31

I'd like to include some fancy start-of-chapter marks in my poster. I especially like these marks (see pictures below) in a Power Point template. I wonder if there is a convenient way to produce similar marks using LaTeX commands.

enter image description here

enter image description here

Note: by "LaTeX commands" I don't mean \includegraphics and things like that. I might as well just use Power Point. I am wondering if LaTeX could give me similar fancy marks that can be zoomed to arbitrary size with good resolution.

Also: I believe these marks are kind of standard, as I have seen them in several places. I am sure I have seen both marks in e-books, and OMG, the first mark appears in this page, right under the TEX header!

enter image description here

CherryQu
  • 701
  • 1
    Actually, \includegraphics can used to include vectorial graphics (eps, pdf) which can be zoomed to any size. – Javier Bezos Oct 05 '12 at 16:28
  • @JavierBezos Good point. I have to admit that my real problem with \includegraphics is that I am not willing to pay for high-resolution ornaments just for decorative purposes :) – CherryQu Oct 06 '12 at 12:48

3 Answers3

31

You can also use pgfornaments; a little example taken almost verbatim from the package page:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage[object=vectorian]{pgfornament}
\usetikzlibrary{shapes.geometric,calc}

\begin{document}

\begin{center}
  \begin{tikzpicture}[color=red!50!black,every node/.style={inner sep=0pt}]
  \node[minimum size=10cm,inner sep=0pt](vecbox){}; 
  \node[anchor=north west] at (vecbox.north west){\pgfornament[width=2cm]{63}};
  \node[anchor=north east] at (vecbox.north east){\pgfornament[width=2cm,symmetry=v]{63}};
  \node[anchor=south west] at (vecbox.south west){\pgfornament[width=2cm,symmetry=h]{63}};
  \node[anchor=south east] at (vecbox.south east){\pgfornament[width=2cm,symmetry=c]{63}};
  \node[anchor=north] at (vecbox.north){\pgfornament[width=6cm,symmetry=h]{46}};
  \node[anchor=south] at (vecbox.south){\pgfornament[width=6cm]{46}};
  \node[anchor=north,rotate=90] at (vecbox.west){\pgfornament[width=6cm,symmetry=h]{46}};
  \node[anchor=north,rotate=-90] at (vecbox.east){\pgfornament[width=6cm,symmetry=h]{46}};
  \node[inner sep=6pt] (text) at (vecbox.center){\Huge Ornaments};
  \node[anchor=north] at (text.south){\pgfornament[width=5cm]{60}};
  \node[anchor=south] at (text.north){\pgfornament[width=5cm,symmetry=h]{49}};
  \end{tikzpicture} 
\end{center}

\end{document}

enter image description here

And, of course, you can control the attributes (including size) using the options for \pgfornament:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage[object=vectorian]{pgfornament}

\begin{document}

\begin{center}
\pgfornament[width=1cm,symmetry=h]{49}
\pgfornament[width=5cm,symmetry=h]{49}
\pgfornament[width=10cm]{49}
\end{center}

\end{document}

enter image description here

Processing the following code, you'll get a four page document showing the 89 predefined ornaments:

\documentclass[twocolumn]{article}
\usepackage[object=vectorian]{pgfornament}

\newcounter{ornnumb}

\begin{document}

\noindent\loop
\ifnum\value{ornnumb}<89
\stepcounter{ornnumb}%
ornament~\theornnumb: \pgfornament[width=1.5cm]{\theornnumb}\\[1ex]
\repeat

