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Labeling Figures with LaTeX

These instructions were created for Mac OS X (Panther) using Adobe Illustrator CS2, for quickly labeling figures with LaTeX expressions.


LaTeX Fonts for numbers, single variables, and text labels

Adobe Illustrator does not come with LaTeX fonts by default, but you can download the LaTeX fonts package and drag the downloaded "Tex-Illustrator" folder into the folder "/Library/Application Support/Adobe/Fonts/Reqrd/" After restarting Illustrator, the LaTeX fonts should be available to you like any other Illustrator font.

The default LaTeX font for math variables is CMMI. The default for numbers and text is CMR.


LaTeXiT for mathematical expressions

LaTeXiT is a small, clean program for quickly typsetting a line of LaTeX code. You can drop the rendered output directly into many programs (including Keynote, Adobe Illustrator, OmniGrapple, and CorelDRAW), or save the output as an image file (PDF, EPS, JPG, PNG, or TIFF).

To drag and drop from LaTeXiT to Adobe Illustrator CS2, set the export format as "PDF with outlined fonts." (To change the default settings, including the export format, choose "Preferences" from the LaTeXiT menu.) You will now be able to drag rendered equations from the LaTeXiT display window and drop them directly into an open Illustrator CS2 document.


LaTeXiT by Pierre Chatelier

Example Figure

Starting Figure. This figure does not use standard LaTeX fonts, and some symbols are missing (replaced by question-marks). We would like to remove the old labels and add standard LaTeX labels.

Step 1 (Font Method). Select the CMR font for numbers and plain text, and select the CMMI font for single variables and functions names (shown below):


Step 2 (LaTeXiT Method). To add equations, we will use LaTeXiT to render a line of TeX code:

Upon opening LaTeXiT, check your font size at the bottom of the LaTeXiT window (the default size can be permanently set in the Preferences window). Then compile your source code and drag the output to the open Illustrator document.


Final Figure. Here is the finished result:


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