Export

File > Export (Meta+X, Ctrl+E) writes the drawing in another format. To print, use File > Print (Print).

The Export panel

• Language (format): the list holds xfig's export languages. Vector formats keep vectors: PDF, SVG, EPS and PostScript, the LaTeX and TeX-family languages (LaTeX picture, epic, eepic, PiCTeX, TikZ, PSTricks, pict2e, pstex and pdftex pairs, and others), MetaPost, METAFONT, CGM, HPGL, DXF, EMF, Gerber, Tk and more. Bitmap formats: PNG, GIF, JPEG, TIFF, PPM, PCX, XBM, XPM. Entries still being ported are greyed with their plan task.

• Asymptote (asy, a RustFig addition, not in xfig's fig2dev): the figure as an Asymptote program; asy -f pdf figure.asy (or -f eps, -f svg) turns it into a picture, with texts set by LaTeX as in the other TeX languages, so the TeX fonts of the Fig fonts must be installed (TeX Live's collection-fontsrecommended). Every object kind, arrowheads, line styles, colours, shades, tints and fill patterns are kept; the options are those of the TeX languages (border, magnification, fonts).

• Magnification scales the output (percent). It is the figure's own setting and is saved in the .fig file when you export. Fit to Page sets the magnification so that the figure fills the paper (a half inch of margin all round); Figure size shows the size of the result in the figure's unit (inches or cm) and follows the magnification.

• The panel shows only the rows a language can use, as xfig's does:

  • Border (points; pixels for bitmaps): blank space around the figure. xfig's export_margin resource is its start value.
  • Background: a colour behind the figure (the default is none). Grid: Minor and Major spacing draw a light grid under the figure (PostScript, PDF and bitmaps).
  • EPS/PS preview (EPS and PostScript): none, ASCII (EPSI), colour TIFF or monochrome TIFF.
  • PDF page mode (PDF): a whole page of the paper size instead of a figure-sized PDF. The paper rows below are greyed unless it is on.
  • Paper size, Orientation, Justification, Pages (single or multiple, with Overlap) and the Offset X and Y (in, cm or Fig units): the figure's page settings (PostScript and PDF page mode). They are stored in the .fig file, as in xfig.
  • HPGL (language HPGL/2 or IBM-GL): Issue PCL Command to use HPGL (fig2dev -k) and Use Specified Font (-F, xfig's toggle_hpgl_pcl_switch and toggle_hpgl_font) with the paper size, orientation and justification rows; the export passes the figure's paper size and orientation as xfig does (-z, -P).
  • GIF transparent color: none, the background, or a colour of the figure. Image quality (JPEG). Resolution and Smoothing (bitmaps).

• Preview shows a small picture of the result, made again when you change the figure or an option (not for very large figures).

• The values of these rows are kept for each language in the settings file ([rustfig.export.<language>], see Preferences), never in the drawing; Reset to xfig defaults puts the language's values back (no border, no grid, no preview, no smoothing).

• The same values are available to scripts as export.settings, and file.export with "panel": true uses them.

• Export writes the file next to the figure with the chosen name. Export now (Shift+Meta+X) repeats the last export without the panel.

• Export on save: when checked, every Save also rewrites the exported file, so the PDF in your document is always current.

• Embed the figure (PDF, SVG and PNG; off at start, kept per language like the other rows): stores the figure's Fig text inside the file, so you can edit the picture you sent around. In a PDF it is an attached file figure.fig (PDF readers list it among the attachments); in an SVG it is a <metadata> element; in a PNG a compressed text chunk (rustfig-fig). Other programs show the file as usual and ignore the payload. File > Open (or dropping the file on the window) opens the embedded figure under a .fig name, so Save never overwrites the export. The embedded figure includes depths that are switched off and the figure's comments, so leave the option off for files you publish. file.export takes "embed": true; Export on save keeps it.

Exporting in the background

Export from the panel runs on a background thread, so the window stays responsive. A progress window shows a spinner and the seconds elapsed, with Cancel. Cancel is checked between steps: a driver that is already running finishes, but its result is discarded and no file is written. When the export is done an "Export finished" notice names the file and offers Show in folder. The commands app.cancel_export and app.show_export_folder do the same from scripts. Export with current settings (Shift+Alt+X, command app.export_now; xfig's ExportFile) exports again without opening the panel: next to the figure, with the panel's language and settings. file.export (commands, MCP, the command line) is synchronous. The web app downloads the file at once.

Notes

• Text uses fig2dev's font metrics; LaTeX text (the TeX flag) is typeset by TeX in the TeX languages and shown as written on the canvas.
• Pictures in the figure are embedded, linked or converted as the format allows; EPS pictures on the canvas and in bitmaps need ghostscript (optional).
• The same exports are available from the command line: rustfig-cli convert in.fig out.pdf, rustfig-cli formats, or as fig2dev (Automation).

Objects that share a depth are drawn in xfig's order in every export, as on the canvas: arcs, compounds, ellipses, lines, splines, then texts, each in the order of the file. (The C fig2dev leaves that order to its system's sort routine, so where objects of one depth overlap, its output can differ.)