Displaying output in ghostscript#

ordinarily expects its output to be included in some context where the « standard » fonts (that you’ve specified) are already defined — for example, as a figure in document. If you’re debugging your code, you may want to view it in a ghostscript-based (or some other PostScript) previewer, but note that viewers (even ghostscript) don’t ordinarily have the fonts loaded, and you’ll experience an error such as

Error : /undefined in cmmi10

There is provision in for avoiding this problem : issue the command prologues := 2; at the start of the mp file.

Unfortunately, the PostScript that inserts in its output, following this command, is incompatible with ordinary use of the PostScript in inclusions into documents, so it’s best to make the prologues command optional. Furthermore, takes a very simple-minded approach to font encoding : since font encodings are anything but simple, encoding of text in diagrams are another source of problems. If you’re suffering such problems (the symptom is that characters disappear, or are wrongly presented) the solution is to view the « original » output after processing through and dvips.

Conditional compilation may be done either by inputting MyFigure.mp indirectly from a simple wrapper MyFigureDisplay.mp :

prologues := 2;
input MyFigure

or by issuing a shell command such as

mp "\prologues:=2; input MyFigure

(which will work without the quote marks if you’re not using a Unix shell).

A suitable route would involve processing MyFigure.tex, which contains :

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{graphicx}
\begin{document}
\thispagestyle{empty}
\includegraphics{MyFigure.1}
\end{document}

Processing the resulting DVI file with the dvips command

dvips -E -o MyFigure.eps MyFigure

would then give a satisfactory Encapsulated PostScript file. This procedure may be automated using the Perl script mps2eps, thus saving a certain amount of tedium.

The Plain user may use an adaptation, by Dan Luecking, of a jiffy of Knuth’s. Dan’s version mpsproof.tex will work under to produce a DVI file for use with dvips, or under to produce a PDF file, direct. The output is set up to look like a proof sheet.

A script application, mptopdf, is available in recent distributions : it seems fairly reliably to produce PDF from so may reasonably be considered an answer to the question…