<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 3.2//EN"> <html> This is the list of Frequently Asked Questions about Asymptote (asy). <h1> Index </h1> <ul> <li><b><font size="+2"><a href="section1.html" rel=subdocument>Section 1. About Asymptote</a></font></b> <li><a href="section1.html#whatisasy" rel=subdocument>Q1.1. What is Asymptote?</a> <li><a href="section1.html#whereisasy" rel=subdocument>Q1.2. How do I obtain Asymptote?</a> <li><a href="section1.html#beforeasking" rel=subdocument>Q1.3. Where can I ask questions about Asymptote? </a> <li><a href="section1.html#whyasy" rel=subdocument>Q1.4. Why was the name Asymptote chosen?</a> <li><a href="section1.html#whycamp" rel=subdocument>Q1.5. In the internal Asymptote source code, what does the name <code>camp</code> refer to?</a> <br><br><li><b><font size="+2"><a href="section2.html" rel=subdocument>Section 2. Questions about installation and setup</a></font></b> <li><a href="section2.html#osx" rel=subdocument>Q2.1. Is it possible to install Asymptote on Mac OS X?</a> <li><a href="section2.html#osxbadCPU" rel=subdocument>Q2.2. Why do I get the error <code>Bad CPU type in executable</code> on installing Asymptote from the MAC OS binary?</a> <li><a href="section2.html#brokenpdftex" rel=subdocument>Q2.3. What do I do if I get the error: <code>Error: pdfetex (file pdftex.cfg): cannot open config file...texinfo.tex appears to be broken</code>?</a> <li><a href="section2.html#brokentexinfo" rel=subdocument>Q2.4. What do I do if I get the error: <code>! Undefined control sequence. l.6 @copying</code>?</a> <li><a href="section2.html#latexintegration" rel=subdocument>Q2.5. Is it possible to integrate Asymptote into LaTeX?</a> <li><a href="section2.html#pdflatex" rel=subdocument>Q2.6. Is it possible to integrate Asymptote into latex or pdflatex?</a> <li><a href="section2.html#tkinterdepend" rel=subdocument>Q2.7. Do I need the <code>tkinter</code> package to install an Asymptote rpm binary?</a> <li><a href="section2.html#windir" rel=subdocument>Q2.8. What does the path <code>%USERPROFILE%\.asy\config.asy</code> mean?</a> <li><a href="section2.html#escapechar" rel=subdocument>Q2.9. Why do I get the error "string not terminated" when I try to set <code>settings.dir="C:\asymptote\";</code>?</a> <li><a href="section2.html#winglobal" rel=subdocument>Q2.10. How do I change environment variables in Microsoft Windows, for example, in order to change the default PostScript viewer?</a> <li><a href="section2.html#convert" rel=subdocument>Q2.11. Under Microsoft Windows XP, why do I get an error like "Invalid Parameter - 432x432"?</a> <li><a href="section2.html#miktex" rel=subdocument>Q2.12. Why does Asymptote freeze upon trying to draw a label with my MikTex installation under Microsoft Windows?</a> <br><br><li><b><font size="+2"><a href="section3.html" rel=subdocument>Section 3. Questions about paths</a></font></b> <li><a href="section3.html#tensionsyntax" rel=subdocument>Q3.1. Why do I get a syntax error message when I specify an integer value for the path tension?</a> <li><a href="section3.html#dots" rel=subdocument>Q3.2. Shouldn't dots always be the same size?</a> <br><br><li><b><font size="+2"><a href="section4.html" rel=subdocument>Section 4. Questions about labels</a></font></b> <li><a href="section4.html#greek" rel=subdocument>Q4.1. How do I get Greek letters like omega to show up in my labels?</a> <li><a href="section4.html#matlabels" rel=subdocument>Q4.2. Can Asymptote use matrices as labels?</a> <li><a href="section4.html#latexpackage" rel=subdocument>Q4.3. How do I tell Asymptote to load a particular LaTeX package, like <code>mathptmx</code>?</a> <li><a href="section4.html#internatfonts" rel=subdocument>Q4.4. How can I use international fonts in Asymptote labels?</a> <li><a href="section4.html#Fourier" rel=subdocument>Q4.5. How can I use Fourier fonts? </a> <li><a href="section4.html#decsep" rel=subdocument>Q4.6. Is there any way to change the default appearance of the decimal separator, using a comma instead of a dot?</a> <li><a href="section4.html#rotatelabel" rel=subdocument>Q4.7. How can I get a rotated label with the filled box rotated as well so that it fits the text? </a> <li><a href="section4.html#rotatelabel3D" rel=subdocument>Q4.8. How can I rotate labels in a 3D figure?