Drawing dashed lines in LaTeX
Raphael Goubet
LaTeX?
Also, to rotate text within a picture environment, do I have to use
the rotating package or is it a built in LaTeX command to do it?
Thanks in advance.
--
Raphaël Goubet
Spam filter: e-mail address in the header is for spam filtering
purpose only. Please send your reply to gou...@skynet.be
Thomas Christiaans
news:gvad0u4f2k986gp7p...@4ax.com...
> How can I draw dashed lines and arrows in a picture environment in
> LaTeX?
>
> Also, to rotate text within a picture environment, do I have to use
> the rotating package or is it a built in LaTeX command to do it?
Sorry, but these questions should be answered in any LaTeX textbook.
TC
Raphael Goubet
> Sorry, but these questions should be answered in any LaTeX textbook.
I've read Kopka & Daly's Guidebook to LaTeX2e, and there is no mention
about how to draw dashed lines in a picture environment. And I don't
have the time to read *every* textbook on LaTeX.
Raphael
Thomas Christiaans
The German edition of Kopka contains a chapter on pictures, and I guess that
the English edition should also.
There is no built-in command for dashed lines (nor for rotating), but you
can do it with \multiput, e.g.:
\multiput(0,0)(3,6){5}{\line(1,2){2}}
You have to be aware that there are several limitations regarding the slope
of lines in LaTeX. If the available slopes do not match your requirements,
you should use an additional package (such as pstricks) or you can try to do
it with bezier curves.
TC
David Kastrup
>>>>> <thomas.ch...@christiaans.de> writes:
Thomas> You have to be aware that there are several limitations
Thomas> regarding the slope of lines in LaTeX. If the available
Thomas> slopes do not match your requirements, you should use an
Thomas> additional package (such as pstricks) or you can try to do it
Thomas> with bezier curves.
Without change in input syntax, pspicture.sty lifts those restrictions
at the cost of requiring PS processing (won't work with pdflatex, I
guess).
--
David Kastrup, Kriemhildstr. 15, 44793 Bochum
Email: David....@t-online.de
Robin Fairbairns
>"Thomas Christiaans" <thomas.ch...@christiaans.de> wrote...
>> Sorry, but these questions should be answered in any LaTeX textbook.
>
>I've read Kopka & Daly's Guidebook to LaTeX2e, and there is no mention
>about how to draw dashed lines in a picture environment. And I don't
>have the time to read *every* textbook on LaTeX.
i thought it was a rather unhelpful answer, too.
i think the reason you can't find dashed lines in the documentation is
that the only available command that generates dashes is \dashbox. i
presume you're expected to use \multiput to generate your own dashed
lines :-(
on the whole, imo, the picture environment is pretty feeble: which is
why pictex arose. and pictex's also ghastly, and (worse) lacks
documentation -- unless you're willing to pay huge amounts for ~=80pp
of a small-format booklet ... about 50c/page. but pictex does at
least have dashed, dotted and patterned line facilities built in.
--
Robin Fairbairns, Cambridge -- rf10 at cam dot ac dot uk
Thomas Christiaans
"Robin Fairbairns" <r...@pallas.cl.cam.ac.uk> schrieb im Newsbeitrag
news:9u7kh8$ln$1...@pegasus.csx.cam.ac.uk...
> Raphael Goubet <rgo...@yahoo.fr> wrote:
> >"Thomas Christiaans" <thomas.ch...@christiaans.de> wrote...
> >> Sorry, but these questions should be answered in any LaTeX textbook.
> >
> >I've read Kopka & Daly's Guidebook to LaTeX2e, and there is no mention
> >about how to draw dashed lines in a picture environment. And I don't
> >have the time to read *every* textbook on LaTeX.
>
> i thought it was a rather unhelpful answer, too.
I don't think so!
> i think the reason you can't find dashed lines in the documentation is
> that the only available command that generates dashes is \dashbox. i
> presume you're expected to use \multiput to generate your own dashed
> lines :-(
That's what I suggested.
