[Tex/LaTex] What steps are done by XeLaTeX when compiling input files with PSTricks codes, jpeg, png, eps, pdf images

dvipsjpegps2pdfxetex

I am confused why XeLaTeX can produce a pdf output from an input file that contains PSTricks codes, PNG, JPEG, PDF, EPS images. It is the first time I use XeLaTeX and I am really surprised that I can import images from many different format in the same input file.

Usually I use latex-dvips-ps2pdf to compile my input file that contains PSTricks codes and only EPS images. If I have PNG, JPEG and PDF images, I must convert them in advance to get the EPS version.

Unfortunately, XeLaTeX runs slower than latex-dvips-ps2pdf. I don't know why. Behind the scene, what steps are actually done by XeLaTeX when compiling input files with PSTricks codes, jpeg, png, eps, pdf images?

Best Answer

JPEG, PNG and PDF are directly supported by PDF format, then they're supported by xdvipdfmx directly. xetex program reads the image files to determine the bounding boxes and produce a .xdv file, then xdvipdfmx program put the image data to PDF output file.

PDF format does not support PostScript stream, thus EPS files are converted to PDF format and then put into PDF output file. xdvipdfmx calls GhostScript to do the trick.

PSTricks pacakge also calls GhostScript to render the PostScript code. The code needed is in xdvipdfmx.con. Herbert may give more explanations.

Related Solutions

[Tex/LaTex] Which one produces a pdf with the smaller file size? pdflatex or latex-dvips-ps2pdf

Despite my comment to the original question, I have now come to the conclusion that the latex-dvips-ps2pdf route produces smaller PDF files than pdflatex alone.

However, in my answer to How to make the PDFS produced by pdflatex smaller I suggested to use gs to compress the resulting PDF, which gets you a significant reduction in size. As ps2pdf is as well built on gs internally, one can also directly pass compression options to ps2pdf, so in the end it should not matter.

I made some quick experiments with a beamer presentation. In these experiments the pdflatex-gs route lead to only 1 percent smaller PDFs than latex-dvips-ps2pdf.

So the bottom line is: With respect to the goal of small PDF files, it doesn't matter.

You can just choose your frontend depending on other constraints (e.g., latex-dvips-ps2pdf if you use pstricks or pdflatex-gs to support transparencies in pgf/tikz images).

[Tex/LaTex] How to use latex to include EPS images with spaces in theirs names and paths

The \special for dvips' EPS file support already uses quotes, e.g.:

PSfile="a b c/d e f.eps" llx=0 lly=0 urx=24 ury=24 rwi=240

However, the graphics package has to do much more:

File exists?
Without extension? Try out the extensions, given in the extension list.
Searching via \graphicspath.
Driver specific: \Gread@eps reads the PostScript file to find the bounding box.

Package grffile deals with the first three items, if option space is given. The last item needs patching (at least until I might update grffile):

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{graphicx}

\usepackage[space]{grffile}
\usepackage{etoolbox}
\makeatletter
\patchcmd\Gread@eps{\@inputcheck#1 }{\@inputcheck"#1"\relax}{}{}
\makeatother

\begin{document}
\includegraphics{a b c/d e f.eps}
\includegraphics{a b c/d e f}
\graphicspath{{a b c/}}
\includegraphics{d e f.eps}
\includegraphics{d e f}
\end{document}

Best Answer

Related Solutions

[Tex/LaTex] Which one produces a pdf with the smaller file size? pdflatex or latex-dvips-ps2pdf

[Tex/LaTex] How to use latex to include EPS images with spaces in theirs names and paths

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