Nebula 1994 June/NEBULA_SE.ISO/Documents/FAQ/PostScript-faq/part11

Text File | 1993-08-27 | 23.4 KB | 614 lines

Newsgroups: comp.lang.postscript,comp.answers,news.answers
Path: senator-bedfellow.mit.edu!bloom-beacon.mit.edu!spool.mu.edu!uwm.edu!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!brunix!doorknob!jgm
From: [e-mail] (Jonathan Monsarrat)
Subject: PostScript monthly FAQ v2.1 05-21-93 [11 of 11]
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Followup-To: poster
Summary: Useful facts about the PostScript graphics programming language
Sender: [e-mail]
Supersedes: <[e-mail]>
Reply-To: [e-mail] (PostScript FAQ comments address)
Organization: Brown University Department of Computer Science
Date: Thu, 26 Aug 1993 15:30:43 GMT
Approved: [e-mail]
Expires: Mon, 27 Sep 1993 00:00:00 GMT
Lines: 596
Xref: senator-bedfellow.mit.edu comp.lang.postscript:20193 comp.answers:1748 news.answers:11813

Archive-name: postscript/faq/part11
Last-modified: 1993/05/21
Version: 2.1

                              -- PostScript --

                            Answers to Questions

                    (the comp.lang.postscript FAQ v2.1)

                               Jon Monsarrat

                              [e-mail]






                     This FAQ is formatted as a digest.

                Most news readers can skip from one question

                     to the next by pressing control-G.


    Changes since the last version are marked with a '|' in the table
    of contents and in the sections in the text-only format of the FAQ.

    Please help fix the FAQ! All comments should be mailed to
    [e-mail]. My favorite way to receive a change suggestion is
    when it is accompanied by a section of the FAQ that is edited and
    mailed to me verbatim as an example. If you would like to
    contribute, please read the section ``about the FAQ'' first. Thank
    you!

    Books and programs are referred to by name only. See the book
    sections for book information, and the comp.sources.postscript FAQ
    for a full list of all PostScript related programs. I have
    archived a number of the small utilities in
    wilma.cs.brown.edu:pub/postscript.  You can get the
    comp.sources.postscript FAQ from
    wilma.cs.brown.edu:pub/comp.sources.postscript.

Subject: 11 About PostScript 2


Subject: 11.1 What printers support Level 2 PostScript?



    * Apple LaserWriter IIf


    * Apple LaserWriter IIg


    * Apple LaserWriter Pro 600 (with ram upgrade to get 600 DPI)


    * Apple LaserWriter Pro 630 (True 600 DPI)


    * Apple Personal LaserWriter NTR

      Apple sells an upgrade to the IINTX to turn it into a IIf/IIG for
      instance.


    * Compaq PAGEMARQ 20


    * Compaq PAGEMARQ 15


    * Data Products LZR 960


    * Data Products LZR 1560


    * Hewlett-Packard PostScript CartridgePlus, which works with the HP
      Laserjet III, IIID, and IIIP.


    * Hewlett-Packard LaserJet 4M


    * NEC SilentWriter 95


    * QMS 1725 Print System


    * QMS 860 ``Hammerhead''


    * QMS ColorScript 210 and 230


    * Tektronix Phaser III PXi


    * Tektronix Phaser II (all models)


    * Tektronix Phase 200e


    * Texas Instruments microLaser Turbo


    * Texas Instruments microLaser XL Turbo

    This rest of file contains a description of PostScript 2 written by
    Carl Orthlieb from Adobe. The text has not been changed, but some
    paragraphs have been deleted for brevity. Comments by me are in
    square brackets, and these were not written by Adobe.


Subject: 11.2 What is PostScript Level 2?

    Since its introduction in 1985, the PostScript language has been
    considerably extended for greater programming power, efficiency,
    and flexibility.

    Typically, these language extensions have been designed to adapt
    the PostScript language to new imaging technologies or system
    environments. While these extensions have introduced new
    functionality and flexibility to the language, the basic imaging
    model remains unchanged.

    PostScript Level 2 integrates the original PostScript language, all
    previous language extensions, and new language features into the
    core PostScript language imaging model.


Subject: 11.3 [ Color Extensions ]

    The color extensions were added to the language in 1988 to provide
    more complete color functionality. With the original PostScript
    language, color could be specified using the red-green-blue (RGB)
    and hue-saturation-brightness (HSB) color models.

    The color extensions include cyan-magenta-yellow-black (CMYK) color
    model, black generation and undercolor removal functions, screen
    and transfer functions for four separate color components, and a
    colorimage operator for rendering color sampled images. The color
    extensions are currently found in PostScript color printers from
    Canon, QMS, Oce, and NEC as well as all implementations of the
    Display PostScript system.


