mifXfig - MIF to XFig and XFig to MIF Converter Page

What is MIF

MIF is FrameMaker((R)) Interchange Format. You create it from any FrameMaker document by pressing Save As and choosing Format:Interchange(MIF). There can be many pictures in your document, created by FrameMaker.

What is XFig

XFig is a very popular graphical editor for various platforms supporting XWindows. It is usually available as xfig on your computer.

You can save files in XFig format (.fig - files); you can also export PostScript, GIF, various LaTeX picture formats and some others.

This editor and this format is rather popular among LaTeX users.

How to convert from MIF to XFig

You convert one FrameMaker document (.mif) to many .fig files.

Command    mif2xfig xxx.mif     analyses the file    xxx.mif,   finds all pictures there and creates several files with names xxx.mif.*.fig (here * is replaced by various numbers which make no much sense for a typical user ).

Note: the converter works with FrameMaker 4.0 format. 

Advanced details and options:

The resulting saved files have such names: Flags:

-i   number    translates only the anchored frame with this number

-o  file          specifies output file name

-p   number    translates only the graphics non-belonging to the anchored frame on the page with this number

Some limitations:

  1. Several fonts in one string: XFig allows only one font per string. Therefore resulting strings are written in one font even if in FrameMaker several fonts were used: Example -? Example.
  2. Font catalog not used: Translator can miss Bold or Italic if you use in graphic some font name from the Font Catalog.
  3. Arrows: Some difference in head geometry may occur.
  4. Rotated figures: Translator does not use rotation except in TextLine and Ellipse, because angle-parameter only exists there in Xfig.
  5. Very special characters: European characters other than a-z,A-Z, Åå, Ää, Öö, Áá, Àà, Ññ, Éé, Èè, Óó, Òò, Üü and Ï ï are not translated. The Greek characters however, are translated.
  6. Other FrameMaker versions. We assume that input is produced by FrameMaker 4.0. You have input from some other source (some converter or different version of FrameMaker), you should first load it to FrameMaker 4.0 and save it !
  7. Other XFIG versions and products. The result should be read by XFIG Version 3.1 (Protocol 3.1). If you are going to use some other tool, load the figure first in XFIG, save it and use then. Particularly, do not pass the result directly to transfig or fig2dev (sometimes this may produce wrong result).

How to convert from XFig to MIF

You convert one .fig picture to one FrameMaker document (.mif- file) with this picture in anchored frame on the first page.

Command xfig2mif xxx.fig analyses the figure and creates file with name xxx.fig.mif . This file can be directly read by the FrameMaker. You can use cut-and-paste in order to add the frame into your document

Advanced details and options:

Flags:

-i   number    sets this number as identifier for the the anchored frame ( 1 by default )

-o    file         specifies output file name

-s                 the translator creates only one Frame statement. It cannot be read by FrameMaker, but can be glued with other MIF code in order to produce a document.

Some limitations:

  1. LaTeX fonts cannot be used (we will attempt to fix it in the next release)
  2. Imported graphics (e.g. GIF images) is ignored
  3. User-defined colors are reduced. There are 32 pre-defined colors in XFig. A user-defined color is automatically replaced by some predefined one.
  4. Arrows: Some difference in head geometry may occur.
  5. Very special characters: European characters other than a-z,A-Z, Åå, Ää, Öö, Áá, Àà, Ññ, Éé, Èè, Óó, Òò, Üü and Ïï are not translated.
  6. The input should be produced by XFIG version 3.1 (protocol 3.1). Files produced by Version 3.2 cannot be used.
  7. The output should be read by FrameMaker 4.0. If you are going to use some other converters or other FrameMaker versions, you should load the output to FrameMaker 4.0, save it and then use it further.

Download (or use directly)

The source code (in C) is distributed free for non-commercial use. Please contact Vadim Engelson, vaden@ida.liu.se

Download at http://www.ida.liu.se/~vaden/teaching/m2f/mifXfig.1.0.tar.gz (includes source code and this page).

At IDA(Linköping University) the software is (for this moment) installed at

~pelab/pub/bin/xfig2mif and ~pelab/pub/bin/mif2xfig,

/usr/local/bin/xfig2mif and /usr/local/bin/mif2xfig


 

FAQ Frequently Asked Question(s)

? 1. What about XFIG V3.2 ?
      Answer below.

Version XFig 3.2

There are some differences between 3.1 and 3.2 , mainly in presentation of splines. We currently HAVE NO RESOURCES (nor people, nor money) to make the tools working with XFIG 3.2.  If somewone has time, please, modify the code and let me know. Some useful hints about spline processing are given in the thesis. Probably this is a programming project good for an average student for 1-2 weeks.

Documentation

Most of the end user information is contained in this WWW-page, currently located at http://www.ida.liu.se/~vaden/teaching/m2f/index.html

This tool is master thesis of Mikael Lundquist. Complete text of thesis with examples and technical details is available: PostScript (120K, 52 pages with text + 65 pages with program code).

Links

FrameMaker

FrameMaker (R) is a registered trademark of Frame Technology Corporation 4.0.

XFIG

PSTOEDIT

It is another recommended tool for document translation. It translates PostScript into other vector formats, including MIF, PDF, XFIG and many others. However it does not preserve grouping of graphical objects and curves it produces are difficult to change.

Extra release for PROGRES users

Ansgar Radermacher ansgar@Informatik.UniBW-Muenchen.de have made some enhances to mif2xfig, particularly the support for mixed latex/xfig output.

They primarily use mif2xfig to convert the output of our research tool PROGRES towards LaTeX. They only have tested the results using the MIF output of PROGRES. It might not work with other MIF sources.

Is it possible to distribute the modified version of mif2xfig together with PROGRES. The modified version (1.1 of Feb 3, 1999) is here.

Author and contact information

Author of the tool is Mikael Lundqvist, Linköping, Sweden. Tool is produced at PELAB, IDA, Linköping University (c) 1996

This page is created by Vadim Engelson, . Please contact me for additional information, bug reports, and bug fixes.

Last big change 18 Nov 1996. Addition of PROGRES 8 Feb 1999.