Hi, I'd like topoint out an often overlooked tool, graphviz (dot): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graphviz It's included in SL: graphviz.x86_64 It is specifically for generating figures from graphs (lattices) specified in a very simple language (dot). It's not a general purpose tool, but it can save a lot of time if you find yourself generating a lot of figures involving graphs/lattices. Cheers, Ron PS - Someone mentioned using make for documents. I use make/git for my documents as well. It's nice to be able to edit a dot file, type "make", and have the graphics as well as the document rebuilt. Keeping documents in a git repository with all of the history is incredibly useful. -- Goodhart's Law: A metric used to regulate an activity ceases to be a useful metric. On Thu, 6 Apr 2017, Andrew C Aitchison wrote: > Date: Thu, 6 Apr 2017 07:57:31 +0100 > From: Andrew C Aitchison <[log in to unmask]> > To: [log in to unmask] > Cc: [log in to unmask] > Subject: Re: Book/Paper technical illustrations - inkscape? > > On Wed, 5 Apr 2017, Keith Lofstrom wrote: > >> I am considering Inkscape as a technical illustration >> tool for latex documents (papers and book chapters). >> Suggestions for better tools? > > Inkscape would be my first choice, but I'd also consider > xfig (included in SL6; for SL7 you may need to get it from epel) > dia www.gnome.org/projects/dia > Zirkel / CaR (Compass and ruler) > http://car.rene-grothmann.de/ > > One interesting feature of dia is that it can be used > to generate sql schema. > > > -- > Andrew C Aitchison Cambridge, UK > >