Figures placement in a scientific paper

Question

I am currently writing a paper for a conference. Here is what I would like to do in terme of figures placement:

I have difficulties with Fig. 2 to place the figure at the bottom of the second page.

Here is the simple code that you can find in Overleaf's templates:

main.tex

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{spconf,amsmath,graphicx}
\usepackage{lipsum}
% Example definitions.
% --------------------
\def\x{{\mathbf x}}
\def\L{{\cal L}}
% Title.
% ------
\title{Bla Bla Bla}
%
% Single address.
% ---------------
\name{Author Name\thanks{Author's Email}}
\address{Author Affiliation}
\begin{document}
\maketitle
\section{Introduction and Background}
\lipsum[1]
\section{Contributions}
\lipsum[1]
\lipsum[1]
\lipsum[1]
\lipsum[1]
\begin{figure}[!t]
   \centering
    \includegraphics[width=\linewidth]{t.png}
    \caption{Test 1}
\end{figure}
\lipsum[1]
\lipsum[1]
\lipsum[1]
\lipsum[1]
\begin{figure}[!hb]
   \centering
    \includegraphics[width=\linewidth]{t.png}
    \caption{Test 2}
\end{figure}
\lipsum[1]
\lipsum[1]
\lipsum[1]
\lipsum[1]
\lipsum[1]
\lipsum[1]
\lipsum[1]
\lipsum[1]
{\bf References:}
List and number all bibliographical references at the end of the
paper. The references can be numbered in alphabetic order or in
order of appearance in the document. When referring to them in
the text, type the corresponding reference number in square
brackets as shown at the end of this sentence \cite{C2}. An
additional page is allowed, but must contain only references to the prior literature and figures.
% References should be produced using the bibtex program from suitable
% BiBTeX files (here: strings, refs, manuals). The IEEEbib.bst bibliography
% style file from IEEE produces unsorted bibliography list.
% -------------------------------------------------------------------------
\bibliographystyle{IEEEbib}
\bibliography{refs}
\end{document}

