draw in LaTeX WITHOUT using tikz or pgfplots

Question

I'm typesetting a drawing for an assignment, but I can only change what's in \begin{document} -- that is, I can't add any packages or make any changes in the preamble. Unfortunately, the platform I'm working on doesn't have tikz or pgfplots installed, so is there a way I can make basic drawings without using either package? (e.g. drawing squares and points)

For simple diagrams you can use picture mode, which is in the LaTeX kernel. But without an example of what you need… — egreg, Mar 11 '18 at 23:17
Or you could draw your images with tikz/pgfplots in an own document and add them as images to the document where you don't have control over the preamble. — samcarter_is_at_topanswers.xyz, Mar 11 '18 at 23:27
There are portable installations of TeX systems. you canuse them — percusse, Mar 11 '18 at 23:35
you can do technical drawings such as aircraft design without using any packages — David Carlisle, Mar 11 '18 at 23:54
Although the question been closed... I found a way to use TikZ without \usepackage. — Symbol 1, Mar 12 '18 at 01:20
@CarLaTeX I know you are joking but It would not make it. How could you handle \RequirePackage{tikz} after document begin? — Symbol 1, Mar 12 '18 at 06:13
@Symbol1 Of course, I was joking, but since my comment may be misleading I deleted it :):):) — CarLaTeX, Mar 12 '18 at 07:09
@Symbol1 BTW, I voted to reopen the question because it is different from the duplicate one. The question is something like: I can't modify the preamble, how can I use some package like tikz or pstricks? — CarLaTeX, Mar 12 '18 at 07:13
@Henri-Menke I'm not sure a question on how to draw just using latex without packages should be closed as a duplicate of a question about which packages are available — David Carlisle, Mar 12 '18 at 07:45

score 3 · Answer 1 · answered Mar 12 '18 at 15:11

Assume the following:

xcolor is in your preamble, or you know how to define \colorlet;
you can copy files to the working directory (the one that \includegraphics will search in),

Then you can still \input necessary PGF files manually. For example

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{xcolor}
\begin{document}

\def\ProvidesPackageRCS#1$#2${}
\def\ProvidesFileRCS#1$#2${}
\long\def\AtBeginDocument#1{}
\def\RequirePackage#1{}
\def\EveryShipout#1{}
\makeatletter
\input{pgfutil-common.tex}
\input{pgfutil-latex.def}
\input{pgfsys.code.tex}
\input{pgfcore.code.tex}
\input{pgfsyssoftpath.code.tex}
\input{pgfsysprotocol.code.tex}
\input{pgfcorepathconstruct.code.tex}


A rectangle
\pgfpathrectangle{\pgfpoint{-60pt}{-5pt}}{\pgfpoint{60pt}{20pt}}
\pgfsetcolor{red}\pgfusepath{draw}
\pgfsetcolor{black}

$$$$

A point
\pgfpathcircle{\pgfpointorigin}{5pt}
\pgfusepath{fill}

$$$$

A curve
\pgfpathmoveto{\pgfpointorigin}
\pgfpathcurveto{\pgfpoint{10pt}{10pt}}{\pgfpoint{20pt}{-10pt}}{\pgfpoint{30pt}{00pt}}
\pgfusepath{draw}


\end{document}

You can further input TikZ if necessary.

\input pgffor.code.tex

A lot of points
\par\foreach\n in{1,...,200}{
    \xdef\n{\n}
    \pgfmathsetmacro\x{cos(\n r)*sqrt(\n)*10+200}\xdef\x{\x}
    \pgfmathsetmacro\y{sin(\n r)*sqrt(\n)*10-100}\xdef\y{\y}
    \pgfpathcircle{\pgfpoint{\x pt}{\y pt}}{2pt}
}
\pgfusepath{draw}

\vskip300pt

\input pgfmoduleplot.code.tex
\input tikz.code.tex

A plot
\tikz\draw[scale=3,domain=0:4,samples=300]plot({cos(3*\x r)},{sin(5*\x r)});

I believe you forgot \makeatother after \inputting the pgf files. — campa, Mar 12 '18 at 15:14
@campa, it is not needed as well as \makeatletter is superfluous. — Zarko, Mar 12 '18 at 15:33
@Zarko You were right. I added it when I was searching for the shortest list of \input --- some files are supposed to be included by the root so they do not bother to make at letter again. — Symbol 1, Mar 12 '18 at 15:35
@Zarko I am not convinced. The first included file alone redefines the catcode of @. If I take the code in the answer and remove \makeatletter and add a macro \fo@ I get the error Undefined \fo@ and not undefined \fo, which clearly indicates that @ is still considered a letter. Unless of course I am greatly misunderstanding something. — campa, Mar 12 '18 at 15:40
@campa, sorry but this i can't find in answer code. probably i miss something. also i didn't test the solution (since i'm sure that shoved images are produced with this code. — Zarko, Mar 12 '18 at 15:49

draw in LaTeX WITHOUT using tikz or pgfplots

1 Answers1