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MetafileToEPSConverter

Metafile to EPS Converter

Last update: version 1.3 (September 18, 2008). Supports Windows 2000/XP/Vista/Linux+Wine.

Using the metafile to EPS Converter, LyX can automatically convert graphics from the Windows metafile format (EMF or WMF) to Encapsulated Postscript (EPS). EPS graphics can be included directly in Postscript files and can easily be converted to PDF graphics (LyX will do this automatically).

Windows

The Metafile to EPS Converter is included in the official Windows installer of LyX 1.5.5 and later and is automatically used by LyX. It is also available as a stand-alone application.

• Installer of stand-alone version: metafile2eps.exe

Linux

On Linux, this tool can be run under Wine and will use the built-in metafile support of Wine (tested with version 0.9.53). While it is a bit more difficult to setup than the standard wmf2eps converter, the results will be better and EMF files are also supported.

• Download metafile2eps-linux.zip and extract it to a new folder 'metafile2eps' under the 'Program Files' folder of your Wine installation (usually '/home/<userid>/.wine/drive_c/Program Files').

A virtual printer needs to be installed that does the actual conversion. Using CUPS as printer spooler, this is the installation procedure: (There will be some differences if you are using other printer spoolers, or it might not work at all.)

• As root, copy '/home/<userid>/.wine/drive_c/Program Files/metafile2eps/PSPrinter/metafile2eps.ppd' to '/etc/cups/ppd/Metafile to EPS Converter.ppd'. The name 'Metafile to EPS Converter.ppd' is important, do not change.
• As root, add the following lines to /etc/cups/printers.conf:

 <Printer Metafile to EPS Converter>
 Metafile to EPS Converter
 Location Here
 DeviceURI file:/dev/null
 Accepting Yes
 Shared Yes
 JobSheets none none
 QuotaPeriod 0
 PageLimit 0
 KLimit 0
 OpPolicy default
 ErrorPolicy stop-printer
 </Printer>

• Restart CUPS
• Create a shell script named 'metafile2eps' with the following contents somewehere in your path:

 #! /bin/sh
 wine /home/<userid>/.wine/drive_c/Program Files/metafile2eps/metafile2eps.exe "$@"

• If you do not want to use the default converter for on screen display of metafiles (this uses libwmf and may not work correctly as described above), create a converter for EPS->PNG conversion in LyX. The command is convert PS:$$i PNG:$$o. This command is identical with the default EPS->PNG converter, but LyX won't use the latter for a two step conversion xMF->EPS->PNG.

Finally, start LyX and click Tools > Reconfigure. The installation is now completed.

Source code

Source code (GPL license): metafile2eps-source.zip

Windows Linux Tools