- not so Frequently Asked Questions -

update 2004/11/29

An example of use of gnuplot for technical paper submission

Here we explain a simple way to use of gnuplot for a technical paper submission. There are many formats and methods to submit your paper, and those usually depend on a society rule. So that the technique here is an example.

A common way to send your graphs to an editorial office is probably to prepare your graphs on separate sheets and attach captions of figures. We generate them with LaTeX.

General notes to make figures

Firstly all your figures are prepared by gnuplot in the EPS format.

• Your graphs are generated by the set term postscript eps enhanced commands. If they accept a color figure, add the color option.
• Use large fonts for tics, label, and legend.
When your thesis is printed in a journal, the size of your figures are usually reduced to fit the page. So that you should avoid to use small fonts because they become very small and hard to read. The best size may be depend on the figure size and journal page width.
• When you want to include several figures in one drawing, make them in the same size.
• You can also combine some figures generated by another software if those are in the EPS format.

Here we prepared some files those were made with gnuplot.

TeX

Each figure is drawn on a separate sheet --- one A4-size paper contains one figure. The figure number, caption, and the author's name are shown in a margin on each sheet.

From the four EPS files above, we make a A4-size Postscript file which contains figure pages. This can be done with the LaTeX2e graphics (graphicx) package. Let's make a TeX file "figure.tex", and import EPS files in it. The next shows the top part of this file.

\documentclass[12pt]{article}
\oddsidemargin   0mm
\evensidemargin  0mm
\topmargin       0mm
\topskip         0mm
\textwidth     160mm   % 210 - 25x2 mm
\textheight    235mm   % 297 - 30x2 -2 mm
\baselineskip  12pt    % single space
\usepackage[dvips]{graphics}
\begin{document}
\pagestyle{empty}


The EPS files are imported by the \includegraphics command, and adjust (enlarge) the figure width by \resizebox . At the top of each page, the figure number, author's name and affiliation are written. In the next example those infomation is top/right aligned.

\begin{flushright}
Fig.~1~:~ Kawano, T. (LANL)
\end{flushright}
\vskip 1cm
\begin{center}
\resizebox{150mm}{!}{\includegraphics{besj0.eps}}
\end{center}
\clearpage


If you want to include the figure caption, use figure environment. In this case you can use a figure label, so the second line (figure number) can be generated automatically.

\begin{flushright}
Fig.~\ref{besj0}~:~ Kawano, T. (LANL)
\end{flushright}
\vskip 1cm
\begin{figure}[b!]
\begin{center}
\resizebox{150mm}{!}{\includegraphics{besj0.eps}}
\caption{Bessel function, $J_0$.}
\label{besj0}
\end{center}
\end{figure}
\clearpage


To include several plots in one figure, align those plots by the tabular environment. To combine the four EPS in one figure:

\begin{flushright}
Fig.~5~:~ Kawano, T. (LANL)
\end{flushright}
\vskip 1cm
\begin{center}
\begin{tabular}{cc}
\resizebox{70mm}{!}{\includegraphics{besj0.eps}} >
\resizebox{70mm}{!}{\includegraphics{besj1.eps}} \\
\resizebox{70mm}{!}{\includegraphics{besy0.eps}} >
\resizebox{70mm}{!}{\includegraphics{besy1.eps}} \\
\end{tabular}
\end{center}
\clearpage


Cares must be made for the size of letters, because the letter size becomes very small in this case.

Change the direction of figure

In order to change the direction of figure, rotate EPS by \rotatebox . Your figure becomes wider. In the following example the width of figure (printed length) was enlarged to 20 cm.

\begin{flushright}
Fig.~6~:~ Kawano, T. (LANL)
\end{flushright}
\vskip 1cm
\begin{center}
\rotatebox{90}{%
\resizebox{200mm}{!}{\includegraphics{besy1.eps}}}
\end{center}
\clearpage


Make a separate Postscript page

The method explained above our TeX file finally contains six figures, and those become as follows:

Process this TeX file, convert DVI into Postscript.

% latex figure.tex
% dvips figure.dvi -o figure.ps


The obtained file "figure.ps" contains six figures --- Fig.1 to 6 --- and each figure is drawn on the separate page. Finally send the PS file to your Postscript printer, you get the printed figures.

In some case (for example, esub system of American Physical Society) you have to prepare separate Postscript files --- one file contains one figure. This can be done with dvips .

% dvips figure.dvi -pp 1-1 -o figure1.ps
% dvips figure.dvi -pp 2-2 -o figure2.ps
% dvips figure.dvi -pp 3-3 -o figure3.ps
% dvips figure.dvi -pp 4-4 -o figure4.ps
% dvips figure.dvi -pp 5-5 -o figure5.ps
% dvips figure.dvi -pp 6-6 -o figure6.ps
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