This description was written by Eric Masson (ericm@kirk.ee.mcgill.ca)


The following is a document on how to import xfig figures in latex along
with a few tips to make your life easier. I wrote this quite a while
back but it still applies. 

Salut,

Eric

HOW TO IMPORT XFIG FIGURES IN YOUR LATEX FILES:
--------------------------------------------------------------

Getting Started
---------------

When you call xfig use the following command line:

xfig -specialtext -latexfonts -startlatexFont default

If you want ALL of your figures to be started with special text and
latex fonts, you can set the following resources in your .Xresources
or whatever resource file you use:

Fig.latexfonts: true
Fig.specialtext: true

There are several formats to which xfig can generate output and 
latex can read. I will only cover three cases:

(A) Export Fig format directly into latex form
(B) Export Fig in encapsulated postscript and import the
    postscript in latex.
(C) Save the figure partly in postscript and partly in latex
    form and superimpose them in your document. 

All three methods have their advantages and are equally simple
to handle. In method (A) the advantage is that all your work 
is in tex form and that your .dvi files will hold all the necessary
information. In (B) you have all the power and fonts of postscript
at your disposal. In (C) you get the drawing power of postscript
and the typesetting of latex for your strings.

---

In your latex preamble (the part that preceeds your 
\begin{document} statement) place the following lines:

                \usepackage{graphicx}

So your preamble could look like: 

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% LaTeX Preamble %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
 
\documentstyle[12pt,bezier,amstex]{article}  % include bezier curves
\renewcommand\baselinestretch{1.0}           % single space
\pagestyle{empty}                            % no headers and page numbers
\oddsidemargin -10 true pt      % Left margin on odd-numbered pages.
\evensidemargin 10 true pt      % Left margin on even-numbered pages.
\marginparwidth 0.75 true in    % Width of marginal notes.
\oddsidemargin  0 true in       % Note that \oddsidemargin=\evensidemargin
\evensidemargin 0 true in
\topmargin -0.75 true in        % Nominal distance from top of page to top of
\textheight 9.5 true in         % Height of text (including footnotes and figures)
\textwidth 6.375 true in        % Width of text line.
\parindent=0pt                  % Do not indent paragraphs
\parskip=0.15 true in
\usepackage{color}		% Need the color package
\usepackage{epsfig}

\usepackage{graphicx}           % Graphics package
 
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% Document Beginning %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
 
\begin{document}
\end{document}


TYPE A - Exporting directly to latex form
-----------------------------------------

In terms of drawing capabilities this is the weakest form you can use.
Lines in latex can only be drawn at multiples of 30 and 45 degrees. 
And lines with arrows can only be drawn at multiples of 45 degrees.
Several features such as ellipses, splines, etc. are not supported 
(xfig does not take advantage of available LaTeX macro packages 
such as bezier). When drawing lines for type A drawings make
sure you restrict yourself to the proper angle geometry in xfig.
Otherwise when you export your figures to latex format, xfig
will approximate your lines to the nearest angle available in latex.
Usually this has unpleasant results. 

In this mode, you can type any LaTeX string on your 
figure.  Once imported to LaTeX, the string  will be interpreted
properly.  For example:
 
                $\int_0^9 f(x) dx$

would result in a integration from 0 to 9 of the function f(x).

To create your LaTeX file just choose the export option off the
xfig main menu. And then select LaTeX picture as the language
to export. This will create a file with a .latex extension which
you can then call directly into your latex document. For example
this code would import the file yourfile.latex directly into latex
format:
 
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% Figure 1 %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
 
\begin{figure}[htbp]
\begin{center}

\input{yourfile.latex} 

\caption{The caption on your figure}
\label{figure:yourreferencename}
\end{center}
\end{figure}


TYPE B - Exporting to Encapsulated postscript
---------------------------------------------

There are no limitations in drawing figures of this type. Except that 
one cannot use latex command strings in this format. However all
of the many fonts of postscript are available when this format 
is selected. Once you are done drawing your figure simply choose the 
export menu off of the xfig main menu and select encapsulated postscript 
as your output language. This will create a .eps file which you can then
include into you latex ducument in the following way:

