XFig

XFig is an drawing program which stores images in its own format (fig) which can be converted to most commonly used image and vector formats:

XFig and LaTeX

Start XFig to design figures for use in LaTeX:

xfig
    -nosplash
    -metric
    -paper_size a5
    -portrait
    -zoom 2.25
    -latexfonts
    -exportLanguage eps

The standard LaTeX page layout (read about changing the page Margins) leaves the author approximately with the width of an a5 page for his content.

XFree Resources

Expressing the above command using XFree Resources:

Fig.splash: false
Fig.inches: false
Fig.paper_size: A5
Fig.landscape: false
Fig.zoom: 2.25
Fig.latexfonts: true
Fig.exportLanguage: eps

Conversion

Converting fig files:

fig2dev -L {eps|jpeg|latexpdf|png|tiff} [infile [outfile]]

Example:

% file based
fig2dev -L eps <file>.fig <file>.eps

% stream based
cat <file>.fig | fig2dev -L eps > <file>.eps