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 figure 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 compatibility 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 numbered 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 figure. 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 collected 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 bottommost 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 following 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 generation, e.g., if you want to change
       the default font family. The following 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 processing 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)