This document describes first how to import graphics into LATEX documents and then covers a wide variety issues about their use.
When TEX was written, PostScript/History eps, jpeg, gif, and other graphic formats did not exist. As a result, Knuth’s dvi format does not have direct support for imported graphics. However, TEX allows dvi files to contain \special commands which pass commands to programs which use dvi files. This allowed TEX and LATEX to import any graphic format which is supported by the dvi program being used.
For many years, dvi files were usually converted to PostScript and the standard imported-graphic format was Encapsulated PostScript (eps), which is a subset of the PostScript language. Inserting eps graphics in LATEX originally required the low-level \special command. To make graphic-insertion easier and more portable, two higher-level packages epsf and psfig were written for LATEX2.09. In epsf, the graphics insertion was done by the \epsfbox command, while three other commands controlled graphic scaling. In psfig, the \psfig command not only inserted graphics, it also scaled and rotated them. While the psfig syntax was popular, its code was not as robust as epsf. As a result, the epsfig package was created as a hybrid of the two graphics packages, with its \epsfig command using the \psfig syntax and much of the more-robust \epsfbox code. Unfortunately, \epsfig still used some of the less-robust \psfig code.
When TEX was written, PostScript/History eps, jpeg, gif, and other graphic formats did not exist. As a result, Knuth’s dvi format does not have direct support for imported graphics. However, TEX allows dvi files to contain \special commands which pass commands to programs which use dvi files. This allowed TEX and LATEX to import any graphic format which is supported by the dvi program being used.
For many years, dvi files were usually converted to PostScript and the standard imported-graphic format was Encapsulated PostScript (eps), which is a subset of the PostScript language. Inserting eps graphics in LATEX originally required the low-level \special command. To make graphic-insertion easier and more portable, two higher-level packages epsf and psfig were written for LATEX2.09. In epsf, the graphics insertion was done by the \epsfbox command, while three other commands controlled graphic scaling. In psfig, the \psfig command not only inserted graphics, it also scaled and rotated them. While the psfig syntax was popular, its code was not as robust as epsf. As a result, the epsfig package was created as a hybrid of the two graphics packages, with its \epsfig command using the \psfig syntax and much of the more-robust \epsfbox code. Unfortunately, \epsfig still used some of the less-robust \psfig code.
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