With earlier versions of MacVector the graphical Map was treated as a separate object to the actual sequence, and you could save it directly as a graphic file (PICT) from the Map window. However, the graphical map changed substantially with MacVector 9.5 and even more in 10.0, and now you need a different way to export a graphical map.
The initial change was one of format as the graphics subsystem changed substantially with the release of MacVector 9.5. Instead of using the PICT graphics format, MacVector now uses the Quartz graphic engine that uses PDF for all graphics. This is the standard Apple approved way of displaying any graphics. The advantages behind Quartz are that you can easily generate high quality graphics from MacVector. No longer do you have jagged edges to circular maps, nor fuzzy looking text labels. Furthermore with Quartz you can simply copy, and paste a map into any modern OS X application. For example Microsoft Office 2008 and Adobe Illustrator. You’ll also be able to edit the resulting image in that app too. Apple recommend that all applications use Quartz for graphics, and accept PDF from the clipboard. Microsoft Office 2004 did not accept this, and so we built in a workaround to allow you to still copy high quality graphics into this earlier version of Office.
Additionally in MacVector 10, we introduced the tabbed view, where each tab is simply a different view of the same sequence. We thought it would prove confusing and potentially dangerous for the FILE – SAVE option to have different functions depending on which view is shown. We would hate users to overwrite their valuable sequence with a PDF of a restriction enzyme analysis!
Now the way to save a graphics map is as follows:
To Save a PDF image of a graphic
1. Select the graphics tab and select Edit | Copy.
2. Open the Apple utility ‘Preview.app’ and choose File | New from Clipboard.
3. Select File | Save As.
4. Navigate to the folder where you want to save the graphic data and choose Save.
To Copy a PDF image of a graphic
1. Select the graphics tab and select File | Copy
2. Navigate to the application you want to export the graphic to, and select Edit | Paste in that application.
We did intend to add a separate menu item to perform this directly. However, on the whole users seem to be happy with this approach, and extra menu items sometimes prove distracting.
Incidentally the Map view also allows you to graphically represent your sequence at the base or residue level, if you require.