<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/loose.dtd"><html><head><title>ps2ps2: Converts Postscript Level 3 or PDF into Postscript Level 2</title><!-- $Id: Ps2ps2.htm,v 1.7 2005/10/20 19:46:23 ray Exp $ --><link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="gs.css" title="Ghostscript Style"></head> <body><!-- [1.0 begin visible header] ============================================ --> <!-- [1.1 begin headline] ================================================== --> <h1><tt>ps2ps2</tt>: Converts Postscript Level 3 or PDF into Postscript Level 2</h1> <!-- [1.1 end headline] ==================================================== --> <!-- [1.2 begin table of contents] ========================================= --> <h2>Table of contents</h2> <blockquote><ul><li><a href="#Overview">Overview</a><li><a href="#Usage">Usage</a><li><a href="#Options">Options</a><li><a href="#PPD">Ghostscript PS2 Printer Description</a><li><a href="#printer_control">Controlling the printer behavior</a><li><a href="#Limitations">Limitations</a></ul></blockquote> <!-- [1.2 end table of contents] =========================================== --> <!-- [1.3 begin hint] ====================================================== --> <p>For other information, see the <a href="Readme.htm">Ghostscriptoverview</a>. <!-- [1.3 end hint] ======================================================== --> <hr> <!-- [1.0 end visible header] ============================================== --> <!-- [2.0 begin contents] ================================================== --> <h2><a name="Overview"></a>Overview</h2> <b><tt>ps2ps2</tt></b> is a script for converting a PDF or a Postscript Level 3 intoPostscript Level 2. <p><b><tt>ps2ps2</tt></b> is implemented as a very small command script (batchfile) that invokes Ghostscript, selecting a special "output device" called<b><tt>ps2write</tt></b>.  In order to use <b><tt>ps2ps2</tt></b>, the<b><tt>ps2write</tt></b> device must be included in the makefile whenGhostscript was compiled; see the <ahref="Make.htm#Features_and_devices">documentation on buildingGhostscript</a> for details: this is currently the case on all platforms, inGhostscript as we distribute it. <hr> <h2><a name="Usage"></a>Usage</h2> <p>The usage for <b><tt>ps2ps2</tt></b> is <blockquote><b><tt>ps2ps2</tt></b> <em>[options] input.{ps|eps|pdf} output.ps</em></blockquote>   <h2><a name="Options"></a>Options</h2> <p>The <em>options</em> given on the command line may include any switches that may be used with Ghostscript's PostScript and PDF interpreter (see <a href="Use.htm#Switches">here</a> for a complete list). <p>Since <b><tt>ps2write</tt></b> makes use of some printer parameters while converting high level objects into Level 2 objects,we strongly recommend to set those values in accordance with thetarget printer or other output device.In particular, it is important for<a  href="Use.htm#Output_resolution">Output resolution</a>,<a href="Use.htm#FIXEDMEDIA"><b><tt>-dFIXEDMEDIA</tt></b></a>, and<b><tt>ProcessColorModel</tt></b></a> to be set correctly. <p><em><b>Important :</b>If the target printer can't handle some font type,ps2write converts such fonts into bitmap fonts,using the resolution specified when ps2write is invoked.Particularly this always happen with CID fonts, which are not Postscript Level 2 objects.Therefore the page device parameter <b><tt>PageSize</tt></b>must match the target printer, and we recommend to setthe <b><tt>PageSize</tt></b> entry of the <b><tt>Policies</tt></b>dictionary to 3, in order to provide a proper page scalingin the Postscript interpreter while ps2write is invoked.</em> <p>More importantly, <em>options</em> passed to ps2ps2 may include<b><tt>-d</tt></b><em>parameter</em>=<em>value</em> or<b><tt>-s</tt></b><em>parameter</em>=<em>string</em> switches for setting"distiller parameters", Adobe's documented parameters for controlling theconversion process.  The PostScript <b><tt>setdistillerparams</tt></b> and<b><tt>currentdistillerparams</tt></b> operators are also recognized whenrunning <b><tt>ps2ps2</tt></b>, and provide an equivalent way to set theseparameters from within the PostScript input file. <p>The <b><tt>ps2write</tt></b> device handles the same set of distiller parameters asare handled by the <b><tt>pdfwrite</tt></b> device. See the <a href="Ps2pdf.htm#Options">PostScript-to-PDF converter</a> documentation for a complete description of how to use them tocontrol the document conversion. <p>The following options may be important for <b><tt>ps2ps2</tt></b> due to the target printer features:<dl><dt><b><tt>-dPatternImagemask=</tt></b><em>boolean</em>,<dt><b><tt>-dMaxClipPathSize=</tt></b><em>integer</em>,<dt><b><tt>-dMaxShadingBitmapSize=</tt></b><em>integer</em>,<dt><b><tt>-dHaveTrueTypes=</tt></b><em>boolean</em>.