a "patch tree" instead of a patch queue?

Ted Pavlic ted at tedpavlic.com
Thu May 29 13:00:18 UTC 2008


> Unfortunately, TeX macros can't alter my XFig files. :)

Remember that...

*) The psfrag package gives you significant authority over EPS content 
(e.g., it allows you to substitute EPS text for LaTeX strings specified 
in your TeX source)

*) Utilities from ImageMagick (in particular, convert) allow you to 
convert to black and white quickly

*) There are TeX packages that will, for example, can call ImageMagick 
automatically. These could be "switched on" with a macro.

*) Even without fancy packages, you could easily switch from including a 
color graphic to including a black a white graphic with a macro.

Additionally, I've given up on doing any of my line drawings in GUI 
tools. You can get much nicer results from the PSTricks package (or 
PGF/TikZ if you absolutely have to build to PDF directly). Take a look at:

	http://www.tug.org/PSTricks/

or

	http://sourceforge.net/projects/pgf/

The advantage of PSTricks over PGF/TikZ is that it supports functional 
evaluation on the fly. That is, right inside my TeX source, I can say 
the equivalent of:

*) Draw an axis with origin where I want it
*) Plot y=x from -5 to 0 and y=x^2 from 0 to 5
*) Shade the region under the curve from -2 to 1

Additionally, if I want, I can package the image as its own standalone 
EPS and ship it off to my journal without them ever knowing I built it 
with TeX. (note: PSTricks will also plot data that is given in a 
separate data file)

So, with PSTricks, you have a great deal of control over your image via 
TeX macros.

--Ted


-- 
Ted Pavlic <ted at tedpavlic.com>



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