Approach to creating graphics in book - TikZ, SVG, PDF, Inkscape?

Question

I have a series of "charts" I created with Excel (before discovering LaTeX) to show the ROM character patterns for an old computer for inclusion in a book on retrocomputing.

My dilemma is how to approach inserting these into the book. I'm assuming each should be a separate image so I can allow LaTeX to format them properly in a grid pattern, but I'm also wondering if TikZ or even Inkscape would be a better approach.

I need 128 characters total. The character in the lower-left is from a TTF font. I'm using XeTeX so the inclusion of that font is no problem.

What would be the "best" approach in terms of learning curve, convenience, and appearance in the final document?

Answer 1

Please note the symbol node style which should have the right font setup for the special font. My positioning-plus has been used for the keys west below which can be replaced with original positioning and TikZ keys: west below=<distance> of node is the same as below=<distance> of node.south west, anchor=north west.

Code

\documentclass[tikz,convert=false]{standalone}% 
\usetikzlibrary{chains,positioning-plus}
\pgfkeys{%
  /handlers/.tikz/.code=\pgfkeys{\pgfkeyscurrentpath/.code=\tikzset{#1}},%
  /handlers/.append tikz/.code=\pgfkeys{\pgfkeyscurrentpath/.append code=\tikzset{#1}},%
  /handlers/.prefix tikz/.code=\pgfkeys{\pgfkeyscurrentpath/.prefix code=\tikzset{#1}}}
\newcommand*{\letterset}{\pgfqkeys{/letter}}
\letterset{
  @int/start chain/.style={start chain=ch#1 going right},
  columns/.initial=8,
  rows/.initial={0,0,0,0,0,0,0},
  column width/.initial=+.5cm,
  row height/.initial=+.6cm,
  %
  every letter picture/.tikz={
    node distance=+0pt,
    every node/.append style={
      minimum width=\pgfkeysvalueof{/letter/column width},
      minimum height=\pgfkeysvalueof{/letter/row height},
      text depth=+0pt,
      outer sep=+0pt,
    }},
  every header label/.tikz={font=\tiny,rotate=90,inner sep=+0pt,outer sep=+0pt},
  every cell node/.tikz={draw=gray, ultra thin},
  every 1 node/.tikz={fill=black},
  every 0 node/.tikz={},
  data column node/.tikz={
    align=right,
    text width=\widthof{000}
  },
  symbol node/.tikz={
    font=\ttfamily}% Here should stand the command for the XeTeX font
}
\makeatletter
\newcommand{\letterChart}[4][]{%
  \begingroup
    \pgfqkeys{/letter}{#1}%
    \pgfkeysgetvalue{/letter/columns}\letter@Columns
    \pgfmathsetbasenumberlength{\letter@Columns}%
    \pgfkeysgetvalue{/letter/rows}\letter@Rows
    \tikzpicture[/letter/every letter picture/.try, /letter/@int/start chain/.list/.expanded={0,1,...,\letter@Columns}]
      \node[anchor=west,/letter/head node/.try] (letter@head) {Bit Values of Pixels};
        \foreach \letter@Power in {1,...,\letter@Columns} {
          \ifnum\letter@Power=1\tikzset{/letter/@int/first node/.tikz={west below=of letter@head}}\fi
          \node[on chain=ch0,/letter/@int/first node/.try,/letter/header node/.try,label={[/letter/every header label/.try]center:\pgfmathprint{int(2^(\letter@Columns-\letter@Power))}}] {};
        }
        \foreach \letter@Row[count=\c@prevRow from 0, count=\c@Row] in \letter@Rows {%
          \pgfmathbin{\letter@Row}
          \edef\letter@Digits{\expandafter\letter@IncludeComma\pgfmathresult\stop@Letter}
          \foreach \letter@Digit[count=\c@Col] in \letter@Digits{
            \ifnum\c@Col=1\tikzset{/letter/@int/first node/.tikz={below=of ch\c@prevRow-begin}}\fi
            \node[on chain=ch\c@Row,/letter/@int/first node/.try,/letter/every cell node/.try, /letter/every \letter@Digit\space node/.try] {};
          }
          \node[/letter/data column node/.try, right=\pgfkeysvalueof{/letter/column width} of ch\c@Row-end] (letter@datacolumn) {\letter@Row};
        }
        \node[anchor=base east, /letter/head node/.try] at (letter@datacolumn.east|-letter@head.base) {Data};

        \node[below=\pgfkeysvalueof{/letter/row height} of letter@datacolumn, /letter/data column node/.try] (letter@ascii) {#3};
        \node[mid left=of letter@ascii] {ASCII Code:};
        \node[below=of letter@ascii, /letter/data column node/.try] (letter@screen) {#4};
        \node[mid left=of letter@screen] {Screen Code:};

