[OS X TeX] Setting up PDFtricks on MacOS10.4

[Ingo Reich]

Am 28.11.2005 um 16:46 schrieb Christopher Allen:

> I now understand the path structure in MacOS much better and can  
> include .jpg's (thanks, Ross and Mortten!!!). Now, since I'm moving  
> to pdflatex, I'm in the process of moving from pstricks to  
> pdftricks. I find the documentation with pdftricks rather scanty  
> (vis-a-vis setting it up) for someone with minimal Unix knowledge.  
> I can see how to use it once it's set up, just not how to set it  
> up. I had no problem following the NewPDFtricks documentation; the  
> documentation told me exactly where to put the newpdftricks.sty  
> file. However, NewPDFtricks assumes I already have pdftricks  
> working. I've been googling in vain. Could someone point me to a  
> page that gives me step-by-step instructions for setting up  
> pdftricks on MacOSX10.4 for a Unix novice?
>

As an alternative to "pdftricks" you could also give "pst-pdf" a try,  
which however requires the latest release of "preview". Just download  
both from CTAN and put them somwhere ~/Library/texmf/tex/latex/. As  
far as I can see there are three major differences to "pdftricks": 1.  
pst-pdf stores all (e)ps-graphics in a single file, 2. pst-pdf seems  
to support the use of non-standard ps-fonts, 3. pst-pdf needs an  
"extra run" through dvips & ps2pdf (which pdftricks doesn't, I  
think). But since I discovered the world of "pdftricks" and "pst-pdf"  
just some days (in fact some hours ago -- thanks Pete!), I'm not  
really a very reliable source of information.
  A related question to those who are experienced users of pdftricks  
and/or pst-pdf: Did anybody test on a larger document whether, and if  
so, how much faster the combination of pst-pdf/pdftricks+pdflatex is  
compared to altpdflatex/simppdftex (i.e., a pdflatex run vs. an  
altpdflatex run)?
Best, Ingo
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