translated meant, `This is
>                          extremely unusual.' ''
>-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-
>r-help mailing list -- Read http://www.ci.tuwien.ac.at/~hornik/R/R-FAQ.html
>Send "info", "help", or "[un]subscribe"
>(in the "body", not the subject !)  To: r-help-request at
stat.math.ethz.ch
>_._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._

-- 
--------------------------------------
Don MacQueen
Environmental Protection Department
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
Livermore, CA, USA
--------------------------------------
-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-
r-help mailing list -- Read http://www.ci.tuwien.ac.at/~hornik/R/R-FAQ.html
Send "info", "help", or "[un]subscribe"
(in the "body", not the subject !)  To: r-help-request at
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The path, R to postscript to illustrator to powerpoint has worked for me
many times with excellent results.  In Windows (NT/2000), I just cut and
paste from illustrator into powerpoint, and resize the image.  Sometimes
I delete extra frames around the graphic or change titles, etc., in
illustrator first.
> If you have Adobe Illustrator available then you can use
> postscript(), and the quality will be very good.
>
> After creating the postscript file, open it with Illustrator.
> Illustrator (unless it's a very old version) will add a preview
> image. Save it in Illustrator's "Illustrator EPS" format.
Then use
> PowerPoint's "Insert Graphic from File" command.
>
> Your boss will probably be able to change the background in
> PowerPoint, but it would be better to do it in Illustrator.
>
> caveat: I do this on a Macintosh, and you didn't mention what
> platform he's using for his PowerPoint. I think it likely my
> procedure will work with Windows' Illustrator and PowerPoint.
>
> With the postscript driver you can set the height and width of the
> plot to something appropriate for a PowerPoint presentation. It will
> probably take some trial and error on your part to get the margins
> and other graphical parameters right, since what fits  when viewing
> the graph on the screen may not fit when it's sized for Powerpoint.
>
> -Don
>
> At 4:38 PM -0700 5/7/02, Russell Senior wrote:
> >I am generating some graphs (on GNU/Linux using R 1.5.x) for a
> >PowerPoint presentation my boss is giving next week.  He just tried
> >cut/pasted a plot off of a PDF file I had created, but he complained
> >that the fonts were too small and fuzzy, and that he couldn't
change
> >the background.  I have been playing with png(bg=transparent), but I
> >am not sure what appropriate height,width parameters and whether I
> >should modify my plot colors.  Any pointers on generating good
quality
> >figures for PowerPoint?
> >
> >Thanks!
> >
> >--
> >Russell Senior         ``The two chiefs turned to each other.
> >seniorr at aracnet.com      Bellison uncorked a flood of horrible
>
-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-
r-help mailing list -- Read http://www.ci.tuwien.ac.at/~hornik/R/R-FAQ.html
Send "info", "help", or "[un]subscribe"
(in the "body", not the subject !)  To: r-help-request at
stat.math.ethz.ch
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