</dl>See <a href="Ps2pdf.htm#Options">PostScript-to-PDF converter</a> for details. The option <b><tt>-dMaxInlineImageSize=</tt></b><em>integer</em>Must not be used with <tt><b>ps2ps2</tt></b>.  <p>This set includes of the Acrobat Distiller 5 parametersdefined in the DistillerParameters document included in the <a href="http://partners.adobe.com/public/developer/acrobat/sdk/index.html">Acrobat SDK</a>. Default values are same as the <tt><b>printer</tt></b> settings defined in <a href="Ps2pdf.htm#Options">PostScript-to-PDF converter</a>,with these exceptions: <dl><dt><b><tt>/PreserveHalftoneInfo</tt></b> <em>true</em>,<dt><b><tt>/TransferFunctionInfo</tt></b> <em>/Preserve</em>,<dt><b><tt>/MaxViewerMemorySize</tt></b> <em>8000000</em>,<dt><b><tt>/CompressPages</tt></b> <em>false</em>,<dt><b><tt>/CompressFonts</tt></b> <em>false</em>,<dt><b><tt>/ASCII85EncodePages</tt></b> <em>true</em>,</dl> <p>The following ps2write specific option control the output file compression :<p> <dl><b><tt>-dCompressEntireFile=</tt></b><em>boolean</em><dd>When this parameter is true, the <b><tt>LZWEncode</b></tt>and <b><tt>ASCII85Encode</b></tt> filters are being applied to entire output file.In this case <b><tt>CompressPages</b></tt> should be false to exclude a dual compression.When this parameter is false, those filters applies to the initial procset only,if <b><tt>CompressPages</b></tt> is true.Default value is <b><tt>false</b></tt>.</dl>  <h2><a name="PPD"></a>Ghostscript PS2 Printer Description</h2><p>Not implemented yet.<hr> <h2><a name="printer_control"></a>Controlling the printer behavior</h2> <p>A few options can be used to control the behavior of the printer or program that reads the result of ps2ps2. <dl><dt><b><tt>-dRotatePages=</tt></b><em>boolean</em>. <dd>The printer will rotate pages for a better fitting into the real page size. Default value : <em>false</em>.Must be <em>false</em> if <b><tt>-dSetPageSize=true</tt></b>. <dt><b><tt>-dFitPages=</tt></b><em>boolean</em>. <dd>The printer will scale pages downto fit into the real page size. The rendering quality may be poor due to the scaling,especially for fonts which Ghostscript had converted into bitmaps (see the <em>ps2write</em> device parameter <b><tt>HaveTrueTypes</tt></b>;See <a href="#Options">Options</a> about the <b><tt>PageSize</tt></b> entry of the <b><tt>Policies</tt></b>dictionary while the conversion step). Default value : <em>false</em>.Must be <em>false</em> if <b><tt>-dSetPageSize=true</tt></b>. <dt><b><tt>-dSetPageSize=</tt></b><em>boolean</em>. <dd>The printer will try to set page size from the job. Only use with printers which can handle random <em>PageSize</em>.Must be <em>false</em> if <b><tt>-dRotatePages=true</tt></b> or <b><tt>-dFitPages=true</tt></b>. </dl> <p>These correspond to keys in the Postscript <em>userdict</em> of the target printer's virtual memory to control its behavior while executing a job generated with <tt><b>ps2ps2</tt></b>. <p>Currently Ghostscript does not provide a method for incorporating these in a print job.Users should refer to the printer's documentation. <hr>  <h2><a name="Limitations"></a>Limitations</h2> <p>Attempting to generate a device independent Postscript Level 2 is a bad idea.Postscript Level 2 data are device dependent by definition. Let Ghostscript knowthe features of the specific printer as described in <a href="#Options">Options</a> while generating a printer job. <p><b><tt>ps2ps2</tt></b> does not generate DSC comments.  <p><b><tt>ps2ps2</tt></b> provides simplified interface to Ghostscriptcommand line. It is not possible to use <tt><b>-c</tt></b> option or passmultiple source files. For the unrestricted access to the command lineparameters, use Ghostscript directly. <blockquote><b><tt>gs -q -dSAFER -dNOPAUSE -dBATCH -sOutputFile=file.ps </tt></b><em>[more options]</em><b><tt> \<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;-sDEVICE=ps2write </b></tt><em>source1.pdf [more files]</em></blockquote> <hr>  <!-- [2.0 end contents] ==================================================== --> <!-- [3.0 begin visible trailer] =========================================== --> <p><small>Copyright &copy; 1996, 2000, 2004 artofcode LLC.  All rightsreserved.</small> <p>This software is provided AS-IS with no warranty, either express orimplied. This software is distributed under license and may not be copied,modified or distributed except as expressly authorized under the termsof the license contained in the file LICENSE in this distribution. For more information about licensing, please refer tohttp://www.ghostscript.com/licensing/. For information oncommercial licensing, go to http://www.artifex.com/licensing/ orcontact Artifex Software, Inc., 101 Lucas Valley Road #110,San Rafael, CA  94903, U.S.A., +1(415)492-9861. <p><small>Ghostscript version 8.53, 20 October 2005 <!-- [3.0 end visible trailer] ============================================= --> </body></html>