> on the whole, imo, the picture environment is pretty feeble:
I find it rather good, at least since the option qbezier has been added. It
is pretty easy to draw relatively complex figures with the help of texcad
(of G. Horn, I think, which can be patched to run on fast computers), which
outputs plain LaTeX-commands for easy editing. Using the bezier curves, it
is possible to draw nearly anything (no colors, of course), and processing
tex-files with many high quality qbezier-curves is no problem on my 400 MHz
PC, which is rather slow compared to actual processors.
TC
Robin Fairbairns
>"Robin Fairbairns" <r...@pallas.cl.cam.ac.uk> schrieb ...
>> Raphael Goubet <rgo...@yahoo.fr> wrote:
>> >"Thomas Christiaans" <thomas.ch...@christiaans.de> wrote...
>> >> Sorry, but these questions should be answered in any LaTeX textbook.
>> >
>> >I've read Kopka & Daly's Guidebook to LaTeX2e, and there is no mention
>> >about how to draw dashed lines in a picture environment. And I don't
>> >have the time to read *every* textbook on LaTeX.
>>
>> i thought it was a rather unhelpful answer, too.
>
>I don't think so!
it sounds pretty daft when the man says he _has_ looked for it in a
(reputable) latex textbook, and failed to find it. your second
response would have been entirely reasonable: "look in the textbooks
for \multiput" sets a body on the right path. "look in the textbooks"
for something that isn't there is just not helpful. not everyone is a
programmer: realising that \multiput will do the job is the sort of
lateral thinking that makes a programmer.
>> i think the reason you can't find dashed lines in the documentation is
>> that the only available command that generates dashes is \dashbox. i
>> presume you're expected to use \multiput to generate your own dashed
>> lines :-(
>
>That's what I suggested.
at about the same time as i posted (my news server picked it up while
i was composing my response).
>> on the whole, imo, the picture environment is pretty feeble:
>
>I find it rather good, at least since the option qbezier has been added.
a drawing environment that lacks any operation to draw dashed lines is
(imo) de facto feeble. that (by your admission) it's best used with a
supporting package to generate its hideous commands, merely goes to
support my claim.
Raphael Goubet
<thomas.ch...@christiaans.de> wrote:
>There is no built-in command for dashed lines (nor for rotating), but you
>can do it with \multiput, e.g.:
>
>\multiput(0,0)(3,6){5}{\line(1,2){2}}
Yes, that's what I feared. This is would work alright for horizontal
or vertical lines, but that's impossible to use for oblique lines.
I found the epic package that allows drawing of dashed lines. To make
a dashed arrow, I just have to put a very short vector at the end of
the line;
\dashline{0.3}(1,1)(3,3)
\put(3,3){\vector(1,1){0.1}}
It work pretty fine. However, this causes this warning:
LaTeX Warning: \oval, \circle, or \line size unavailable on input line
10.
Do you have any idea of the reason.
Robin Fairbairns
>On Fri, 30 Nov 2001 09:58:40 +0100, "Thomas Christiaans"
><thomas.ch...@christiaans.de> wrote:
>
>>There is no built-in command for dashed lines (nor for rotating), but you
>>can do it with \multiput, e.g.:
>>
>>\multiput(0,0)(3,6){5}{\line(1,2){2}}
>
>Yes, that's what I feared. This is would work alright for horizontal
>or vertical lines, but that's impossible to use for oblique lines.
the arithmetic's more troublesome, but it's surely possible?
>I found the epic package that allows drawing of dashed lines. To make
>a dashed arrow, I just have to put a very short vector at the end of
>the line;
>
>\dashline{0.3}(1,1)(3,3)
>\put(3,3){\vector(1,1){0.1}}
>
>It work pretty fine. However, this causes this warning:
>
>LaTeX Warning: \oval, \circle, or \line size unavailable on input line
>10.
>
>Do you have any idea of the reason.
the picture environment builds lines from small segments made of
characters. if you specify a segment that's shorter than the shortest
line-segment character, but not of zero length, you get that error.
(the zero length case allows for \vectors with nothing but the arrow
head.)