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% Figure 2 %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

\begin{figure}[htbp]
\begin{center}
\ \includegraphics[width=4in]{yourfile.eps}
\end{center}
\caption{Your caption}
\label{figure:yourreference}
\end{figure}
 
TYPE C - Postscript/Latex format 
--------------------------------
 
You can draw any lines or curves when using this format. 
In this type of export, latex strings are permitted 
you also have the postscript fonts available to you. Therefore
you can type in strings such as

                $\int_0^9 f(x) dx$

and they will be processed by latex. You will need to export your file to
the "combined ps/latex (both parts)" language.  This will create both a
.pstex file and a .pstex_t file. The .pstex_t file automatically calls
the .pstex file and you do not need to include it explicitely in your
tex file (users of the previous version please take note of this.)
To include your figure just use something similar to this:

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% Figure 3 of Lecture %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
\begin{figure}[htbp]
\begin{center}
 
\input{yourfigure.pstex_t}
 
\caption{Your figure}
\label{figure:example}
\end{center}
\end{figure}

N.B. You might want to edit the .pstex_t files created by xfig.
     When it refers to the other file (.pstex) it automatically 
     gives the path specification to the .pstex file. This
     can be an inconvenience if you move your files to another directory
     because your latex processing will fail. I personally prefer to 
     remove the full path specification and only keep the filename. 


SOME OTHER NOTES
----------------

xfig
----

You can import encapsulated postcript files into your latex files.
This is useful if you want to doodle on top of outputs from other
programs. For example you could include a MATLAB drawing and identify
points of interest with strings, lines, circles, etc. Starting from
version 2.1.7 of xfig there is a hook to ghostscript which permits 
you to view the postscript in your drawing. A neat feature. 

Use ps2epsi in ghostscript to encapsulate your postscript if you only
have .ps files.


-- 
=================================================================
  Eric Masson - ericm@finnegan.ee.mcgill.ca - FAX: 514 398 4470
=================================================================

Notes:

	Sometimes one may get "mn" in your LaTeX text.  Here is what one
	user did to work around that problem:

	The problem was in the \smash part of a command that was generated in
	the latex part of the export.  If the \mddefault and \updefault are
	not set properly on your system you need to define them to do nothing.

=================================================================
Some more notes from Stephen Eglen <stephene@cogs.susx.ac.uk>

* changing the size of pictures in pstex_t

If you just include the picture using 
\input{file.psttext_t}
you have no way of specifying the size of the picture. There are two
solutions to this.

1. Draw it the right size in xfig to start with.  Or, when you are
   exporting the figure, change the magnification of the picture by
   using the magnification box in the export window.  Either way you
   have to go back into xfig if you dont like the size of the image in
   your latex document.

2. Get latex to change the size of the picture, using either \scalebox
   or \resizebox.  These are general functions for scaling text or
   pictures from the graphics package:

   \scalebox{factor}{object}
   Will scale the object by any factor.  
   Factor is just a number (<1 = reduction; >1 = enlargement)
   Object is normally some text or graphics

   eg: \scalebox{2}{ \input{file.pstex_t} }
   will scale the picture by 2, dependent on driver (.ps works, but xdvi
   wont).  Scaling bitmap fonts may produce ugly results, so try and
   avoid them!

   \resizebox{width}{ht} {stuff}

   will resize "stuff" to be of size width x ht.  Using "!" as an argument
   retains the aspect ratio of the box.
   eg \resizebox{5cm}{!}{fat cat} will make "fat cat" appear 5 cm wide,
   and suitably high.
   (From p129, Lamport)

================= 
xfig and PDFLaTeX
================= 
(written by Josselin Mouette <jmouette@ens-lyon.fr>)

1. A STANDARD PDF FILE
   In xfig, select the "PDF" export filter, which will generate a
   foo.pdf file.  In your document, put in the preamble :
    \usepackage[pdftex]{graphicx}
    \DeclareGraphicsRule{.pdftex}{pdf}{.pdftex}{}
   and insert your picture with \includegraphics{foo.pdf}
   You may use all the includegraphics options as well.
   Pros: Very easy to use.
   Cons: The text in your figure will appear as is on your document,
	 using postscript fonts; you cannot put some TeX code in it.