Subject: 11.4 [ Composite Font Extensions ]

    The composite font technology is a general solution that extends
    the basic PostScript language font mechanism to enable the encoding
    of very large character sets and handle non-horizontal writing
    modes.

    A Type 1 PostScript font has room for encoding only 256 distinct
    characters. A typical Japanese font has over 7,000 Kanji, katakana
    and hiragana characters. The composite font technology allows you
    to create one ``composite'' font that is made up from any number of
    ``base'' fonts. In addition, the composite font technology allows
    you to include two sets of metrics (character spacing details) in
    the font: one for a horizontal-writing mode, and one for a
    vertical-writing mode.


Subject: 11.5 [ Display PostScript Extensions ]

    The Display PostScript extensions address the needs of using the
    PostScript language imaging model in a display environment. It
    includes extensions to deal specifically with displays and
    windowing systems as well as many optimized operators to increase
    performance which is critical in an interactive display environment
    [ (and printers) ] .


Subject: 11.6 [ Overview of Level 2 Features ]


Subject: 11.7 Filters



    * A filter transforms data as it is being read from or written to a
      file. The language supports filters for ASCII encoding of binary
      data, compression and decompression, and embedded subfiles.
      Properly used, these filters reduce the storage and transmission
      cost of page descriptions, especially ones containing sampled
      images. Benefits: Reduced storage requirements, greater
      performance.


    * ASCII encoding of binary data: ASCII/85 (represent binary data in
      ASCII format with only a 125 % expansion of data), and ASCII/HEX
      (current method of representing binary data in ASCII format but
      with a 200 % expansion of data). Benefits: Compact representation
      of binary data in a portable ASCII representation.


    * Compression and decompression filters: CCITT Group 3 & 4
      (monochrome images), run-length encoding (monochrome and
      grayscale images), LZW ( 2:1 compression of text files), DCT
      (20-200:1 compression of color images using the proposed JPEG
      standard). Benefits: Improved performance due to reduced
      transmission times. PostScript files on disk can also be made
      much smaller, saving disk space.


Subject: 11.8 Binary Encoding

    In addition to the standard ASCII encoding, the language syntax
    includes two binary-encoded representations. These binary encodings
    improve efficiency of generation, representation, and
    interpretation. However, they are less portable than the ASCII
    encoding and are suitable for use only in controlled environments.
    Benefits: performance, compactness.


Subject: 11.9 Optimized graphics operators



    * Rectangle operators. New operators for filling, clipping and
      stroking rectangles; all highly optimized. For example, rectfill
      is 3 times faster than an equivalent moveto, lineto, lineto,
      lineto, closepath, fill. Benefits: performance and convenience.


    * Graphics state objects provide a fast way to switch between
      graphics states, which define the current line weight, color,
      font, etc. In existing printers, graphics states are stored on a
      stack, so accessing an arbitrary graphics state is somewhat
      cumbersome. With graphics state objects, the graphics state can
      be associated with a name, and retrieved by simply requesting the
      name. Benefits: Performance, convenience.


    * Halftone specification. New halftone dictionaries provide a more
      precise way of specifying the halftone dots, and makes switching
      between halftone screens faster. (The spot function is not
      reinterpreted.) Benefits: Performance, convenience, enhanced
      functionality.


    * User paths are self-contained procedures that consists entirely
      of path construction operators and their coordinate operands.
      User path operators perform path construction and painting as a
      single operation; this is both convenient and efficient. There is
      a user path cache to optimize interpretation of user paths that
      are invoked repeatedly. Benefits: Performance, convenience.


    * Stroke adjustment. For very thin lines, there is a trade-off
      between perfect positioning and consistent line width. Depending
      on the placement of such a line, it could end up being rendered
      as either 1 or 2 pixels wide, which is a noticeable difference.
      To account for this, PostScript language programs often include
      logic to slightly alter the coordinates of lines for consistent
      rendering. With automatic stroke adjustment the interpreter
      performs this adjustment to ensure consistent widths. Doing it in
      the interpreter rather than in the PostScript language program is
      20 - 30 % faster. Benefits: Performance, convenience, improved
      quality.


Subject: 11.10 Optimized text operators



    * The xyshow operator provides a more natural way for applications
      to deal with individual character positioning. Allows
      simultaneous track kerning, pair kerning, and justification.
      Benefits: Performance, convenience.


    * The selectfont operator optimizes switching between fonts. It
      does the work of 3 Level 1 operators: findfont, scalefont, and
      setfont and has been optimized by using a caching mechanism.
      Benefits: Performance, convenience.


Subject: 11.11 Forms



    * A form is a self-contained description of any arbitrary graphics,
      text, and sampled images that are to be painted multiple times on
      each of several pages or several times at different locations on
      a single page.


