How to automate a job of changing tags in a bunch of EPS images and convert them to PDF

Question

This post is a continuation to my earlier post here:

Creating standalone eps files and using batch files to automate the process

Xport gave good answers that work!

One goal of this whole process of automation also helps when using pdfLaTeX is used instead of the traditional tex > dvi > ps > pdf route. With TeXLive 2010, one can just issue the pdfLaTeX command and all eps files get converted on the fly to pdf and get inserted in the document.

I do not like the pdfLaTeX workflow but it compiles much faster than the traditional tex > dvi > ps > pdf route. So I have decided to use pdfLaTeX while a document is still work-in-progress and then I can use the workflow tex > dvi > ps > pdf to get the final compilation with all proper eps files inserted.

Now with pdfLaTeX, an eps file gets converted to pdf as follows:

e.g. jeffcott.eps gets converted to jeffcott-eps-converted-to.pdf and model.eps gets converted to model-eps-converted-to.pdf.

Making use of Xport batch files, I have tried to automate the above:

First we have the file automate.bat as follows:

for %%x in (*.tex) do dobatch.bat %%~nx

where the dobatch.bat is

 rem echo off
 latex -interaction=nonstopmode %1
 dvips -R -t unknown %1
 ps2pdf -dAutoRotatePages#/None -dCompatibilityLevel#1.5 -dPDFSETTINGS#/prepress -dMaxSubsetPct=100 -dSubsetFonts=true -dEmbedAllFonts=true -dEPSCrop %1.ps %1-temp.pdf
 pdfcrop --restricted --hires %1-temp %1.pdf
 rename %1.pdf %1-eps-converted-to.pdf
 pdftops -level3 -eps %1-eps-converted-to.pdf
 del %1.log
 del %1.aux
 del %1.dvi
 del %1.ps
 del %1-temp.pdf
 ps2eps -f --fixps %1-eps-converted-to.eps
 del %1.eps

Let's take an example to see what's happening:

Say I have the file jeffcott.eps and model.eps with unreplaced psfrag labels.

These files are here:

http://petitlien.fr/epspicture

I create the file jeffcott.tex working on jeffcott.epsas follows:

 \documentclass[12pt]{standalone}
 \usepackage[hiresbb,dvips]{graphicx}
 \usepackage[dvips]{color}
 \usepackage{psfrag}
 \usepackage{fourier}
 \newcommand{\figtext}{\small}
 \begin{document}
 {\figtext
 \psfrag{A}{$m$}
 \psfrag{B}{$k,c$}
 \psfrag{Y}{inner stator bore}
 \includegraphics{jeffcott.eps}}
 \end{document}

and a similar one model.tex working on model.eps as given below:

 \documentclass[12pt]{standalone}
 \usepackage[hiresbb,dvips]{graphicx}
 \usepackage[dvips]{color}
 \usepackage{psfrag}
 \usepackage{fourier}
 \newcommand{\figtext}{\small}
 \begin{document}
 {\figtext
 \psfrag{D}{$x$}
 \psfrag{E}{$y$}
 \psfrag{F}{$\omega_\mathrm{ro}$}
 \psfrag{G}{$\omega_\mathit{fo} \thinspace t$}
 \psfrag{H}{$\beta$}
 \psfrag{I}{$a$}
 \psfrag{J}{$r$}
 \psfrag{K}{$\theta$}
 \psfrag{L}{$r$}
 \psfrag{M}{$\mathrm{C}_\mathrm{st}$}
 \psfrag{N}{$\mathrm{C}_\mathrm{ro}$}
 \includegraphics{model.eps}}
 \end{document}

I place jeffcott.tex, model.tex, automate.bat and dobatch.bat in the same folder as jeffcott.eps and model.eps, and then I run automate.bat. The following files are now in that folder:

A. The original files

jeffcott.tex
model.tex
jeffcott.eps
model.eps
automate.bat
dobatch.bat

B. And the created files from running the automate.bat

jeffcott-eps-converted-to.eps
jeffcott-eps-converted-to.eps.eps
jeffcott-eps-converted-to.pdf

model-eps-converted-to.eps
model-eps-converted-to.eps.eps
model-eps-converted-to.pdf

I am close to what I need as jeffcott-eps-converted-to.pdf and model-eps-converted-to.pdf have been created. These are pdf files with all labels by psfrag inserted unlike those pdf files generated by running pdflatex with TeXLive 2010 which would not contain the replaced labels. What I did in the file dobatch.bat was to make sure that I get the same filenames as those which would be created by pdfLaTeX. Now I can just replace the pdfLaTeX pdf versions of my original eps files with these pdf files created with the batch file.

I have four questions:

I. In the file dobatch.bat, there is the line: ps2eps -f --fixps %1-eps-converted-to.eps

whatever code comes after this line in the batch file get ignored. Why is that and how to fix that?

