Introduction

PGF is a TeX macro package for generating graphics. It is platform- and format-independent and works together with the most important TeX backend drivers, including pdftex and dvips. It comes with a user-friedly syntax layer called TikZ.

Notes

1. Invoke the PGF/TikZ package via pdflatex or via latex followed by dvips.
2. The PGF/TikZ package is not part of the standard TexLive distribution. We have locally installed it in:

   
   /util/texlive/texmf/tex/generic/pgf-2.10/
   
   

3. After installing or upgrading the PGF/TikZ package, rebuild TEX's filename database by running texhash.

Example

Test PGF/TikZ by writing this code to a file named curve.tex. Then run pdflatex curve.tex to generate a file called curve.pdf.

\documentclass{article} % say
\usepackage{tikz}
\begin{document}
We are working on
\begin{tikzpicture}
\draw (-1.5,0) -- (1.5,0);
\draw (0,-1.5) -- (0,1.5);
\end{tikzpicture}.
\end{document}

People

1. Stuart Shapiro, instructor.

References

1. http://sourceforge.net/projects/pgf/