% Copyright 2019 by Till Tantau % % This file may be distributed and/or modified % % 1. under the LaTeX Project Public License and/or % 2. under the GNU Free Documentation License. % % See the file doc/generic/pgf/licenses/LICENSE for more details. \section{Externalizing Graphics} \label{section-external} \subsection{Overview} There are two fundamentally different ways of inserting graphics into a \TeX-document. First, you can create a graphic using some external program like |xfig| or |InDesign| and then include this graphic in your text. This is done using commands like |\includegraphics| or |\pgfimage|. In this case, the graphic file contains all the low-level graphic commands that describe the picture. When such a file is included, all \TeX\ has to worry about is the size of the picture; the internals of the picture are unknown to \TeX\ and it does not care about them. The second method of creating graphics is to use a special package that transforms \TeX-commands like |\draw| or |\psline| into appropriate low-level graphic commands. In this case, \TeX\ has to do all the hard work of ``typesetting'' the picture and if a picture has a complicated internal structure this may take a lot of time. While \pgfname\ was created to facilitate the second method of creating pictures, there are two main reasons why you may need to employ the first method of image-inclusion, nevertheless: % \begin{enumerate} \item Typesetting a picture using \TeX\ can be a very time-consuming process. If \TeX\ needs a minute to typeset a picture, you do not want to wait this minute when you re\TeX\ your document after having changed a single comma. \item Some users, especially journal editors, may not be able to process files that contain \pgfname\ commands -- for the simple reason that the systems of many publishing houses do not have \pgfname\ installed. \end{enumerate} In both cases, the solution is to ``extract'' or ``externalize'' pictures that would normally be typeset every time a document is \TeX ed. Once the pictures have been extracted into separate graphics files, these graphic files can be reinserted into the text using the first method. Extracting a graphic from a file is not as easy as it may sound at first since \TeX\ cannot write parts of its output into different files and a bit of trickery is needed. The following macros simplify the workflow: % \begin{enumerate} \item You have to tell \pgfname\ which files will be used for which pictures. To do so, you enclose each picture that you wish to be ``externalized'' in a pair of |\beginpgfgraphicnamed| and |\endpgfgraphicnamed| macros. \item The next step is to generate the extracted graphics. For this you run \TeX\ with the |\jobname| set to the graphic file's name. This will cause |\pgfname| to behave in a very special way: All of your document will simply be thrown away, \emph{except} for the single graphic having the same name as the current jobname. \item After you have run \TeX\ once for each graphic that your wish to externalize, you can rerun \TeX\ on your document normally. This will have the following effect: Each time a |\beginpgfgraphicnamed| is encountered, \pgfname\ checks whether a graphic file of the given name exists (if you did step 2, it will). If this graphic file exists, it will be input and the text till the corresponding |\endpgfgraphicnamed| will be ignored. \end{enumerate} In the rest of this section, the above workflow is explained in more detail. \subsection{Workflow Step 1: Naming Graphics} In order to put each graphic in an external file, you first need to tell \pgfname\ the names of these files. \begin{command}{\beginpgfgraphicnamed\marg{file name prefix}} This command indicates that everything up to the next call of |\endpgfgraphicnamed| is part of a graphic that should be placed in a file named \meta{file name prefix}|.|\meta{suffix}, where the \meta{suffix} depends on your backend driver. Typically, \meta{suffix} will be |dvi| or |pdf|. Here is a typical example of how this command is used: % \begin{codeexample}[code only] % In file main.tex: ... As we see in Figure~\ref{fig1}, the world is flat. \begin{figure} \beginpgfgraphicnamed{graphic-of-flat-world} \begin{tikzpicture} \fill (0,0) circle (1cm); \end{tikzpicture} \endpgfgraphicnamed \caption{The flat world.} \label{fig1} \end{figure} \end{codeexample} Each graphic to be externalized should have a unique name. Note that this name will be used as the name of a file in the file system, so it should not contain any funny characters. This command can have three different effects: % \begin{enumerate} \item The easiest situation arises if there does not yet exist a graphic file called \meta{file name prefix}|.