\end{document}
Gonzalo Medina
  • 505,128
  • Thanks! I am using the package for my poster. It's been great after a day's work! – CherryQu Oct 06 '12 at 12:46
  • How do I install pgfornament.sty appropriately? – Jonathan Komar Dec 17 '12 at 15:16
  • @macmadness86 extract the files from the .zip file and place them in the appropriate location under your local TDS tree. – Gonzalo Medina Dec 17 '12 at 15:20
  • That answer was too easy! I always forget where the appropriate places are! Using mactex. I know it is somewhere in /usr/local/texlive/2012/. I also know I have to run some kind of cache command. texcache or something similar. – Jonathan Komar Dec 17 '12 at 15:25
  • 1
    @macmadness86 You need to run texhash; I am not a Mac user, so I don't know the exact details for Mac, but since MacTeX is based in TeX Live, this answer could be useful for you: http://tex.stackexchange.com/a/73017/3954 (particularly the third method described there). – Gonzalo Medina Dec 17 '12 at 15:39
  • for completeness, on a unix system: pgfornament must to be in /texmf/tex/latex, pgflibraryvectorian.code.tex must to be in /texmf/tex/latex, pgflibraryam.code.tex, must to be in /texmf/tex/latex, the folder vectorian must to be in /texmf/tex/generic, the folder am must to be in /texmf/tex/generic, then run sudo texhash as Gonzalo Medina noted above. – Jonathan Komar Dec 17 '12 at 17:39
18

If you're prepared to use Xe(La)TeX, a number of Opentype fonts have a good selection of fleurons and other ornaments.

Here, for example, is a fragment from one of my visiting cards:

\newcommand{\ornament}[1]{%
    \fontspec{Zapfino Extra LT Pro}
    \fontsize{8pt}{10pt}
    \selectfont 
    \XeTeXglyph #1 
    \normalfont}%
...
\ornament{1620}

which gets you this:

enter image description here

I haven't included a list of fonts and/or ornaments, though, as I don't really think this is the place. Perhaps other users will comment or post additional answers.

Brent.Longborough
  • 27,991
7

you may want to have a look at vectorian and this disccusion on decorated borders.

Community
  • 1
pluton
  • 16,421
  • 7
    In my humble opinion, this is not a very sophisticated answer. Like this it should probably a comment. Maybe you can improve on it, show some code and the result, so to say add some "eye candy"? – Tom Bombadil Oct 05 '12 at 20:41
  • Code is available at the given link. It is in French but can just be copied and pasted. I do not see the point of doing this here. – pluton Oct 05 '12 at 23:03
  • 3
    @pluton: "[A]lthough we value brevity, a great answer should still provide enough information so that even an inexperienced (but diligent and motivated) user can reproduce the solution just by reading the answer, and possibly following some instructions." "the solution should be entered in the text of the answer itself. Attributions to external sources are fine – and encouraged! – but just linking to solutions posted elsewhere outside of the site should be discouraged." -- Quality Standards for Answers – doncherry Oct 05 '12 at 23:16
  • you could have just indicated the links :) Honestly, I disagree with these rules. In my answer (that should probably be a comment), I do not bring anything new. The pgfornament package is itself inspired by vectorian. Centralizing information is somehow problematic I guess on the net even though a limitation occurs when linked sites die. For original and sophisticated answers, I would agree. – pluton Oct 05 '12 at 23:40
  • @pluton: Don't forget to use the @username notation when you're responding to someone's comment -- I just found your response because I checked back coincidentally. // I come from the humanities, I like to quote stuff ;) // If you disagree with the rules, feel free to discuss them on [meta] or in [chat]. However, I have a feeling these quality standards are so fundamental that you'll have a hard time getting them changed ... – doncherry Oct 06 '12 at 05:48
  • @doncherry: yes, I usually try to use this @username notation but sometimes, it does not work and I am not sure why. – pluton Oct 06 '12 at 14:35
  • Its behavior is something like this: The creator of a post will always be notified of comments on the post. If no other user has commented on the post yet, @postcreator will automatically be removed. If other users have already commented on the post, it won't be removed to give you an option to make clear who you're addressing with your comment -- in terms of notifications, the @postcreator is never necessary, however. (Just like you should be notified of this comment without me putting your name in it.) In all other cases, the @username should work. – doncherry Oct 07 '12 at 16:39