Re: Top 10 IDL Requests

[Andrew <noymer(at)my-deja.com>]

OK, David, you asked for it.  Here goes.

This may *seem* like a small thing, but the small stuff matters, right?

I use direct graphics, and for reasons that seem obvious to me, I use
PostScript fonts in my output.  This makes life a lot easier in many
ways, and I can even embed LaTeX commands in my output (parsed via
psfrag).

Now, as you know, IDL barfs on PS fonts in 3D.  IDL's vector fonts can
be fed through the XYZ coordinare transformation, and, bada-bing, you've
got your 3D axes labeled.  Not so with PS fonts.

My understanding from the PS red book and elsewhere is that life does
not have to be this way.  I may be mistaken, but I think with a little
brainwork (not my strong suit) PostScript fonts can also be rotated and
transformed in 3D-space-mapped-to-2D.  I mean you know where the heck
the axes are drawn, right?  You know this once they are drawn, maybe not
before.  And PS fonts can be rotated 360-degreess, and of course
translated horizonatally and vertically wherever you want. So why can't
IDL label the axes of a 3D graph with PS fonts?  Draw the axes and then
label them, rather than draw them and label them at the same time.

Using vector fonts for 3D and PS fonts for 2D is annoying.  Using vector
fonts for everything is more annoying.

My humble request: FULL SUPPORT for PS fonts in IDL direct graphics,
including 3D.

What do folks think?  Am I the only one for whom this has been a burr
under the saddle?

- Andrew


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