[comp.text.tex] PicTex, LaTex and Chemical formula

ascott@gara.une.oz.au (Tony Scott STPG) (03/07/90)

I am currently using PicTex within LaTex to draw chemical structures
in a thesis. The lines drawn by PicTex would look a lot better if they
were
about double their width. (ie 0.8pt instead of about 0.4pt).
PicTexs' \linethickness command only seems to work with rule (vertical
and horizontal lines) and inserting LaTexs' \thicklines into the
PicTex command list within the text after the \beginpicture does not
make any difference. The PicTEx commands are inserted directly into
the text without a \begin{figure} and without a \begin{picture}.

Does anybody have any ideas on how to get PicTex to draw lines of any
type thicker than the default? Does TeX have an overall controlling
command that defines the default linethickness? Can it be used
somehow? A sample structure drawing command list is included below.

\documentstyle[12pt,unethesis]{report}
% unethesis is a default style file for University of New England.
\input{prepicte}
\input{pictex}
\input{postpict}

\begin{document}
%.....normal text would appear here and after the \endpicture
{\small
\beginpicture
\setcoordinatesystem units <0.1pt, 0.1pt> point at 0 0
\put {{\sf H}} at 1000 0
\setlinear
\plot 1035 20 1135 173 /
\put {{\sf O}} [l] at 1135 193
\plot 1205 193 1405 193 /
\put {{\sf N}} [l] at 1405 193
\plot 1475 173 1575 20 /
\put {{\sf C}} [l] at 1575 0
\plot 1645 15 1795 15 /
\plot 1645 -15 1795 -15 /
\put {{\sf O}} [l] at 1795 0
\plot 1575 -20 1475 -173 /
\put {{\sf H}} [r] at 1475 -173
\put {+} [b] <1pt,0pt> at 1475 223
\put {{\em cis-trans} {\sf (6e)}} at 1350 -400
\put {{\sf H}} at 3000 -173
\plot 3035 -153 3135 0 /
\put {{\sf O}} [l] at 3135 20
\plot 3205 20 3405 20 /
\put {{\sf N}} [l] at 3405 20
\plot 3475 40 3575 193 /
\put {{\sf C}} [l] at 3575 213
\plot 3645 198 3795 198 /
\plot 3645 228 3795 228 /
\put {{\sf O}} [l] at 3795 213
\plot 3575 233 3475 406 /
\put {{\sf H}} [r] at 3475 426
\put {+} [t] <1pt,0pt> at 3475 -10
\put {{\em trans-trans} {\sf (6e)}} at 3350 -400
\put {{\sf H}} at 0 0
\plot 035 20 135 173 /
\put {{\sf O}} [l] at 135 193
\plot 205 193 405 193 /
\put {{\sf N}} [l] at 405 193
\plot 475 173 575 20 /
\put {{\sf C}} [l] at 575 0
\plot 645 0 795 0 /
\put {{\sf H}} [l] at 795 0
\plot 585 -40 510 -170 /
\plot 611 -55 538 -185 /
\put {{\sf O}} [rt] <3pt, -2pt> at 513 -158 
\put {+} [b] <1pt,0pt> at 475 223
\put {{\em cis-cis} {\sf (6e)}} at 475 -400
\put {{\sf H}} at 2000 -173
\plot 2035 -153 2135 0 /
\put {{\sf O}} [l] at 2135 20
\plot 2205 20 2405 20 /
\put {{\sf N}} [l] at 2405 20
\plot 2475 40 2575 193 /
\put {{\sf C}} [l] at 2575 213
\plot 2645 213 2795 213 /
\put {{\sf H}} [l] at 2795 213
\plot 2585 253 2512 383 /
\plot 2611 268 2538 403 / 
\put {{\sf O}} [rb] <3pt, 2pt> at 2513 371
\put {+} [t] <1pt,0pt> at 2475 -10
\put {{\em trans-cis} {\sf (6e)}} at 2475 -400
\endpicture
}
% text would be placed after here.
\end{document}
 Any help here would be of great use. I'll post any successfull
solutions to the news group.

regards Tony Scott

zhao@csd4.csd.uwm.edu (T.C. Zhao) (03/07/90)

In article <1404@gara.une.oz.au> ascott@gara.une.oz.au (Tony Scott STPG) writes:
>I am currently using PicTex within LaTex to draw chemical structures
>in a thesis. The lines drawn by PicTex would look a lot better if they
>were
>about double their width. (ie 0.8pt instead of about 0.4pt).
>PicTexs' \linethickness command only seems to work with rule (vertical
>PicTex command list within the text after the \beginpicture does not
>make any difference. The PicTEx commands are inserted directly into
>the text without a \begin{figure} and without a \begin{picture}.
>
To get a thicker line, put \setplotsymbol ({\tenrm .}) before
you do the \plot. If it is still not thick enought, you can
change the plot symbol to {\bf .} or whatever that you like.
Basically PicTeX gets solid lines by putting the plotsymbol at tiny 
distances. BTW, the default plotsymbol is {\fiverm .}.

--
----------------------------------------------
Internet:       zhao@csd4.csd.uwm.edu
  BITNET:       zhao%csd4.csd.uwm.edu@WISCMAC3.BITNET

jwe@ut-emx.UUCP (John W. Eaton) (03/07/90)

In article <1404@gara.une.oz.au> ascott@gara.une.oz.au
(Tony Scott STPG) writes: 

> I am currently using PicTex within LaTex to draw chemical structures
> in a thesis. The lines drawn by PicTex would look a lot better if
> they were about double their width. [...]

Sorry, I can't help you with PiCTeX, but I can suggest a set of macros
for typesetting chemical structure formulas which work with either TeX
or LaTeX.  Here is a reference which briefly describes them:

@ARTICLE (
  AUTHOR = "Roswitha T. Haas and Kevin C. O'Kane",
  TITLE = "Typesetting Chemical Structure Formulas with the Text
           Formatter \TeX/\LaTeX",
  JOURNAL = "Computers and Chemistry",
  YEAR = "1987",
  VOLUME = "11",
  NUMBER = "4",
  PAGES = "251--271" )

I can send you a copy of the macros if you are interested.  There is a
significant amount of documentation (part of a thesis) which goes
along with them.  If someone can put them in an official archive
somewhere, please let me know.  (I'm not the author of the macros but
I was given permission to redistribute them.)

-- 
John Eaton
jwe@emx.utexas.edu
Department of Chemical Engineering
The University of Texas at Austin
Austin, Texas  78712