|\meta{suffix}, where the \meta{suffix} is one of the suffixes understood by your current backend driver (so |pdf| or |jpg| if you use |pdftex|, |eps| if you use |dvips|, and so on). In this case, both this command and the |\endpgfgraphicnamed| command simply have no effect. \item A more complex situation arises when a graphic file named \meta{file name prefix}|.|\meta{suffix} \emph{does} exist. In this case, this graphic file is included using the |\includegraphics| command% % \footnote{Actually, the command key \texttt{/pgf/images/include external} is invoked which calls an appropriate \texttt{\textbackslash includegraphics} command.}. % Furthermore, the text between |\beginpgfgraphicnamed| and |\endpgfgraphicnamed| is ignored. When the text is ``ignored'', what actually happens is that all text up to the next occurrence of |\endpgfgraphicnamed| is thrown away without any macro expansion. This means, in particular, that (a) you cannot put |\endpgfgraphicnamed| inside a macro and (b) the macros used in the graphics need not be defined at all when the graphic file is included. \item The most complex behavior arises when current the |\jobname| equals the \meta{file name prefix} and, furthermore, the \emph{real job name} has been declared. The behavior for this case is explained later. \end{enumerate} Note that the |\beginpgfgraphicnamed| does not really have any effect until you have generated the graphic files named. Till then, this command is simply ignored. Also, if you delete the graphics file later on, the graphics are typeset normally once more. \end{command} \begin{command}{\endpgfgraphicnamed} This command just marks the end of the graphic that should be externalized. \end{command} \subsection{Workflow Step 2: Generating the External Graphics} We have now indicated all the graphics for which we would like graphic files to be generated. In order to generate the files, you now need to modify the |\jobname| appropriately. This is done in two steps: % \begin{enumerate} \item You use the following command to tell \pgfname\ the real name of your |.tex| file: % \begin{command}{\pgfrealjobname\marg{name}} Tells \pgfname\ the real name of your job. For instance, if you have a file called |survey.tex| that contains two graphics that you wish to be called |survey-graphic1| and |survey-graphic2|, then you should write the following. % \begin{codeexample}[code only] % This is file survey.tex \documentclass{article} ... \usepackage{tikz} \pgfrealjobname{survey} \end{codeexample} \end{command} \item You run \TeX\ with the |\jobname| set to the name of the graphic for which you need an external graphic to be generated. To set the |\jobname|, you use the |--jobname=| option of \TeX: % \begin{codeexample}[code only, tikz syntax=false] bash> latex --jobname=survey-graphic1 survey.tex \end{codeexample} % \end{enumerate} The following things will now happen: % \begin{enumerate} \item |\pgfrealjobname| notices that the |\jobname| is not the ``real'' jobname and, thus, must be the name of a graphic that is to be put in an external file. \item At the beginning of the document, \pgfname\ changes the definition of \TeX's internal |\shipout| macro. The new shipout macro simply throws away the output. This means that the document is typeset normally, but no output is produced. \item When the |\beginpgfgraphicnamed{|\meta{name}|}| command is encountered where the \meta{name} is the same as the current |\jobname|, then a \TeX-box is started and \meta{everything} up to the following |\endpgfgraphicnamed| command is stored inside this box. Note that, typically, \meta{everything} will contain just a single |{tikzpicture}| or |{pgfpicture}| environment. However, this need not be the case, you can use, say, a |{pspicture}| environment as \meta{everything} or even just some normal \TeX-text. \item At the |\endpgfgraphicnamed|, the box \emph{is} shipped out using the original |\shipout| command. Thus, unlike everything else, the contents of the graphic is made part of the output. \item When the box containing the graphic is shipped out, the paper size is modified such that it is exactly equal to the height and width of the box. \end{enumerate} The net effect of everything described above is that the two commands % \begin{codeexample}[code only, tikz syntax=false] bash> latex --jobname=survey-graphic1 survey.tex bash> dvips survey-graphic1 \end{codeexample} % \noindent produce a file called |survey-graphic1.ps| that consists of a single page that contains exactly the graphic produced by the code between |\beginpgfgraphicnamed{survey-graphic1}| and |\endpgfgraphicnamed|. Furthermore, the size of this single page is exactly the size of the graphic. If you use pdf\TeX, producing the graphic is even simpler: % \begin{codeexample}[code only, tikz syntax=false] bash> pdflatex --jobname=survey-graphic1 