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TeX for Pictures
[03-Oct-1990]
This file collects information on support for combining pictures with
material typeset by TeX, LaTeX, et al.
See also:
Nelson H.F. Beebe, ``TeX and Graphics: The State of the
Problem'', Cahiers GUTenberg, No. 2, Mai 1989, pp. 13--53.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Sat, 25 Nov 89 14:06:57 GMT
From: Sebastian P Q Rahtz <spqr%ecs.southampton.ac.uk@NSFnet-Relay.AC.UK>
Subject: Re: picture drawing (TeXhax Digest V89 #104)
Keywords: pictures, graphics
> From: Clement Pellerin <clement@opus.cs.mcgill.ca>
> Can someone comment on the relative merit of tpic, epic, eepic, pictex,
> and fig, or give a pointer to where such a work can be found.
> Are there others that I missed (that do not require postscript)?
some idle thoughts in no special order:
- tpic requires you to have a Unix DWB license; it also requires a
driver that understands tpic \special (there are many around, but I
don't know of one, for instance, for HP LaserJet printers)
- eepic is a reworking of epic which allows for more flexibility by
replacing the core drawing primitives with tpic \specials
- fig only runs (so far as I know) on Suns or machines running X
Windows of some kind; the translators from fig code include ones to
pictex and LaTeX picture mode, so its quite portable
- how about gnutex for simple plotting? it has a LaTeX picture mode
output
- there have been several goes at plotting with Metafont - see the
recent Tugboat for an article describing this approach
you don't say what you want to use the things for, so there is no
`right' answer. pictex is in many ways a good, flexible, portable
solution, but its too big to live comfortably in standard-size TeX,
and its sloooow. if you draw up a list of 10 desiderata for a method
for graphics inclusion in TeX, all the approaches I know of fail one
or more tests. Even if you allow yourself PostScript, it actually gets
worse, as (for instance) pictures prepared on a Mac and included into
TeX often cannot have decently typeset text.
Sebastian Rahtz
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Mon, 27 Nov 89 10:44:53 EST
From: beck@cs.cornell.edu (Micah Beck)
Subject: Re: TeXhax Digest V89 #104
Keywords: pictures, graphics
In article <34594@cornell.UUCP> Clement Pellerin writes:
>Can someone comment on the relative merit of tpic, epic, eepic, pictex,
>and fig, or give a pointer to where such a work can be found.
>Are there others that I missed (that do not require postscript)?
These topics are discussed at some length in the TransFig manual, available
as Cornell Technical Report #89-967. A more recent version of the manual
is distributed along with the TransFig software package.
TransFig is avialable via anonymous FTP from svax.cs.cornell.edu
in ~ftp/pub/fig/transfig.tar.Z, or by mail from the archive server
at sun.soe.clarkson.edu.
Micah Beck
Cornell CS Dept.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Sat, 9 Dec 89 11:07:44 -0800
From: Louis M. McDonald <louis@aerospace.aero.org>
Subject: Some neat Macintosh utilities
Keywords: PostScript, Macintosh
I recently found the program AddLPrep on the BBS "America OnLine". This
is a program that runs on the Mac and can be used to create "portable"
PostScript. It is not perfect, and I have not been able to test it against
non-Apple PostScript printers. A description follows.
A copy of it (in STUFFIT/binhex format) can be found in aerospace.aero.org
(26.2.0.65) as the file pub/addlaserprep.hqx.
Also, if you do not read USENET newsgroup comp.binaries.mac, someone
recently posted a MacDraw-Like program that can be used to create
"picture" files for the LaTeX picture environment.
I have not used it much, but it does seem to work okay. This can also
be found on aerospace.aero.org, file is pub/pictex.hqx
Louis McDonald
%===
AddLPrep v1.2 Documentation 7/31/89
Apple's LaserWriter system allows a user to get a complete PostScript
disk file (including the library code from the "Laser Prep" file) by
hitting Command-K WHILE MOUSING DOWN on OK from the LaserWriter Print
dialog, or a file without the library code by hitting Option-F.
