Graph Paper in Postscript

Sometimes I need a few sheets of paper with an uncommon pattern, such as 2 mm squares or an isometric grid. Usually I could spend maybe an hour looking for a surviving stationery store and buy some, but I'm programmer-lazy and back in 2004 I sat down and spent a few hours writing a postscript program that printed what I needed, so that when I required something similar I could just spend 5 minutes tweaking a few parameters. This happened a few times, and here are a few such programs.

Fast forward a decade or so and some involvement into Debian, and I started to get more and more unconfortable with having to edit manually the postscript source to tweak the parameters, as that meant that I tended to lose the actual values and having to start from scratch the next time, and also that I wasn't really distributing the full sources of the PDFs on this page.

In 2017 I needed to print a few modified sheet, so I sat down and converted the original postscript programs to a form what allowed for fully automatic building via a Makefile. Since loading data from external files in postscript is a bit of a pain I decided to go for an approach where the variables are customized by a templating system (jinja2) based on values read from a yaml file. The result have also been published in a proper git repository

Downloads

For convenience, PDF files for most of the designs have been generated and are available in this section; if you notice that something you need is missing feel free to drop me a line.

Note that for A* formats smaller than A4 the PDF includes multiple pages on the same A4 sheet, while the postscript is a single, smaller, page.

Pointed Square Grid

Square grid with small circles or points on the corners instead of lines.

The version with circles every 0.1 inch (100 mil) is useful e.g. to draw circuits that will be soldered on perfboard.

graph_paper_in_postscript/pointed-paper-100mil-a4-tmb.png

Pointed Square Grid, 0.1 inch, A4 (PDF) Pointed Square Grid, 0.1 inch, A4 (PS)

graph_paper_in_postscript/pointed-paper-100mil-rings-a6-tmb.png

Pointed Square Grid, 0.1 inch, A6 (PDF) (4 pages on an A4 sheet) Pointed Square Grid, 0.1 inch, A6 (PS)

graph_paper_in_postscript/pointed-paper-5mm-rings-a6-tmb.png

Pointed square grid, 5 mm, A6 (PDF) (4 pages on an A4 sheet) Pointed square grid, 5 mm, A6 (PS)

graph_paper_in_postscript/pointed-paper-4mm-rings-a6-tmb.png

Pointed square grid, 4 mm, A6 (PDF) (4 pages on an A4 sheet) Pointed square grid, 4 mm, A6 (PS)

Instructions

PDF version

Simply click on the thumbnails / descriptions to download the file you want and open it with a PDF reader (it should happen on its own when you click on the link).

PostScript intermediate files

If you download (or build from the repository) the generated PostScript files they are still in a readable format and can be used in case you need to change their behaviour in ways not supported by the settings. To use them you have then a few choices.

  • Send the file as is to a postscript printer, e.g. under linux with:

    $ lpr -l $FILE.ps

  • Convert the file to PDF:

    $ ps2pdf $FILE.ps

  • Open the file with a postscript interpreter; the traditional ghostview gives somewhat more helpful error messages if something goes wrong, but Okular (born for KDE under *nix systems, but available also for windows) is probably a more user friendly alternative if you just want to check and print the result.

Source

Up-to-date instructions on how to use the templates and customization files are available in the README.rst in the repository.

License

Copyright (c) 2004-2017, Elena Grandi All rights reserved.

Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions are met:

  • Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
  • Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.
  • Neither the name of the author nor the names of its contributors may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software without specific prior written permission.

THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS AND CONTRIBUTORS "AS IS" AND ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE COPYRIGHT HOLDER BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.

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