survey.tex \end{codeexample} % \noindent produces the single-page |pdf|-file |survey-graphic1.pdf|. \subsection{Workflow Step 3: Including the External Graphics} Once you have produced all the pictures in the text, including them into the main document is easy: Simply run \TeX\ again without any modification of the |\jobname|. In this case the |\pgfrealjobname| command will notice that the main file is, indeed, the main file. The main file will then be typeset normally and the |\beginpgfgraphicnamed| commands also behave normally, which means that they will try to include the generated graphic files -- which is exactly what you want. Suppose that you wish to send your survey to a journal that does not have \pgfname\ installed. In this case, you now have all the necessary external graphics, but you still need \pgfname\ to automatically include them instead of the executing the picture code! One way to solve this problem is to simply delete all of the \pgfname\ or \tikzname\ code from your |survey.tex| and instead insert appropriate |\includegraphics| commands ``by hand''. However, there is a better way: You input the file |pgfexternal.tex|. \begin{filedescription}{pgfexternal.tex} This file defines the command |\beginpgfgraphicnamed| and causes it to have the following effect: It includes the graphic file given as a parameter to it and then gobbles everything up to |\endpgfgraphicnamed|. Since |\beginpgfgraphicnamed| does not do macro expansion as it searches for |\endpgfgraphicnamed|, it is not necessary to actually include the packages necessary for \emph{creating} the graphics. So the idea is that you comment out things like |\usepackage{tikz}| and instead say |\input pgfexternal.tex|. Indeed, the contents of this file is simply the following line: % \begin{codeexample}[code only] \long\def\beginpgfgraphicnamed#1#2\endpgfgraphicnamed{\includegraphics{#1}} \end{codeexample} Instead of |\input pgfexternal.tex| you could also include this line in your main file. \end{filedescription} As a final remark, note that the |baseline| option does not work directly with pictures written to an external graphic file. The simple reason is that there is no way to store this baseline information in an external graphic file. To allow the |baseline| option (or any \TeX\ construction with non-zero depth), the baseline information is stored into a separate file. This file is named \marg{image file}|.dpth| and contains something like |5pt|. So, if you need baseline information, you will have to keep the external graphic file together with its~|.dpth| file. Furthermore, the short command in |\input pgfexternal.tex| is no longer enough because it ignores any baseline information. You will need to use |\input pgfexternalwithdepth.tex| instead (it is shown below). It is slightly longer, but it can be used in the same way as |pgfexternal.tex|. \begin{key}{/pgf/images/include external (initially \textbackslash pgfimage\{\#1\})} \label{pgf:includeexternalkey} \index{External Graphics!Bounding Box Issues} This key constitutes the public interface to exchange the |\includegraphics| command used for the image inclusion. Redefining this key allows to provide bounding box or viewport options: % \begin{codeexample}[code only] \pgfkeys{/pgf/images/include external/.code={\includegraphics[viewport=0 0 211.28 175.686]{#1}}} \end{codeexample} % Do not forget the |.code| here which redefines the command. One application could be image externalization and bounding box restrictions: As far as I know, a |.pdf| graphics with restricted bounding box is always cropped (which is not always desired). One solution could be to use |latex| and |dvips| which doesn't have this restriction. Another is to manually provide the |viewport| option as shown above. A possible value for |viewport| can be found in the |.pdf| image, search for |/MediaBox = [ ... ]|. \end{key} \subsection{A Complete Example} Let us now have a look at a simple, but complete example. We start out with a normal file called |survey.tex| that has the following contents: % \begin{codeexample}[code only] % This is the file survey.tex \documentclass{article} \usepackage{graphics} \usepackage{tikz} \begin{document} In the following figure, we see a circle: \begin{tikzpicture} \fill (0,0) circle (10pt); \end{tikzpicture} By comparison, in this figure we see a rectangle: \begin{tikzpicture} \fill (0,0) rectangle (10pt,10pt); \end{tikzpicture} \end{document} \end{codeexample} Now our editor tells us that the publisher will need all figures to be provided in separate PostScript or |.pdf|-files. For this, we enclose all figures in |...graphicnamed|-pairs and we add a call to the |\pgfrealjobname| macro: % \begin{codeexample}[code only] % This is the file survey.tex \documentclass{article} \usepackage{graphics} \usepackage{tikz} \pgfrealjobname{survey} \begin{document} In the following figure, we see a circle: \beginpgfgraphicnamed{survey-f1} \begin{tikzpicture} \fill (0,0) circle (10pt); \end{tikzpicture} \endpgfgraphicnamed By comparison, in this figure we see a rectangle: \beginpgfgraphicnamed{survey-f2} \begin{tikzpicture} \fill (0,0) rectangle (10pt,10pt); \end{tikzpicture} \endpgfgraphicnamed \end{document} \end{codeexample} After these changes, typesetting the file will still yield the same output as it did before -- after all, we have not yet created any external graphics. To create the external graphics, we run |pdflatex| twice, once for each graphic: % \begin{codeexample}[code only, tikz syntax=false] bash> pdflatex --jobname=survey-f1 survey.tex This is pdfTeX, Version 3.141592-1.40.3 (Web2C 7.5.6) entering extended mode (./survey.tex LaTeX2e <2005/12/01> ... ) [1] (./survey-f1.aux) ) Output written on survey-f1.pdf (1 page, 1016 bytes). Transcript written on survey-f1.log. \end{codeexample} \begin{codeexample}[code only, tikz syntax=false] bash> pdflatex --jobname=survey-f2 survey.tex This is pdfTeX, Version 3.141592-1.40.3 (Web2C 7.5.6) entering extended mode (./survey.tex LaTeX2e <2005/12/01> ... (./survey-f2.aux) ) Output written on survey-f2.pdf (1 page, 1002 bytes). Transcript written on survey-f2.log. \end{codeexample} We can now send the two generated graphics (|survey-f1.pdf| and |survey-f2.pdf|) to the editor. However, the publisher cannot use our |survey.tex| file, yet. The reason is that it contains the command |\usepackage{tikz}| and they do not have \pgfname\ installed. Thus, we modify the main file |survey.tex| as follows: % \begin{codeexample}[code only] % This is the file survey.tex \documentclass{article} \usepackage{graphics} \input pgfexternal.tex % \usepackage{tikz} % \pgfrealjobname{survey} \begin{document} In the following figure, we see a circle: \beginpgfgraphicnamed{survey-f1} \begin{tikzpicture} \fill (0,0) circle (10pt); \end{tikzpicture} \endpgfgraphicnamed By comparison, in this figure we see a rectangle: \beginpgfgraphicnamed{survey-f2} \begin{tikzpicture} \fill (0,0) rectangle (10pt,10pt); \end{tikzpicture} \endpgfgraphicnamed \end{document} \end{codeexample} % If we now run pdf\LaTeX, then, indeed, \pgfname\ is no longer needed: % In the following, we switch off typesetting of listings because the % parentheses confuse the pretty printer % \begin{codeexample}[code only,typeset listing/.code=#1] bash> pdflatex survey.tex This is pdfTeX, Version 3.141592-1.40.3 (Web2C 7.5.6) entering extended mode (./survey.tex LaTeX2e <2005/12/01> Babel and hyphenation patterns for english, ..., loaded. (/usr/local/gwTeX/texmf.texlive/tex/latex/base/article.cls Document Class: article 2005/09/16 v1.4f Standard LaTeX document class (/usr/local/gwTeX/texmf.texlive/tex/latex/base/size10.clo)) (/usr/local/gwTeX/texmf.texlive/tex/latex/graphics/graphics.sty (/usr/local/gwTeX/texmf.texlive/tex/latex/graphics/trig.sty) (/usr/local/gwTeX/texmf.texlive/tex/latex/config/graphics.cfg) (/usr/local/gwTeX/texmf.texlive/tex/latex/pdftex-def/pdftex.def)) (/Users/tantau/Library/texmf/tex/generic/pgf/generic/pgf/utilities/pgfexternal. tex) (./survey.aux) (/usr/local/gwTeX/texmf.texlive/tex/context/base/supp-pdf.tex [Loading MPS to PDF converter (version 2006.09.02).] ) [1{/Users/ta ntau/Library/texmf/fonts/map/pdftex/updmap/pdftex.map} <./survey-f1.pdf> <./sur vey-f2.pdf>] (./survey.aux) ) Output written on survey.pdf (1 page, 10006 bytes). Transcript written on survey.log. \end{codeexample} To our editor, we send the following files: % \begin{itemize} \item The last |survey.tex| shown above. \item The graphic file |survey-f1.pdf|. \item The graphic file |survey-f2.pdf|. \item The file |pgfexternal.tex|, whose contents is simply % \begin{codeexample}[code only] \long\def\beginpgfgraphicnamed#1#2\endpgfgraphicnamed{\includegraphics{#1}} \end{codeexample} % (Alternatively, we can also directly add this line to our |survey.tex| file). \end{itemize} % In case we have used the |baseline| option, we also need to include any |.dpth| files and we need to use the file |pgfexternalwithdepth.tex| instead of |pgfexternal.tex|. This file also checks for the existence of |.dpth| files containing baseline information, its contents is % \begin{codeexample}[code only] \long\def\beginpgfgraphicnamed#1#2\endpgfgraphicnamed{% \begingroup \setbox1=\hbox{\includegraphics{#1}}% \openin1=#1.dpth \ifeof1 \box1 \else \read1 to\pgfincludeexternalgraphicsdp\closein1 \dimen0=\pgfincludeexternalgraphicsdp\relax \hbox{\lower\dimen0 \box1 }% \fi \endgroup } \end{codeexample} % Again, we could simply copy these lines to our |survey.tex| file. %%% Local Variables: %%% mode: latex %%% TeX-master: "pgfmanual" %%% End: