On Sat, 7 Nov 2009, Paul A. Rubin wrote:
I have been searching a drawing tool that generate LaTeX code then implemented (pasted) somewhere in LyX so I can get simple pictures/diagrams.
I'm currently looking at Jpgfdraw (http://theoval.cmp.uea.ac.uk/~nlct/jpgfdraw/) but have not had time to play with it yet. Since I use pgf/tikz drawings in beamer presentations, this one appeals to me a bit.
There is an issue here worth pointing out (at least, I think it's worth pointing out). Specifically, what sort of vector graphics do you need or want to produce? Tools such as xfig, dia, and the rest are GUI and interactive so the drawins are creates as we would do them with pencil on paper. For many purposes this is a fine solution. However, some figures need to have lines that meet very precisely (no overshoots or gaps between them) or be placed with high precision. While this may well be possible and easy for those more skilled than I am, I found my xfig and similar figures to look sloppy when enlarged. The solution for this is to code the image as one would code LaTeX, and my preferred tool is PSTricks. The full power of PostScript is available and all sorts of complex graphics (including plots from data files) can be generated. While I've drawn figures with PSTricks within LyX, I prefer to use a text editor (emacs in my case) and manually compile them. I then incorporate the resulting .pdf file within the LyX document. The precision, accuracy, and control is much higher with this approach than it is with an interactive tool. It's not for everyone, but for folks like me that prefer a CLI to a GUI and do much of our work in virtual consoles, the results cannot be better. With apologies to the Hersey fonts, dif'rent strokes for dif'rent folks. :-) Rich
