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)