Directory macros/latex/contrib/lapdf

Lapdf
-----
This is a short introduction for the Lapdf style. It has many instructive example
files to show the usage of this macro package. I hope, this style helps you to
produce nice graphics with the pdfTeX engine.

This package is distributed under the GNU general pupblic licence (GPL) and it's
free to use by everyone.


What is it?
-----------
Lapdf  needs pdfTeX and the calc style, which is included in the LaTeX tools
folder as standard package. Lapdf is a drawing environment like the standard
LaTeX picture environment. So you can design you graphic from within the LaTeX
document. Lapdf uses pdfTeX to calculate everything and native PDF commands for
drawing everything. It lets you also put typesetted text into the graphic, which
is sometimes rather complicated in other packages.

Additionally to all the PDF drawing commands, Lapdf has a unique set of it's own
drawing primitives and other macros. Here is a list:

Math functions: These macros are used internally, but they can be also used in
                your own drawings.
                Sin, Cos, Tan, Asin, Acos, Atan, Sinh, Cosh, Tanh, Asinh,
                Acosh, Atanh, Exp, Pow, Ln, Log, Pot, Root, Sqrt, Abs, Sig,
                Mod, Len, Hypot, Direc, Rotpoint

Loop macros:    There are two looping macros for repeating tasks:
                - Whilenum{condition}{commands}
                - Whiledim{condition}{commands}

PDF commands:  These are the available PDF drawing primitives. I used my own
               names, which differ only a bit from the original names:
                - Gsave
                - Grestore
                - Setclip
                - Stroke
                - Closepath
                - Setwidth
                - Setcap
                - Setjoin
                - Setflat
                - Setmiter
                - Setdash
                - Bezier
                - Concat
                - Translate
                - Scale
                - Rotate
                - Rect

Typesetting:    You can typeset text at position with direction with:
                - Text

Drawing macros: Lapdf fully supports color without the need of any style file. Color
                usage is specified as an option [black | color] in the preamble:
                - Setcol
                - Setgray
                For repreated color changes (especially in loops) there are 96
                rainbow colors defined, wich can be used with these macros:
                - Stepcol
                - Nextcol
                - Resetcol
                Here are the standard drawing primitives:
                - Moveto
                - Lineto
                - Line
                - Polygon
                - Vecto
                - Vect
                - Vpolygon
                - Rectangle
                - Triangle
                - Epolygon
                - Circle
                - Point
                - Ellipse
                - Arc
                - Sector
                - Arcto
                - Fill
                - Gfill
                - Sfill
                These are special Bezier curve additions, which are unique. Lapdf
                lets you draw  integral and also rational Bezier curves up to a
                degree of seven.
                - Curveto
                - Curve
                - Rmoveto
                - Rcurveto
                - Rcurve
                - Quadratic
                - Cubic
                There are 5 kinds of grids availabe:
                - Lingrid
                - Logxgrid
                - Logygrid
                - Logxygrid
                - Polgrid
                You can plot functions in three different ways: normal functions,
                parameter functions, polar functions with these commands:
                - Fplot
                - Tplot
                - Pplot
                Additionally you can plot polynoms (degree <= 3) directly and also
                Tangents:
                - Polynom
                - Tangent
                For special tasks you can also compute polynom values, derivatives,
                partial and total derivatives:
                - Fpoly
                - Dpoly
                - Df
                - Dtx
                - Dty
                - Dtt
                - Dpx
                - Dpy
                - Dpt
                Some macros are useful shortcuts, like these:
                - Thick
                - Thin
                - Dash
				- Black
				- Dred
				- Dgreen
				- Dblue
				- Dcyan
				- Dmagenta
				- Dyellow
				- Dgray
				- Gray
				- Red
				- Green
				- Blue
				- Cyan
				- Magenta
				- Yellow
				- White
                
Documentation:
--------------
There are several additional info files, which help you to use this package. I'm
still working on the documentation, but the intro chapter completed. This Lapdf
docs will be completed as soon as possible. The package itself will also be
updated regularly. If you find errors or have any suggestions for improvements,
please let me know.

I wish you happy Texing with Lapdf!
              
Detlef Reimers

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(Email: detlefreimers@gmx.de; Web: http://detlefreimers.de)