fig2mpdf(1)       Including xfig figures into LaTeX documents      fig2mpdf(1)



NAME
       fig2mpdf  -  creation  of  multilayer pdf or eps figures from fig files
       using latex for typesetting

SYNOPSIS
       fig2mpdf [OPTION]... FILE

DESCRIPTION
       This tool can create pdf or eps figures using fig files as source.  For
       beamer  presentations,  for example, you can use the multilayer mode to
       create multiple figures that can be overlayed to get a dynamic  figure.
       For  proper  appearance you can use latex to typeset some or all texts,
       possibly containing formulas.

       The default interpretation of the given fig FILE depends on its suffix.

       fig    Normal conversion of a fig file. All texts  are  interpreted  as
              postscript  texts and all elements of the figure are included in
              the resulting figure.

       lfig   LaTeX interpretation of the file. All texts of  the  input  file
              that  have  the  special  bit  set are typeset by pdflatex resp.
              latex (see: Option -|+l).

       mfig   Multilayer file interpretation. Depending on the used depths  of
              the  figure  it  is  split into multiple parts. For each part an
              output file is created (see: section MultiLayerOutput).

       mlfig or lmfig
              Combination of multilayer and LaTeX interpretation of the  input
              (see: Suffix lfig and mfig).

       The  default  interpretation  of  the input can be changed by using the
       options below.

OPTIONS
       -e     produce an eps output file. Instead of creating a pdf file  (the
              default) an eps figure is produced.

       -|+l   force  calling  (pdf)latex  (-) or do not use (pdf)latex (+) for
              typesetting the text marked with the  special  flag.  With  this
              option  you  can  change the default behavior given by the input
              file suffix.

       -|+m   force set (-) or unset (+) the multilayer  interpretation  (see:
              MultiLayerOutput  below)  which  was previously set by the input
              file suffix.

       -p ranges
              explicitly set the ranges of depths for splitting the input fig-
              ure  in  multilayer  mode.  ranges  is a colon separated list of
              ranges of the form upper-lower or depth where upper  is the  top
              and  lower  the  bottom depth in the range. If you use the depth
              form the range consist of just that depth.

       -i     include the the bottommost range (that  is,  the  one  with  the
              highest  depth) into all output figures. This is for compatibil-
              ity to older versions of this tool.

       -I     turn on pyramid mode. The figure of  a  corresponding  range  in
              multilayer mode includes all lower ranges too.

       -g gapwidth
              set  the  allowed  gapwidth between two used depths to decide if
              these depths should be grouped together in one range. With  this
              option  you  get  more  flexibility  to  insert objects with new
              depths. The default width is zero (no gap =  consecutively  num-
              bered depths are grouped together).

       -s style
              replace  the  default style for selecting a font family in LaTeX
              mode.  If this option is omitted the style  `times'  is  set  by
              default.

       -H header
              replace the default header sequence for creating temporary LaTeX
              documents in LaTeX mode. To get maximum flexibility you can  set
              the  entire  document header in the file header (see: Customized
              Headers  below).

       -G     in multilayer mode change the default output file pattern to the
              PDF format which is  <name>.page<no>.<ext>

       -v     be verbose and print out all executed commands

       -V     print out the version of fig2mpdf

MultiLayerOutput
       In  xfig  you can assign an individual depth to all objects of the fig-
       ure. These depths are normally used to determine the order of  printing
       the  objects.  fig2mpdf  uses  these  depths  to group the objects into
       ranges in automatic mode (if the ranges option is omitted). In the list
       of  used  depths,  consecutively  numbered  depths are grouped into one
       range. That is, all gaps between used  depths  are  used  to  logically
       split  the figure. With -g you can set the gapwidth which doesn't split
       the figure (default: zero).

       The resulting list of ranges determines the number of output files.  In
       default  mode  all  objects  with depths assigned to one range are col-
       lected and put into the corresponding output file. The contents of  the
       output files can be changed with the two Options -i and -I.

       The -i option reduces the number of output files by one. The bottommost
       range, that is the range which consist of the  highest  depths  of  the
       figure, is included into all output files.

       In  pyramid  mode, activated by the option -I, the output files contain
       additionally all lower ranges. With this mode you can get  stand  alone
       figures that don't have to be overlayed to have meaningful content.

       Example 1
       Assume that you have a fig file foo.fig which contains the three ranges
       230-233, 455-460 and 499-500.

       With no options set you get three output files, one per range.  But  if
       you set the -i option you get the following two files where the bottom-
       most range is included in both of the files:
         foo-0.pdf with ranges 455-460 and 499-500
         foo-1.pdf with ranges 230-233 and 499-500.

       Example 2
       The pyramid mode, activated by the option -I, will produce the  follow-
       ing files from the source file of Example 1:
         foo-0.pdf with ranges 499-500
         foo-1.pdf with ranges 455-460 and 499-500
         foo-2.pdf with ranges 230-233, 455-460 and 499-500.

       Example 3
       If  both options are set you will get just two files with the following
       contents:
         foo-0.pdf with ranges 455-460 and 499-500
         foo-1.pdf with ranges 230-233, 455-460 and 499-500.

Customized Headers
       For various reasons you might want to change the standard latex genera-
       tion,  e.g., if you want to change the default font family. The follow-
       ing example represents a valid header file.

       The usage of this example file changes the font family  to  sans  serif
       and adds an additional search path for includegraphics to the `figures'
       subdirectory.

         \documentclass{article}
         \usepackage{german,amssymb,amsmath}
         \renewcommand{\familydefault}{\sfdefault}
         \AtBeginDocument{\graphicspath{{figures/}}}

       The following packages are generally used: color, graphicx and epsfig.

Tex errors
       Sometimes it might happen that latex generates an error while  process-
       ing  your  special  texts. To keep you informed about the occurrence of
       that error and about what has happened, in this case the  log  file  is
       shown by invoking a less command.

Files
       In single layer mode for the resulting files the suffix fig is replaced
       by pdf (resp. eps) (i.e. foo.fig -> foo.pdf).

       In multilayer mode the base name of the source fig files is extended by
       '-<range>' and the suffix is set to pdf (resp. eps).
       (i.e., foo.fig -> foo-0.pdf, foo-1.pdf, foo-2.pdf,  ...
           or foo.fig -> foo.page0.pdf, foo.page1.pdf, foo.page2.pdf, ...
              if the option -G is set).

SEE ALSO
       xfig(1) fig2dev(1) gawk(1) pdflatex(1) latex(1) dvips(1)



                                   Jun 2006                        fig2mpdf(1)
