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<H2><A NAME="SECTION001221000000000000000">
4.2.1 Overview and the <U>.gmtdefaults4</U> file</A>
</H2>
<P>
<A NAME="16692"></A>
<A NAME="16693"></A>
<P>
<DIV ALIGN="CENTER"><A NAME="fig:GMT_Defaults_1a"></A><A NAME="18183"></A>
<TABLE>
<CAPTION ALIGN="BOTTOM"><STRONG>Figure:</STRONG>
Some <A NAME="tex2html1041"
HREF="http://gmt.soest.hawaii.edu"><B>GMT</B></A> parameters that affect plot appearance.</CAPTION>
<TR><TD>
<DIV ALIGN="CENTER"><IMG
WIDTH="508" HEIGHT="275" ALIGN="BOTTOM" BORDER="0"
SRC="img39.png"
ALT="\includegraphics{scripts/GMT_Defaults_1a}"></DIV></TD></TR>
</TABLE>
</DIV>
<P>
There are about 100 parameters which can be adjusted individually
to modify the appearance of plots or affect the manipulation of data.
When a program is run, it initializes all parameters to the <A NAME="tex2html1051"
HREF="http://gmt.soest.hawaii.edu"><B>GMT</B></A> defaults<A NAME="tex2html1044"
HREF="footnode.html#foot18040"><SUP>4.2</SUP></A>,
then tries to open the file <U>.gmtdefaults4</U>
in the current directory<A NAME="tex2html1046"
HREF="footnode.html#foot18041"><SUP>4.3</SUP></A>. If not found, it will look for that file in a sub-directory <U>/.gmt</U> of your home directory, and finally in your home directory itself. If successful, the program will read the
contents and set the default values to those provided in the file.
By editing this file you can affect features such as pen thicknesses
used for maps, fonts and font sizes used for annotations and labels,
color of the pens, dots-per-inch resolution of the hardcopy device,
what type of spline interpolant to use, and many other choices
(A complete list of all the parameters and their default values can
be found in the <A NAME="tex2html1052"
HREF="../man/gmtdefaults.html"><I><B>gmtdefaults</B></I></A><A NAME="18205"></A> manual pages). Figures
<A HREF="#fig:GMT_Defaults_1a">4.1</A>, <A HREF="#fig:GMT_Defaults_1b">4.2</A>,
and <A HREF="node34.html#fig:GMT_Defaults_1c">4.3</A> show the parameters that affect plots). You may create
your own <U>.gmtdefaults4</U> files by running <A NAME="tex2html1053"
HREF="../man/gmtdefaults.html"><I><B>gmtdefaults</B></I></A><A NAME="18211"></A>
and then modify those parameters you want to change. If you want
to use the parameter settings in another file you can do so by
specifying <TT>+<defaultfile></TT> on the command line.
This makes it easy to maintain several distinct parameter settings,
corresponding perhaps to the unique styles required by different
journals or simply reflecting font changes necessary to make
readable overheads and slides. Note that any arguments given on
the command line (see below) will take precedent over the default
values. E.g., if your <U>.gmtdefaults4</U> file has <I>x</I>
offset = 1<B>i</B> as default, the <B>-X</B>1.5<B>i</B> option will override the
default and set the offset to 1.5 inches.
<P>
There are at least two good reasons why the <A NAME="tex2html1054"
HREF="http://gmt.soest.hawaii.edu"><B>GMT</B></A> default options
are placed in a separate parameter file:
<P>
<OL>
<LI>It would not be practical to allow for command-line syntax
covering so many options, many of which are rarely or never
changed (such as the ellipsoid used for map projections).
<P>
</LI>
<LI>It is convenient to keep separate <U>.gmtdefaults4</U>
files for specific projects, so that one may achieve a special
effect simply by running <A NAME="tex2html1055"
HREF="http://gmt.soest.hawaii.edu"><B>GMT</B></A> commands in the directory whose
<U>.gmtdefaults4</U> file has the desired settings. For example,
when making final illustrations for a journal article one must often
standardize on font sizes and font types, etc. Keeping all those
settings in a separate <U>.gmtdefaults4</U> file simplifies this
process and will allow you to generate those illustrations with the same settings later on. Likewise, <A NAME="tex2html1056"
HREF="http://gmt.soest.hawaii.edu"><B>GMT</B></A> scripts that make figures for PowerPoint
presentations often use a different color scheme and font size than
output intended for laser printers. Organizing these various scenarios
into separate <U>.gmtdefaults4</U> files will minimize headaches
associated with micro-editing of illustrations.
<P>
<DIV ALIGN="CENTER"><A NAME="fig:GMT_Defaults_1b"></A><A NAME="18231"></A>
<TABLE>
<CAPTION ALIGN="BOTTOM"><STRONG>Figure:</STRONG>
More <A NAME="tex2html1048"
HREF="http://gmt.soest.hawaii.edu"><B>GMT</B></A> parameters that affect plot appearance.</CAPTION>
<TR><TD>
<DIV ALIGN="CENTER"><IMG
WIDTH="505" HEIGHT="275" ALIGN="BOTTOM" BORDER="0"
SRC="img40.png"
ALT="\includegraphics{scripts/GMT_Defaults_1b}"></DIV></TD></TR>
</TABLE>
</DIV>
<P>
</LI>
</OL>
<P>
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2010-01-14
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