    * With the new forms feature, you can define a base form whose
      representation stays cached between pages, so only information
      that changes between forms will need to be interpreted for each
      page. The representation used to cache the form may vary from
      device to device depending on the available resources, such as
      memory and/or hard disk space. In some cases, the actual
      rasterized form will be saved, in other cases, an intermediate
      representation (such as a display list) may be saved. Benefits:
      End-users will benefit by improved performance.


    * This makes forms processing faster and provide a natural
      framework for ISVs implementing a forms functionality in their
      application. Benefits: Convenience for ISVs.


    * Besides the traditional concept of ``forms,'' some other examples
      of forms include: Letterhead, stationary, overhead presentation
      backgrounds, repetitive symbols in a CAD drawing such as screws
      (mechanical drawing) or windows (architectural drawing), complex
      background blends in 35mm slides. Benefits: Enhanced
      functionality and application of PostScript printers in a variety
      of different environments.


Subject: 11.12 Patterns



    * The new pattern color space provides the ability to establish a
      pattern as the current color. Subsequent use of operators such as
      fill, stroke, and show apply ``paint'' that is produced by
      replicating (or tiling) a small graphical figure called a pattern
      cell at fixed intervals in x and y to cover the areas to be
      painted. The appearance of a pattern cell is defined by a
      PostScript language procedure, which can include any arbitrary
      graphics, text, and sampled images. The shape of the pattern cell
      need not be rectangular, and the spacing of tiles can differ from
      the size of the pattern cell. Benefits: Enhanced functionality,
      performance, convenience.


    * For efficiency, the representation of the pattern cell may be
      cached. When cached, the execution of the procedure that defines
      the pattern need be done only once for the current pattern. The
      pattern cache is similar to the font cache. Benefits:
      Performance.


    * Multiple colors can be specified in the pattern or the pattern
      can be used as a mask to paint a color defined in some other
      color space. Benefits: Enhanced functionality


    * For display environments, this feature will allow patterns to be
      represented in a resolution independent manner. Until now,
      patterns have typically been represented by arrangements of
      pixels. This resolution-dependent representation does not work
      well when trying to image the pattern at a variety of different
      resolutions.


Subject: 11.13 Images

    There are several enhancements to the facilities for painting
    sampled images: use of any color space, 12-bit component values,
    direct use of files as data sources, and additional decoding and
    rendering options. Benefits: Convenience, performance, quality.


Subject: 11.14 Composite Fonts



    * Provides the basic machinery for non-Roman character sets.
      Enables the encoding of very large character sets and
      non-horizontal writing modes. Benefits: Enhanced functionality.


    * Provides a page description language for international business.
      Composite font technology makes printers more international. The
      same font technology can be used worldwide, and will provide
      support for companies that must work in today's international
      business environment. Benefits: Enhanced functionality.


    * Advantages not limited to foreign languages - also useful for
      strictly Roman printers: allows the creation of a single
      composite font that combines two or more fonts. For example, you
      may wish to combine a textual font (such as Times-Roman) with a
      graphical font (such as Zapf-Dingbats), and have all characters
      at their disposal within a single font. Other uses of composite
      fonts: IBM extended character set, and expert sets (such as Adobe
      Garamond). Benefits: Enhanced functionality and increased
      performance by minimizing switching between fonts.


Subject: 11.15 New Color Spaces



    * CMYK color model and support for color images. Enhanced
      functionality. This will encourage more ISVs to use the color
      operators, because the operators will be widely available (The
      printer itself may not be able to print in color, but the
      PostScript language program won't generate errors when the
      operators for CMYK color are used.)


    * PostScript Level 2 supports several device-independent color
      spaces based on the CIE 1931 (XYZ)-space. CIE-based color
      specification enables a page description to specify color in a
      way that is related to human visual perception. The goal of the
      CIE standard is that a given CIE-based color specification should
      produce consistent results on different color output devices,
      independent of variations in marking technology, ink colorants,
      or screen phosphors. True device-independent color specification.
      Improved color matching between devices.


    * PostScript Level 2 supports three classes of color spaces: device
      independent, special, and device dependent.

    The following device independent color spaces are standard:

    The CIEBasedABC color space is defined in terms of a two-stage,
    non- linear transformation of the CIE 1931 (XYZ)-space. The
    formulation of the CIEBasedABC color space models a simple zone
    theory of color vision, consisting of a non-linear trichromatic
    first stage combined with a non-linear opponent color second stage.
    This formulation allows colors to be digitized with minimum loss of
    fidelity; this is important in sample images.

    Special cases of CIEBasedABC include a variety of interesting and
    useful color spaces, such as the CIE 1931 (XYZ)-space, a class of
    calibrated RGB spaces, a class of opponent color spaces such as the
    CIE 1976 (L*a*b*)-space and the NTSC, SECAM, and PAL television
    spaces.

    The CIEBased A color space is a one-dimensional and usually
    achromatic analog of CIEBasedABC.

