Pictures into LaTeX documents
				updated: 1/2003

This section is about inserting diagrams into TeX (really LaTeX)
documents.  This is not an exhaustive treatment of the subject; it is
simply a method that works.

The general procedure:

1. Create a diagram using the xfig utility.  Put mathematical text in your
   diagram using dollar signs, etc, as you would in a tex or latex document.

2. Still in xfig, use the Export button to turn your drawing into file(s) that
   latex can include and process in your main document.
 
3. Process the main document using latex.

Now the details.  

1.  To start xfig, use the command 
xfig &

I run xfig on a laptop with a small screen.  By default xfig takes up
more than one screen, so I use the following startup options (in my
.cshrc file).

# xfig options
#   -spec puts special flag on text elements
#   -ph is canvas height
#   -pw is canvas width
#   -but_ is number of toolbar buttons per row
alias xfig 'xfig -but_ 3 -spec -ph 6 -pw 8 -geometry 776x561'

Note: In order for LaTeX to recognize that text in your diagrams is to processed
as text, and not as graphic elements, you must use the option -spec when you start
xfig.  Alternatively, you can flag text elements individually while running
xfig, as follows.  Click on the Edit button in the xfig toolbar.  Click on the
text you want.  A dialog box will pop up.  One of the settings you can control
in the box is "Special flag".  Set it to "special" (default may be "normal").
Click the "Apply" button in the dialog box, then "Done".

2. In the export dialog box, you have many choices.  Choose portrait
orientation (the default is landscape).  For language, I recommend using
the "Combined PS/LaTeX (both parts)" option.  Click the export button.
This puts two files in your directory: one has the extension .pstex and
the other has the extension .pstex_t . Those are the postscript and
latex parts, respectively.  What xfig has done is to separate the text
and graphics in the figure you have drawn.  The non-text part has been
translated to postscript in the .pstex file.  The .pstex_t part is a
latex file, which has two latex picture environments.  One incorporates
the .pstex file, and the other places all the text elements.  This is an
"overlay" of two latex pictures, with the text part layered over the
non-text part.

3. Here is some sample latex code to show how it all fits together.

sample latex code for main document

%--------------------------------------------------------
\documentclass{article}

% preamble material
	\usepackage{graphicx}    % imports graphics files
        \usepackage{color}       % seems to be necessary

\begin{document}

% a typical graphic will be inside the figure environment

\begin{figure}[h]

\begin{center}
% the filename in the \input command below is the file
%  you exported from xfig
\input{filename.pstex_t}
\end{center}

% caption and label your figure
\caption{Caption for your figure}
\label{labelname}

\end{figure}

\end{document}
%--------------------------------------------------------