Howto use pdflatex

• Pictures can be included in pdf jpg png - formats (no eps)
• Output is directly in pdf (no dvips)
• PDF files can be tuned to exploit effects a la PowerPoint (see below)
These features save lots of disc space and improves the quality of pictures. N.B.: PostScript was made for vector graphics not for bitmaps.

To use pdflatex you essentially have to include

\usepackage[pdftex]{graphicx}

and use pdf files when including pictures. jpeg and png files are also supported.
Picture files should be included e.g. with (N.B. No epsfig)

\begin{figure}[here]
\includegraphics[width=15cm,angle=90]{mypicture}
\caption{Scanned example 150dpi, width=15cm,angle=90}
\end{figure}

Note you may leave out the suffix .jpg (mypicture.jpg), pdflatex or latex will find the suitable picture itself. This allows to treat the file by both latex (using .eps) or pdflatex (using .jpg) provided the picture exists as .eps and .jpg

Then run

pdflatex docfile

Howto add special effects, ppower4

ppower can add dynamic effects to PDF files. To add e.g. a pause within a page the following must be included in the latex file:

\usepackage[ppower]
...
...
\pause
...

This adds appropriate tags into the resulting output PDF file. This file must be treated with a postprocessor:

ppower4 name.pdf name_new.pdf

The following shell script runs pdflatex and runs ppower automatically if the latex file contains the pause instruction. In addition it runs acroread with the output file.

#!/bin/bash
name=`echo $1 | cut -f 1 -d "."`
echo $name
pdflatex $name
if [ $? -eq 0 ]
then
  containspause=`grep '\\pause' $name.tex`
  if [ -n "$containspause" ]
  then
     mv $name.pdf $name_tmp.pdf
     ppower4 $name_tmp.pdf $name.pdf
  fi
  acroread -geometry 600x1000+10+10 $name.pdf&
fi

rm $name.log