II. Ghostscript cannot read the bbox for jeffcott-eps-converted-to.eps and model-eps-converted-to.eps. This is why I use ps2eps to fix the bbox and it works. And I get the files: jeffcott-eps-converted-to.eps.eps and model-eps-converted-to.eps.eps. Since I have the original eps files: jeffott.eps and model.eps (without the psfrag labels) in the same directory, I would like to have the new correct eps files with all labels included named as jefcottalone.eps and modelalone.eps to emphasize that they stand alone. How to achieve this in th batch file dobatch.bat?

III. In my file jeffcott.tex, I have used the line:

 \documentclass[12pt]{standalone}

Does the standalone package accept the option 12pt? I did not see this in the manual.

IV. In my file jeffcott.tex, I use the command:

\newcommand{\figtext}{\small}

to specify whatever text in the figure should be of size \figtext. It seems to work. Is this the correct way of doing things?

Answer 1

Scenario:

Please confirm, whether or not your situation like below.

1. You have a bunch of EPS files.

2. You want to replace some certain tags on each EPS. To do so, you have prepared files file01.tex for image01.eps, file01.tex for image02.eps, etc. For example, you have prepared file01.tex and file02.tex as follow:

   % file01.tex for image01.eps
   \documentclass[dvips]{article}
   \pagestyle{empty}
   \parindent=0pt
   \usepackage{graphicx}
   \usepackage{psfrag}
   
   \begin{document} 
   \small
   \psfrag{a}{$A$}
   \psfrag{b}{$B$}
   \psfrag{c}{I am C!}
   \includegraphics{image01}
   \end{document}
   

   % file02.tex for image02.eps
   \documentclass[dvips]{article}
   \pagestyle{empty}
   \parindent=0pt
   \usepackage{graphicx}
   \usepackage{psfrag}
   
   \begin{document} 
   \small
   \psfrag{G}{\color{red}$m$}
   \psfrag{H}{\color{red}$k,c$}
   \psfrag{I}{\color{red}inner stator bore}
   \includegraphics{image02}
   \end{document}
   

3. You want to automate the process to produce a PDF version for each of EPS.

4. All white spaces surrounding the valuable object in EPS must be trimmed in PDF.

5. You want to import the resulting PDF files to your main document such as thesis, article, etc.

If it is your real scenario, then I will give you the correct direction. I am confused with your lengthy question.

Solution:

The following is the workflow you must do.

1. Create a batch file for compiling a single file**.tex to produce file**.pdf. Name the batch file EpsToPdf.bat as follows.

   rem EpsToPdf.bat
   rem It takes a file name without extension.
   rem For example: EpsToPdf file01
   rem Another example: EpsToPdf file02
   
   latex "%1"
   dvips -t unknown "%1"
   ps2pdf "%1.ps" "%1-temp.pdf"
   pdfcrop --hires "%1-temp" "%1.pdf"
   rem acrord32 "%1.pdf"
   del "%1.log"
   del "%1.aux"
   del "%1.dvi"
   del "%1.ps"
   del "%1-temp.pdf"
   

2. Create another batch file to automate the process of compiling all file**.tex. Name this batch automate.bat as follows.

   rem automatic.bat
   rem just execute without any switch.
   for %%x in (*.tex) do EpsToPdf.bat "%%~nx"
   

3. Make sure all image**.eps, file**.tex, batch files are in the same directory. This is needed unless you have set the PATH environment variable to the path pointing to the batch files.

4. Execute automatic.bat by double clicking it. Wait until all PDF are generated. If there are missing PDF, then check the corresponding file**.tex.

5. To import the resulting PDF to your main document such as thesis, article, journal, etc, create another TeX document as follow. It is just a trivial example.

   % main.tex
   \documentclass{article}
   \usepackage{graphicx,lipsum}
   \begin{document}
   \lipsum[1]
   \includegraphics{file01}
   
   \lipsum[2]
   \includegraphics{file02}
   \end{document}
   

   And compile it using the following batch file, just type TexToPdf main and hit enter in DOS-prompt.

   rem TexToPdf.bat
   rem It takes a file name without extension.
   rem For example: TexToPdf main
   
   pdflatex "%1"
   pdflatex "%1"
   rem acrord32 "%1.pdf"
   del "%1.log"
   del "%1.aux"
   rem del "%1.***" <=== change *** to something meaningful
   

   pdflatex.exe are intentionally executed twice to get correct cross-references.

6. Done!

Additional:

If you need EPS output as well, then you must insert pdftops -eps "%1.pdf" right after pdfcrop --hires "%1-temp" "%1.pdf" in EpsToPdf.bat above.

But be careful !!!! Read the following carefully !!!

If your TeX input file has the same name as the imported EPS file has, then the original EPS file will be overwritten. You will lose the original EPS! To avoid this, you must not give the TeX input file a name that is equal to the name of the original EPS.