spconf.sty

\renewcommand{\sfdefault}{phv}
\renewcommand{\rmdefault}{ptm}
\renewcommand{\ttdefault}{pcr}
%\oddsidemargin  -0.31in
%\evensidemargin -0.31in
\oddsidemargin  -6.2truemm
\evensidemargin -6.2truemm
\topmargin 0truept
\headheight 0truept
\headsep 0truept
%\footheight 0truept
%\footskip 0truept
\textheight 229truemm
\textwidth 178truemm
\twocolumn
\columnsep 6truemm
\pagestyle{empty}
\emergencystretch=11pt
\def\ninept{\def\baselinestretch{.95}\let\normalsize\small\normalsize}
\def\maketitle{\par
 \begingroup
 \def\thefootnote{}
 \def@makefnmark{\hbox
 {$^{@thefnmark}$\hss}}
 \if@twocolumn
 \twocolumn[@maketitle]
 \else \newpage
 \global@topnum\z@ @maketitle \fi@thanks
 \endgroup
 \setcounter{footnote}{0}
 \let\maketitle\relax
 \let@maketitle\relax
 \gdef\thefootnote{\arabic{footnote}}\gdef@@savethanks{}%
 \gdef@thanks{}\gdef@author{}\gdef@title{}\let\thanks\relax}
\def@maketitle{\newpage
 \null
 \vskip 2em \begin{center}
 {\large \bf @title \par} \vskip 1.5em {\large \lineskip .5em
\begin{tabular}[t]{c}@name \ @address
 \end{tabular}\par} \end{center}
 \par
 \vskip 1.5em}
\def\title#1{\gdef@title{\uppercase{#1}}}
\def\name#1{\gdef@name{{\em #1}\}}
\def\address#1{\gdef@address{#1}}
\gdef@title{\uppercase{title of paper}}
\gdef@name{{\em Name of author}\}
\gdef@address{Address - Line 1 \
               Address - Line 2 \
               Address - Line 3}
\let@@savethanks\thanks
\def\thanks#1{\gdef\thefootnote{}@@savethanks{#1}}
\def\sthanks#1{\gdef\thefootnote{\fnsymbol{footnote}}@@savethanks{#1}}
\def\twoauthors#1#2#3#4{\gdef@address{}
   \gdef@name{\begin{tabular}{@{}c@{}}
        {\em #1} \ \
        #2\relax
   \end{tabular}\hskip 1in\begin{tabular}{@{}c@{}}
        {\em #3} \ \
        #4\relax
\end{tabular}}}
\def@sect#1#2#3#4#5#6[#7]#8{
   \refstepcounter{#1}\edef@svsec{\csname the#1\endcsname.\hskip 0.6em}
       \begingroup \ifnum #2=1\bf\centering
          {\interlinepenalty @M
             @svsec\uppercase{#8}\par}\else\ifnum #2=2\bf
          \noindent{\interlinepenalty @M @svsec #8\par}\else\it
          \noindent{\interlinepenalty @M
             @svsec #8\par}\fi\fi\endgroup
       \csname #1mark\endcsname{#7}\addcontentsline
         {toc}{#1}{\protect\numberline{\csname the#1\endcsname} #7}
     @tempskipa #5\relax
     @xsect{@tempskipa}}
\def\abstract{\begin{center}
{\bf ABSTRACT\vspace{-.5em}\vspace{0pt}}
\end{center}}
\def\endabstract{\par}
% Keyword section, added by Lance Cotton, adapted 
% from IEEEtran, corrected by Ulf-Dietrich Braumann
\def\keywords{\vspace{.5em}
{\bfseries\textit{Index Terms}---,\relax%
}}
\def\endkeywords{\par}
\def\copyrightnotice#1{\gdef@copyrightnotice{#1}}
\let@copyrightnotice\relax
\def\toappear#1{\gdef@toappear{#1}}\let@toappear\relax
\newif\if@preprint@preprintfalse
@namedef{ds@preprint}{\global@preprinttrue}
@options
\def\ps@preprint{\def\mypage{}\let@mkboth@gobbletwo\def@oddhead{}
  \def@oddfoot{\rlap{@toappear}\hfil\mypage\hfil
    \llap{@copyrightnotice}
    \gdef\mypage{\thepage}\gdef@toappear{}\gdef@copyrightnotice{}}}
\if@preprint\ps@preprint
\else\ps@empty\flushbottom\fi
\def\thebibliography#1{\section{References}\list
 {[\arabic{enumi}]}{\settowidth\labelwidth{[#1]}\leftmargin\labelwidth
 \advance\leftmargin\labelsep
 \usecounter{enumi}}
 \def\newblock{\hskip .11em plus .33em minus .07em}
 \sloppy\clubpenalty4000\widowpenalty4000
 \sfcode`.=1000\relax}
\let\endthebibliography=\endlist
\long\def@makecaption#1#2{
 \vskip 10pt
 \setbox@tempboxa\hbox{#1. #2}
 \ifdim \wd@tempboxa >\hsize #1. #2\par \else \hbox
to\hsize{\hfil\box@tempboxa\hfil}
 \fi}
\def\fnum@figure{{\bf Fig.\ \thefigure}}
\def\fnum@table{{\bf Table \thetable}}
\flushbottom

Does anyone have an idea?

Thanks!

spanning figures can not do h and can not by default do b so \begin{figure*}[!hb] has the effect of removing t and p so has no legal position so it will only be placed if forced out by \clearpage — David Carlisle, May 04 '23 at 14:50
Is there a reason for not wanting to place both double-wide graphs at the top of the page? — Mico, May 04 '23 at 15:00
Well, the issue is that LaTeX doesn't make it straightforward at all, for \twocolumn documents, to place one double-wide float at the top of the page and another one at the bottom of the (same) page. The spconf package appears to follow the LaTeX defaults in ths matter. — Mico, May 04 '23 at 15:19

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered May 04 '23 at 15:28

For \twocolumn documents, LaTeX doesn't make it straightforward at all to place one double-wide float at the top of a page and another one at the bottom of the same page. The default is to place all double-wide floats at the top of a page. The spconf (short for "Springer Conference", right?) package appears to follow the LaTeX defaults in this matter.

Assuming you've been told to use the spconf package, I'd double-check with the conference organizers first and ask for their permission to deviate from the default.

Anyway, speaking for myself, I wouldn't say that LaTeX's default layout for placing floats in a two-column document is all that objectionable.

Observe that the following code contains but one figure* environment.

\documentclass[demo]{article} % remove 'demo' option in real doc.
\usepackage{spconf,graphicx,lipsum}
\begin{document}
\lipsum[1-6] % filler text
\begin{figure*} % start a double-wide float
\includegraphics[width=\textwidth]{pic1}
\caption{First}
\bigskip\bigskip
\includegraphics[width=\textwidth]{pic2}
\caption{Second}
\end{figure*}
\lipsum[7-15] % more filler text
\end{document}

Figures placement in a scientific paper

1 Answers1