        \node[anchor=base west, /letter/symbol node/.try] at (letter@ascii.base-|letter@head.base west) {#2};
    \endtikzpicture
  \endgroup
}
\def\letter@IncludeComma#1#2{%
  #1%
  \ifx\stop@Letter#2
    \expandafter\pgfutil@gobble
  \else
    \expandafter\pgfutil@firstofone
  \fi
  {,\letter@IncludeComma#2}}
\makeatother
\begin{document}
\letterChart[rows={60,102,110,110,96,98,60,0}]{@}{64}{0}
\letterChart[rows={24,60,102,102,126,102,102,0}]{A}{65}{1}
\letterChart[rows={124,102,102,124,102,102,124,0}]{B}{66}{2}

\letterset{
  every letter picture/.append tikz={node distance=+3pt},
  /tikz/nodes={minimum width=\pgfkeysvalueof{/letter/column width}-3pt,
        minimum height=\pgfkeysvalueof{/letter/row height}-3pt},
  every cell node/.append tikz={shape=circle,draw=none},
  column width/.initial=+.5cm,
  row height/.initial=+.5cm}

\letterChart[rows={60,102,110,110,96,98,60,0}]{@}{64}{0}
\letterChart[rows={24,60,102,102,126,102,102,0}]{A}{65}{1}
\letterChart[rows={124,102,102,124,102,102,124,0}]{B}{66}{2}
\end{document}

Output

Answer 2

As suggested by Ethan Bolker, I would export them directly from Excel as a pdf. Place all the pdf files in a single folder. Then you can use the following loop to crop all the pdfs:

for img in *.pdf
    do
    convert -quality 100 -crop 300x100+20+50 "$img" "new_$img"
    echo $img
done

where: 300 is the width, 100 is the height, 20 is the cropped portion on x axis, 50 is the cropped portion on y axis.

--> (20,50) is the top left corner of your image.

If you have problems with the scale, you can add -scale 100% to the command.

Note: for this loop to be useful, all the characters you are going to export must be the same size.

Answer 3

An attempt only with LaTeX from the scratch:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{colortbl,xcolor}
\usepackage{booktabs}
\usepackage{array}
\usepackage{rotating,hhline}
\providecommand{\X}{\cellcolor{red!50}}
\providecommand{\CR}{\hhline{--------~-}}
%\renewcommand\arraystretch{1} 
\begin{document}
\begin{tabular}{|c|c|c|c|c|c|c|c|c|c|c}
\multicolumn{9}{l}{Bit values of Pixels} &
\multicolumn{1}{c}{Data}\\
\multicolumn{1}{c}{}\\
\multicolumn{1}{c}{\begin{sideways}\small 128\end{sideways}} & 
\multicolumn{1}{c}{\begin{sideways}\small 64\end{sideways}} & 
\multicolumn{1}{c}{\begin{sideways}\small 32\end{sideways}} & 
\multicolumn{1}{c}{\begin{sideways}\small 16\end{sideways}} & 
\multicolumn{1}{c}{\begin{sideways}\small 8\end{sideways}} & 
\multicolumn{1}{c}{\begin{sideways}\small 4\end{sideways}} & 
\multicolumn{1}{c}{\begin{sideways}\small 2\end{sideways}} & 
\multicolumn{1}{c}{\begin{sideways}\small 1\end{sideways}} & 
\multicolumn{1}{c}{}\\
\CR &    &    & \X & \X &    &    &  &  & 24\\
\CR &    & \X & \X & \X & \X &    &  &  & 60\\
\CR & \X & \X &    &    & \X & \X &  &  & 102\\
\CR & \X & \X &    &    & \X & \X &  &  & 102\\
\CR & \X & \X & \X & \X & \X & \X &  &  & 126\\
\CR & \X & \X &    &    & \X & \X &  &  & 102\\
\CR & \X & \X &    &    & \X & \X &  &  & 102\\
\CR &    &    &    &    &    &    &  &  & 0\\
\CR
\end{tabular}

\begin{tabular}{|c|c|c|c|c|c|c|c|c|c|c}
\multicolumn{1}{c}{} & \multicolumn{1}{c}{} & \multicolumn{1}{c}{} & \multicolumn{1}{c}{} & \multicolumn{1}{c}{} & \multicolumn{1}{c}{} & \multicolumn{1}{c}{} & \multicolumn{1}{>{\centering}p{1cm}}{} & \multicolumn{1}{c}{} & \multicolumn{1}{c}{}\\
\cline{1-1} \cline{10-10} 
A & \multicolumn{8}{r|}{ASCII Code:} & 64\\
\cline{1-1} \cline{10-10} 
\multicolumn{1}{c}{} & \multicolumn{8}{r|}{Screen Code:} & \\
\cline{10-10} 
\end{tabular}
\end{document}