[vox-tech] Rant: LaTeX graphics programs

[Ken Bloom]

Peter Jay Salzman wrote:
> I need to vent frustration.
>
> Xfig has got to be the single most un-user friendly piece of software I've
> ever seen.  I experience physical pain everytime I use it.
>
> It's NOT a hyperbole to say that I can do most diagrams faster by coding the
> picture environment by hand than drawing the equivalent diagram with xfig.
> Maybe if xfig developers stole the Gimp interface things would be better.
> As it stands, it looks like a musty UNIX(TM) application from the 80's.
> Looks like Xaw or something.  Congress should do something useful for a
> change, like outlawying the X toolkit.
>
> My hat is off to anyone on this list who is actually handy with this
> monstrosity.
>
> Dia's interface is OK, but doesn't give me a lot of control over the
> objects.  Its font stuff almost never works right when you view the final
> LaTeX dvi/postscript.  Dia also seems to have wierd scaling issues when
> exporting to tex format.  Also, Dia is WYSIAWYG (what you see is almost what
> you get).
>
> What I really want is a program like Macromedia Flash that can export to a
> LaTeX picture environment format.
>
> I'd settle for Gimp having vector operations.  Although Gimp can export to
> vector formats, it's firmly a bitmap-centric application and unsuited for
> this kind of thing.
>
> There's a rumor that Macromedia might be porting its suite to Linux.  I will
> be VERY HAPPY if that comes true.  I'd gladly shell out a few hundred bucks
> for that program on Linux.

I'm not sure if there was a question here, but have you tried using
inkscape or sodipodi? Saves in eps and svg formats (and some bitmap
formats as well), and I think it's a pretty good application.

--Ken Bloom

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