PSTricks

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PSTricks is a set of macros that allow the inclusion of PostScript drawings directly inside TeX or LaTeX code. It is originally the work of Professor Timothy Van Zandt and in recent years it has been maintained by Denis Girou, Sebastian Rahtz and Herbert Voss.

1 Basic usage
2 Extensions
3 See also
4 External links

[edit] Basic usage

PSTricks example (scaled)

There is a wide list of commands available for making graphics. Coordinates in PSTricks are always represented in round parenthesis as the following example (scaled) illustrates.

\begin{pspicture}(0,0)(6,6)
 %\psgrid[gridcolor=lightgray,gridlabels=0pt]
  \psline[linecolor=red](1,1)(5,1)(1,4)(1,1)
  \pscurve[linecolor=green,linewidth=2pt,%
    showpoints=true](5,5)(3,2)(4,4)(2,3)
  \pscircle[linecolor=blue,linestyle=dashed](3,2.5){1}
\end{pspicture}

[edit] Extensions

PSTricks commands are low level, so many LaTeX packages have been made in order to ease the creation of several kinds of graphics that are commonly used on mathematical typesetting.

pst-plot provides commands for creating function graphs. Consider the following example

\begin{pspicture*}(-7.5,-3)(7.5,3)
  \psaxes[labels=none](0,0)(-7,-2)(7,2)
  \psplot[linecolor=blue, linewidth=1.5pt]%
    {-7}{7}{x 0.01745329252 div sin}
  \uput[45](3.1415926,0){$\pi$}
  \uput[90](-1.570796,0){$-\pi/2$}
  \uput[-90](1.570796,0){$\pi/2$}
  \uput[-135](-3.1415926,0){$-\pi$}
  \psline[linewidth=1pt,linecolor=red,linestyle=dotted]%
    (1.57079632,1)(1.57079632,0) 
  \psline[linewidth=1pt,linecolor=red,linestyle=dotted]%
    (-1.57079632,-1)(-1.57079632,0) 
\end{pspicture*}

Plotting sin(x) with pst-plot

The previous example also illustrate that TeX commands can be used as elements into the pictures. Since PostScript uses RPN style for mathematical operations, the argument to pst-plot must be supplied in the same form.

pstricks-add extends pst-plot enabling also polar graphs and allowing the use algebraic notation for plots instead of RPN.

pst-math provides trigonometric functions in radians (since PostScript defaults to using degrees) and hyperbolic trigonometric functions.

pst-plot3d is used for creating 3D graphics like the following:

Hyperbolic paraboloid drawn using PSTricks package pst-plot3d

multido provides basic loop functionality for programming graphs with repeating elements:

Ploting a graph while varying parameters with multido

pst-eucl is a beta extension for easy creation of geometrical drawings.

Circumcircle of a triangle, illustrated with pst-eucl

There are many other extensions, for drawing Circuit diagrams, graphs, trees, visualizing data, etc.

[edit] See also

TeX
LaTeX
PostScript
Inkscape for converting SVG images to PSTricks code.

[edit] External links

The official PSTricks site.
PSTricks documentation.
PSTricks examples.
LaTeXDraw, a free and open source graphical editor generating PSTricks code, written in Java.
JPicEdt, another free and open source graphical editor generating PSTricks code, written in Java.