    The following special color spaces are standard:



    * The Pattern color space enables painting with a ``color'' defined
      as a pattern, a graphical figure used repeatedly to cover the
      areas that are to be painted. See the discussion of patterns for
      more information.


    * The Indexed color space provides a way to map from small integers
      to arbitrary colors in a different color space such as a device
      independent color space.


    * The Separation color space provides control over either the
      production of a color separation or the application of a device
      colorant, depending on the nature and configuration of the
      device.

    The following device dependent color spaces are standard:



    * The DeviceGray color space is equivalent to the existing
      PostScript language's gray color model.


    * The DeviceRGB color space is equivalent to the existing
      PostScript language's red-green-blue (RGB) color model.


    * The DeviceCMYK color space is equivalent to the existing
      PostScript language's cyan-magenta-yellow-black (CMYK) color
      model.


Subject: 11.16 New screening/halftoning technology



    * Improved algorithms for determining the angles and frequencies
      used for halftone screens. The improvements fall into two primary
      categories: general improvements, and improvements specific to
      color separations.


    * General improvements: (1) The new algorithms yield a 10 %
      improvement in the speed of the setscreen and image operators;
      (2) Earlier version of PostScript software could produce halftone
      screens only for certain angle and frequency combinations. Enough
      of these combinations were available so that any requested screen
      could be fairly well approximated by one of the available angle
      and frequency combinations. In contrast, the improved halftoning
      algorithms can provide as much as a ten-fold increase in the
      number of angle-frequency combinations that are available,
      depending on the device resolution and the available memory.
      Benefits: Increased performance and higher quality halftone
      screens.


    * Improvements specific to color separations: An additional feature
      is available that enables PostScript software to generate
      extremely accurate screen angles and frequencies. The screens
      produced by this method can achieve an angular accuracy of within
      05 degrees or better, depending on such parameters as exact
      screen angle requested, device resolution, and memory available
      for use by the algorithm. Benefits: Extremely high-quality color
      separations that approach the quality that previously was
      available only from high-end, color electronic pre-press systems.


Subject: 11.17 Improved printer support features



    * Page device setup provides a device independent framework for
      specifying the requirements of a page description and for
      controlling both standard features, such as the number of copies,
      and optional features, such as duplex printing, paper trays,
      paper sizes, and other peripheral features.


    * Applications developers will be able to write a single driver for
      a variety of different PostScript printers. The same code can be
      used to address printer specific features whether the features
      exist in the printer or not. If the feature is not in the
      printer, the application can decide how to best respond to the
      lack of the feature. Benefits: Enhanced functionality. ISVs
      benefit by having a more uniform method for accessing printer
      specific features. End users benefit by having software that will
      take advantage of their printer's features.


Subject: 11.18 Interpreter parameters

    Administrative operations, such as system configuration and
    changing input-output device parameters, are now organized in a
    more systematic way. Allocation of memory and other resources for
    specific purposes is under software control. For example, there are
    parameters controlling the maximum amount of memory to be used for
    VM, font cache, pattern cache, and halftone screens. Benefits:
    Flexibility.


Subject: 11.19 Resources



    * A resource is a collection of named objects that either reside in
      VM or can be located and brought into VM on demand. There are
      separate categories of resources with independent name spaces -
      for example, fonts and forms are distinct resource categories.


    * The language includes convenient facilities for locating and
      managing resources.


Subject: 11.20 Dictionaries

    Many Level 2 operators expect a dictionary operand that contains
    key-value pairs specifying parameters to the operator. Language
    features controlled in this way include halftones, images, forms,
    patterns, and device setup. This organization allows for optional
    parameters and future extensibility. For convenience in using such
    operators, the PostScript language syntax includes new tokens,


   << and >>,


    to construct a dictionary containing the bracketed key-value pairs.
    Benefits: Convenience, extensibility.


Subject: 11.21 When did Level 2 products come available?

    The first Level 2 products were available in early 1991. Level 2
    printers will soon be much more common.


Subject: 11.22 Are Level 1 and Level 2 implementations compatible?

    [ Mostly, but not fully. The incompatibilities are of sufficient
    magnitude that when QMS introduced its first Level 2 compatible
    printer, it provided a ``Level 1'' mode for backward compatibility,
    for handling jobs which wouldn't run in Level 2. This should not be
    taken as too much of a criticism...some of the incom- patibilities
    from Level 1 to Level 2 involved fixing design mistakes in Level 1,
    or tightening up definitions which had been loose in Level 1 (where
    careless application writers had made use of the looseness, writing
    not to the language specification but to particular
    implementations.) ]

    (C) 1990 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All rights reserved.
    PostScript, Display PostScript, and Adobe are trademarks of Adobe
    Systems Incorporated registered in the U.S. All other product names
    are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective