Subfig Package - Vertical center with tempbox

[Silversurfer]

Hello everyone,

I have a problem with the vertical alignment of two subfigures. One is
less high than the other, so what I wanted was to align the smaller
one vertically centered wrt the bigger one (so not aligned at the
bottom). (see my really bad figure below to get the idea) I know this
is possible, I have done this some years ago - but cannot remember
how..

------------
| |
--------- | |
| | | |
| | | |
--------- | |
| |
-------------

I read the documentation and they have a big-box/small-box example
that should do the trick. However, when I put it into the code, I
always get a line break in between the figures (no matter how small
they are) such that they are now next to each other anymore. This is
independent from the size I give to them, so somehow I seem to be
missing a crucial point here..

Minimal example:

\sbox{\tempbox}{\includegraphics[width=40mm]{figs/figure1}}
\begin{figure}
\centering
\subfloat[]{\vbox to \ht\tempbox{\vfil\includegraphics[width=40mm]
{figs/figure2}\vfil}}\qquad
\subfloat[]{\usebox{\tempbox}}%
\end{figure}

Any ideas why the line break occurs? Is this the right way to center
vertically?

Thanks a lot for your help!

[Peter Flynn]

Silversurfer wrote:
> Hello everyone,
>
> I have a problem with the vertical alignment of two subfigures. One is
> less high than the other, so what I wanted was to align the smaller
> one vertically centered wrt the bigger one (so not aligned at the
> bottom). (see my really bad figure below to get the idea) I know this
> is possible, I have done this some years ago - but cannot remember
> how..
>
> ------------
> | |
> --------- | |
> | | | |
> | | | |
> --------- | |
> | |
> -------------

Please don't try to make ASCII art when using a variable-width font :-)
The spacing will be different for everyone, and just results in a mess
of characters.

\usepackage{array}
...
\begin{tabular}{m{40mm}m{40mm}}
\includegraphics[width=40mm]{foo}
&
\includegraphics[width=40mm]{bar}
\end{tabular}

But depending on where the (0,0) reference-point in your images is, and
on what surplus white-space they have, and where the creating
application has put the bounding-box, this may require adjustment.

///Peter

[Silversurfer]

Thank you very much for the hint (ASCII art and tabular). However,
what I actually wanted was two _subfigures_ that are vertically
centered to each other... I don't see how this could be done in a
tabular.

Any other suggestions are highly welcome.

Thanks
Tim

[Ulrike Fischer]

Am Tue, 3 Feb 2009 09:52:27 -0800 (PST) schrieb Silversurfer:

> Minimal example:
>
> \sbox{\tempbox}{\includegraphics[width=40mm]{figs/figure1}}

That's not a minimal example. It doesn't compile as it doesn't start
with \documentclass and doesn't contain all necessary packages. Also
it use a local graphic. Make a small but complete example, replace
the \includegraphics by \rule{<width>}{<height>}.

--
Ulrike Fischer

[Peter Flynn]

Silversurfer wrote:
[...]

> However, what I actually wanted was two _subfigures_ that are
> vertically centered to each other... I don't see how this could be
> done in a tabular.

Sorry, my misunderstanding. I think you'd need to rewrite subfig.

///Peter

[Dan Luecking]

\includegraphics starts a paragraph when used
in vertical mode (e.g., in a bare \vbox). A
paragraph is automatically as wide as \textwidth,
so your two boxes together are too wide to fit on
one line.

You can undo this wide-as-a-paragraph phenomenon by
wrapping \hbox{} around your \includegraphics command.
Instead of your fourth and fifth line, use this:

\subfloat[]{%

\vbox to \ht\tempbox
{
\vfil

\hbox{\includegraphics[width=40mm]{figs/figure2}}
\vfil
}%
}\qquad

(Excessive use of indentation is to help me keep braces
matched.)

Alternatively, put _both_ figures in \savebox-es and
use them.

The floatrow package might also help, but I confess I
don't really know. It is _supposed_ to help with
placing side-by-side figures and it might help in
this case. The doc subfig.pdf says it is compatible.

Dan
To reply by email, change LookInSig to luecking

[Silversurfer]

Dan, you are my personal hero - work suggestion works like a charm.

Thanks for sharing this insight into subfig :)

Cheers and thanks a lot!