</a> <li><a href="section4.html#fixedsize" rel=subdocument>Q4.9. How can I draw some squares and circles of a fixed size and put a label in the middle of them?</a> <li><a href="section4.html#colorssaturation" rel=subdocument>Q4.10. The binary operator * can be used to scale the color of a pen by a real number. Does this scaling factor have to be less than 1?</a> <li><a href="section4.html#commadecimalseparator" rel=subdocument>Q4.11. Why is the space after the comma decimal separator in my locale so large?</a> <li><a href="section4.html#hyperref" rel=subdocument>Q4.12. How can I prevent <code>texpreamble("\usepackage[pdftex]{hyperref}")</code> from changing the page size?</a> <br><br><li><b><font size="+2"><a href="section5.html" rel=subdocument>Section 5. Questions about arrows</a></font></b> <li><a href="section5.html#doublearrows" rel=subdocument>Q5.1. How do I draw two arrows at arbitrary positions along a path?</a> <li><a href="section5.html#reversearrow" rel=subdocument>Q5.2. How do I reverse the direction of an arrowhead?</a> <li><a href="section5.html#reversearrow" rel=subdocument>Q5.3. How do I change the size of all arrows?</a> <li><a href="section5.html#arrowhead" rel=subdocument>Q5.4. Can I create other arrowhead styles?</a> <br><br><li><b><font size="+2"><a href="section6.html" rel=subdocument>Section 6. Questions about 2D graphs</a></font></b> <li><a href="section6.html#axisticks" rel=subdocument>Q6.1. How can I draw x axis ticks on the right side, with the tick labels on the left side (relative to the axis path)?</a> <li><a href="section6.html#axislabel" rel=subdocument>Q6.2. How can I reposition the x axis label to three-quarters along the axis length?</a> <li><a href="section6.html#axislabeldown" rel=subdocument>Q6.3. How can I move the x axis label down 10bp?</a> <li><a href="section6.html#threeaxispens" rel=subdocument>Q6.4. Can I use different pens for the axis, the axis label, and the tick labels?</a> <li><a href="section6.html#axislabelfont" rel=subdocument>Q6.5. How can I change the font type of the axes label?</a> <li><a href="section6.html#axisticklabelfont" rel=subdocument>Q6.6. How can I change the font type of the tick labels on an axis?</a> <li><a href="section6.html#overlappingticklabels" rel=subdocument>Q6.7. How can I prevent axes tick labels from rendering on top of each other?</a> <li><a href="section6.html#fixedsizegraphs" rel=subdocument>Q6.8. How do I make the plot region of a graph, ignoring labels and legends, have a fixed size?</a> <li><a href="section6.html#graphlimits" rel=subdocument>Q6.9. How can I plot a function f(x) within [0,1]x[0,2] without explicitly calculating the x values for which f(x) hits the boundary?</a> <li><a href="section6.html#custompalettes" rel=subdocument>Q6.10. Is it possible to define customized palettes?</a> <li><a href="section6.html#factorial" rel=subdocument>Q6.11. Is there an easy way to graph factorial functions nicely?</a> <li><a href="section6.html#length" rel=subdocument>Q6.12. How do I indicate that a certain length should be exactly the size I prescribe with no rescaling, within a picture which has its own size?</a> <li><a href="section6.html#log2" rel=subdocument>Q6.13. How can I make the y axis display base-2 logarithmic values?</a> <li><a href="section6.html#align" rel=subdocument>Q6.14. How can I align the x axes of two graphs on the same figure?</a> <li><a href="section6.html#changeaxis" rel=subdocument>Q6.15. How can I change the direction of the y-axis, such that negatives values are on the upper y-axis?</a> <li><a href="section6.html#functioncolor" rel=subdocument>Q6.16. How can I fill a path with a function that defines the color of each location?</a> <li><a href="section6.html#nonexplicitfun" rel=subdocument>Q6.17. Is there a way to draw a function that is not explicitly given, such as (y - 2)^2 = x - 1 ?</a> <li><a href="section6.html#scalesecondaryaxis" rel=subdocument>Q6.18. Is it possible to reverse or stretch an axis?</a> <li><a href="section6.html#emptymarkers" rel=subdocument>Q6.19. Why can't I use the UnFill option to draw graphs with empty markers?