Vector Graphics

\picture opens a fixed-size drawing that flows in the text like any other box, so a diagram sits beside prose and prints through the same backend as the page. Inside it, coordinates are y-up with the origin at the bottom-left (the PostScript/TikZ convention); a bare number is a point, and unit suffixes (in, mm, pt, em) are honoured. Shapes draw immediately in the current graphics state, which \group saves and restores.

\picture width:3in height:2in {
  \fill{lightsteelblue} \stroke{steelblue} \linewidth{1.5pt}
  \rect{0.2in 0.2in 1in 1in}
  \circle{2in 0.9in 0.5in}
  \nofill \stroke{firebrick} \linetype{dashed}
  \line{0.2in 0.1in 2.6in 0.1in}
  \at anchor:south {1.4in 1.6in}{$y = x^2$}
}

The vocabulary

• State (saved by \group): \stroke{color} / \nostroke, \fill{color} / \nofill, \linewidth{d}, \linecap{butt|round|square}, \linejoin{miter|round|bevel}, \dash{on off …}, and \linetype{solid|dashed|dotted|dashdot}.
• Transforms: \translate{dx dy}, \scale{sx sy}, \rotate{degrees}.
• Shapes: \line, \rect, \circle, \ellipse, \polygon, \polyline, \arc, \arcn.
• Freeform paths: \path{ \moveto{x y} \lineto{x y} \curveto{c1x c1y c2x c2y x y} \close }.
• Grouping and clipping: \group{ … }, \clip{ <path body> }.
• Placement: \at[anchor:…]{x y}{content} drops fully typeset text or math at a coordinate (it stays upright over the y-flip), and \glyph[anchor:…]{x y}{codepoint} places a single marker glyph. Anchors are center, north/south/east/west, the four corners, and baseline.

Computed coordinates

Coordinates may be computed, not just literal — a bare variable \x is its value and arithmetic like \*{\x}{14} works — so a plot, a chart, or a chemical diagram is just a path built in a \for loop. See scripts/picture.script in the repository for a worked demo: shapes, a Bézier wave, a rotate-fan, a y = x² line graph, a bar chart, and a benzene ring.