Tips/Figures

Version 2 (modified by mwr, 5 years ago)

Fleshing out descriptions of file formats.

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What Graphics Formats Can I Use? Which Are Recommended?

There are two main categories of graphics formats:  vector formats and  raster formats. Examples of vector formats include  DXF,  EPS, and  PDF. Examples of raster formats include  BMP,  GIF,  JPG,  PNG,  TIFF, and sometimes  EPS. Raster formats are further divided by the type of compression they use:

  • No compression: BMP, TIFF
  • Lossless compression: GIF, PNG, TIFF
  • Lossy compression: JPG

For data-driven charts and other mathematically-generated graphs, vector formats are preferred. For other computer-generated figures such as screenshots, lossless compressed raster formats are preferred. For digital photos, lossy compressed raster formats are acceptable, but if the image has to be edited several times, it's best to save in a lossless format until the final version.

The LaTeX 2e style used here is designed for direct PDF output via pdflatex. pdflatex reads graphics in JPG, PNG, and PDF formats. Notably absent from the list of formats is EPS, but EPS graphics can be easily converted to PDF on any system with pdflatex available.

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