</a> <li><a href="section6.html#paletterange" rel=subdocument>Q6.20. How can I force several images to use the same palette range (e.g. the entire 0-255 grayscale range)?</a> <br><br><li><b><font size="+2"><a href="section7.html" rel=subdocument>Section 7. Questions about programming</a></font></b> <li><a href="section7.html#comporint" rel=subdocument>Q7.1. Is Asymptote an interpreter or a compiler? </a> <li><a href="section7.html#framepicture" rel=subdocument>Q7.2. What is the difference between a frame and a picture? </a> <li><a href="section7.html#pathguide" rel=subdocument>Q7.3. What is the difference between a path and a guide? </a> <li><a href="section7.html#picarray" rel=subdocument>Q7.4. What is a convenient way to declare and initialize an array of pictures?</a> <li><a href="section7.html#genarrays" rel=subdocument>Q7.5. Is there a way to define functions that act on arrays in general (i.e. work for arrays of any type)?</a> <li><a href="section7.html#cirdep" rel=subdocument>Q7.6. Is there any way to declare structures ahead of their definition, e.g. where struct A performs some operation on struct B, but B contains an A member?</a> <li><a href="section7.html#static" rel=subdocument>Q7.7. Where are static variables in for loops allocated?</a> <li><a href="section7.html#debug" rel=subdocument>Q7.8. Is there a debugger for asy?</a> <li><a href="section7.html#patches" rel=subdocument>Q7.9. Do you accept patches for Asymptote?</a> <br><br><li><b><font size="+2"><a href="section8.html" rel=subdocument>Section 8. Questions about differences between Asymptote and MetaPost</a></font></b> <li><a href="section8.html#interp" rel=subdocument>Q8.1. What is the equivalent of the MetaPost c[a,b] interpolation operator? </a> <li><a href="section8.html#automaticscaling" rel=subdocument>Q8.2. How does picture scaling differ in Asymptote and MetaPost?</a> <li><a href="section8.html#manualscaling" rel=subdocument>Q8.3. How can I avoid automatic scaling of a picture?</a> <li><a href="section8.html#mp3dots" rel=subdocument>Q8.4. What is the equivalent of MetaPost ... command?</a> <li><a href="section8.html#mppickup" rel=subdocument>Q8.5. What is the equivalent of the MetaPost pickup command?</a> <li><a href="section8.html#whatever" rel=subdocument>Q8.6. What is the equivalent of the MetaPost whatever command?</a> <li><a href="section8.html#lray" rel=subdocument>Q8.7. What is the equivalent for the MetaPost command for <code>lray - horiz*v - verti*u = whatever*(LightSource - R)</code>, a system of three linear equations for three unknowns: <code>horiz, verti, whatever</code>?</a> <li><a href="section8.html#unitsizes" rel=subdocument>Q8.8. In MetaPost, it is possible to have a drawing remain the same size in different pictures by defining a unit <code>u</code> and explicitly multiply all the coordinates by <code>u</code>. Is there a better way to do this in Asymptote?</a> <li><a href="section8.html#tiles" rel=subdocument>Q8.9. In MetaPost, one could produce tiling pictures by generating a picture, and then clipping the picture to a rectangle of fixed dimensions around the center of the picture. How is that done in Asymptote?</a> <br><br><li><b><font size="+2"><a href="section9.html" rel=subdocument>Section 9. Questions about output</a></font></b> <li><a href="section9.html#psviewer" rel=subdocument>Q9.1. How can I disable automatic invocation of the PS viewer after an asy file is done processing?</a> <li><a href="section9.html#jpeg" rel=subdocument>Q9.2. How do I output jpeg images?</a> <li><a href="section9.html#embedbitmaps" rel=subdocument>Q9.3. Can I embed bitmaps (photos) into my drawings and position and scale them? </a> <li><a href="section9.html#directpdf" rel=subdocument>Q9.4. Does Asymptote support direct PDF output?</a> <li><a href="section9.html#bigpictures" rel=subdocument>Q9.5. How to I produce large pictures of high quality in raster format (e.g. png, giff etc). </a> <li><a href="section9.html#multipage" rel=subdocument>Q9.6. Is it possible to produce multi-page documents with asymptote? </a> </ul><hr> <address> <A href="http://asymptote.sourceforge.net">Asymptote</A> - 24 March 2017 </address><br> Extracted from Asymptote Frequently Asked Questions, Copyright © 2017 . </body></html>