Option-K and Command-F may do one or the other (??).
Unfortunately, the Laser Prep code includes a few features that make
the Command-K file unusable on certain non-Apple laser printer systems,
such as a DEC ScriptPrinter connected to a VAX.
The AddLPrep program remedies this situation by adding a modified version
of the PostScript code from the Laser Prep file to a PostScript file
created by hitting Option-F.
The output file produced by AddLPrep is thus suitable for
downloading to any PostScript printer or typesetter.
This version (1.2) differs from 1.1 in two ways:
1. It works with "Laserwriter 6.0" (AppleDict 70) as well as System 6.0
(AppleDict 68) and System 5.0 (AppleDict 65).
2. A problem is fixed, wherein the DA version caused a system crash
after an error message.
VERY IMPORTANT: AddLPrep is SHAREWARE and is copyright ) 1988 by
Software101, Los Gatos, CA. Feel free to try it out and give
copies to others, but if you find the program useful and continue
to use it, send $20 to Software101, 15151 Old Ranch Road, Los Gatos,
CA 95030. As indicated below, this program may need considerable
support; problems will be solved only for those who have paid
for the program. Someday, in some manner, new versions may be
available only to those honest folks.
TECHNICAL NOTE:
AddLPrep substitutes the Laser Prep code for a line starting with:
%%IncludeProcSet: "(AppleDict md)"
If the input file does not contain a line like this, then AddLPrep
produces an Alert box noting that it has just functioned as a text file
duplicating program. (This will not occur for files created by Option-F
as described above.)
ABOUT RELIABILITY:
As AddLPrep transfers the PostScript code from the Laser Prep
file to the output file, it makes a few modifications to the code
to make it suitable for use as a "transient" program that doesn't
"take over" the printer or modify its state. AddLPrep has been
tested with a number of common Mac applications and with a DEC
ScriptPrinter. However, it may prove unreliable in any of the
following cases:
a) when used with a version of Laser Prep other than the ones
distributed with Apple's System Software 5.0 and 6.0 (a.k.a. System
4.2/Finder 6.0 and 6.0/6.1 respectively). Internally, the code in
these Laser Prep files is called version 65 and 68 respectively. The
current version of AddLPrep (1.2) has also been tested with
"Laserwriter 6.0"; the accompanying Laser Prep is
called version 70 internally.
If the Laser Prep file is sufficiently different, AddLPrep will detect
the problem and show an Alert box. Or,
b) when used with a different PostScript printer, or
c) when used with applications other than those the author has tested
it with, or
d) when used with documents that contain graphic shapes other than
those the author happens to have tested (e.g., arcs have not been
tested).
The most likely source of problems is a), for future versions of Laser
Prep.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
From TeXMag V4N3 (Tue, 7 Aug 90 17:14:00 CDT):
Fig is a menu driven tool similar to MacDraw that allows you to
draw objects on the screen of a Sun Workstation running SunView.
TransFig is a set of tools which translate the code fig produces
to other graphics languages including PostScript and the LaTeX
picture environment. Both are available via anonymous ftp from
svax.cs.cornell.edu (128.84.254.2) in ./pub/fig. Both Fig and
TransFig are also available from the Clarkson archive server at
sun.soe.clarkson.edu (see question 19). Both Fig and TransFig
are supported by Micah Beck (beck@svax.cs.cornell.edu).
XFig is essentially the same program except that it runs under
X Windows. It is available via anonymous ftp from expo.lcs.mit.edu
(18.30.0.22) in ./contrib/xfig-2.0.*.Z. Note that version 2.0 is
the most recent. It was written by Brian Smith.
For complete compatibility with TransFig, be sure to get at least
patchlevel 4 of XFig 2.0.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[The End]
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