Using Latex Formulas inside xfig figures
  by Rémy Malgouyres

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Contents
1) Special text in xfig
2) Export to generate pstex and generate eps
3) A script for automatization


1) Special text in xfig
To include latex formulas in figures made with xfig, we use the pstex format. It is a combined format
with two file, a latex file, with extension .pstex_t, with inside it a latex picture
(picture environment of latex), which includes another file, which is an eps file with
extension pstex by using epsfig or includegraphics (use the epsfig or graphics
package accordingly)

To do this, we write some text in xfig, setting a text flag (text options). We have to set
the special flag to special. This text will be classical latex code, with some $ { \ etc.
Don't pay attention to the aspect of the text, it will be compiled when including
the pstex_t file in latex.

2) Export to generate pstex
Then, in xfig, we export choosing the "combined PS latex" format, which generates two files,
the pstex and the pstex_t.
To include the image in a latex document fichier.tex, we can type for instance :

\input{myfile.pstex_t}

Then we generate postscript using dvips.

$ latex fichier.tex
$ dvips -E -o fichier.eps fichier.dvi


This technique is a bit tedious when you want to
use many figures, you have to make many operations
for each figure.


3) A script which I find more convenient

I had made for myself a script my_fig2eps which works well

 You just save the .fig inside xfig and in the console you type

$ my_fig2eps myfile.fig

This generates directly an epsfile with the figure and the latex formulas compiled in it
(we can then include the eps file into latex with epsfig).

Warning : the script uses a temporary file myfile.tex. Do not name your
latex document by the same name as the xfig figure or it would be erased !

I realised recently that there was a  fig2eps project which made several format conversions
and seems to work well. It looks cleaner that my little script !