2. A COMBINED PDF/LaTeX FILE
   This is the method I would recommend in most cases. It may be
   difficult for the beginner at the first time, but it is really
   powerful.  If you choose this method, you'll have to set the xfig
   fonts to LaTeX ones, and to set the "special" attribute of your
   text boxes. To do this automatically, you can add these 2 lines in
   your .Xresources or .Xdefaults (depends on your system):
    Fig.latexfonts: true
    Fig.specialtext: true
   Then, when exporting, select the "Combined PS/LaTeX" format. Until
   there is a "Combined PDF/LaTeX" export filter, you'll have to do an
   extra manipulation: just launch the script "pstex2pdf" following
   here (requires epstopdf to work), it will convert the foo.pstex to
   foo.pdf, and foo.pstex_t to foo.pdftex:
--- CUT HERE ---
#! /bin/sh
for i in `ls *.pstex`; do
    AZE=`basename "$i" .pstex`
    if [ -r "$AZE".pdf ] && [ "$AZE".pdf -nt "$AZE".pstex ]; then
        echo Nothing to do for "$i".
    else
        echo -n Converting "$i".
	epstopdf "$AZE".pstex > "$AZE".pdf
	echo -n .
	sed "s/$AZE.pstex/$AZE.pdf/" "$AZE".pstex_t > "$AZE".pdftex
	echo .
    fi
done
--- CUT HERE ---

   Then, in your LaTeX file, put in the preamble:
    \usepackage[pdftex]{graphicx,color}
   The color package is required whenever you put some text in colors.
   Then include the picture with_
    \input foo.pdftex_t
   You can also resize it:
    \resizebox{3cm}{!}{\input foo.pdftex_t}  % sets the width to 3cm
   Pros: Whatever is put in your text boxes is treated just as your
	 document's code; that means you can use your own macros,
	 which is really cool.
   Cons: When putting big formulas on your figure, it is sometimes
	 difficult to predict what place they will take.

3. METAPOST
   There is nothing special to do in xfig to use MetaPost. All the
   text you type will be treated as plain TeX code - note, this will
   be not compiled within your document, so you don't have acess to
   packages like AMS-TeX, neither have you to your macros.
   In xfig, export your file with the MetaPost filter, it creates
   foo.mp.  Then, type mpost foo.mp, it will generate foo.0 (or foo.1,
   sometimes).  In your document, put this in the preamble:
    \input supp-pdf.tex
    \usepackage[pdftex]{graphicx}
   And to include your figure :
    \convertMPtoPDF{foo.0}{1}{1}
   That's it. Quite simple, and you can put a bit TeX inside.
   Pros: Can be easily included in a dual-output (pdf/dvi) file: for
	 including it as PS, just put a \includegraphics{foo.0} in the
	 document.
   Cons: Not adapted to big formulas, as AMS-LaTeX is not
	 accessible. Long phrases may look bad as well, if your
	 document is not in English (babel cannot be used).

4. MULTI-METAPOST
   This method is designed to be used in PDF presentations. Using the
   \pause command, it will display step by step the layers of your
   figure as you click on the button, which can look very nice (and
   can even be useful sometimes).  All that have been told about
   MetaPost inclusions is true, but there are a few extra things to
   know:
   When creating your figure, be careful with the depth of your
   objects. When exporting your figure in the MultiMetaPost format,
   transfig will treat the consecutive depth levels where is an object
   as a single layer, for example:
   Circle at depth 51 \__first displayed layer
   Text at depth 50   /
   *** Nothing at depth 49
   Square at depth 48 \
   Text at depth 48    > Second displayed layer
   Curve at depth 47  /
   ... and so on.

   After exporting, mpost foo.mmp will create a set of files named
   foo.0, foo.1...
   To include them in the document, you will need the mpmulti.sty
   provided with the latest version of PPower4 (still in Beta stage at
   the time of writing).
   The preamble of your document should look like this:
    \input supp-pdf.tex
    \usepackage[pdftex]{graphicx}
    \usepackage{pause,mpmulti}
   And to include your animation, just put:
    \multiinclude{foo}
   You can adjust it to a defined size by using:
    \multiinclude[graphics={width=5cm}]{foo}
   Compile your document, then ppower4 it. Nifty, isn't it?
   Pros: The only way to insert automatically animations. Benefit of
	 the existing xfig's depth system.
   Cons: Are there some ?