centerline{} command alternative?

Question

I am adding figures to a work and most of the figures are too wide and are thus not centered but are shifted to the right. I searched here and found a solution, that would consist in adding the centerline{} command into the figure environment. This work fine for figures added with the command includegraphics{}, like in this example:
begin{figure}[h!]
begin{center}
centerline{includegraphics{SOIR_optics}}
end{center} % is this really useful?
end{figure}

But when I try to add a tikzpicture instead, this solution does not work (see example)
begin{figure}[h!]
begin{center}
centerline{begin{tikzpicture} 
some code 
end{tikzpicture}}
end{center}
end{figure}

My question is : are there alternatives to this centerline{} command?
Thanks!

egreg · Accepted Answer

The centerline command should never be used in a LaTeX document (unless you know precisely what you're doing, and probably only in the preamble for some definition). Use begin{figure}[htp] centering end{figure} and (a graphic, a TikZ picture or anything) will be centered.

user11232 · Answer

You can use adjustbox

documentclass{scrreprt}
usepackage[export]{adjustbox}  %%  export option makes adjustbox --
                                %%  -- goodies available inside includegraphics command
usepackage{graphicx}

begin{document}
Xhrulefill X
begin{figure}[htp]
includegraphics[width=1.1textwidth,center]{example-image-a}
end{figure}
end{document}

This is very useful for figures that are wider than textwidth. Another useful macro will be adjustbox environment with max width option.

documentclass{scrreprt}
usepackage[export]{adjustbox}
usepackage{graphicx}

begin{document}
Xhrulefill X

This is resized to verb|1.1textwidth|
begin{figure}[htp]
begin{adjustbox}{center,max width=1.1textwidth}
includegraphics[width=1.2textwidth,center]{example-image-a}
end{adjustbox}
end{figure}
clearpage
The following is not resized:
begin{figure}[htp]
begin{adjustbox}{center,max width=1.1textwidth}
includegraphics[width=0.7textwidth,center]{example-image-b}
end{adjustbox}
end{figure}

end{document}

The advantage of max width is that the content is resized only if it exceeds the max width otherwise not.

With tikzpicture environment

I assume that your tikz picture are saved as separate files. Then using adjustbox and tikzscale packages:

documentclass{article}

usepackage{graphicx,tikz,tikzscale}
usepackage{adjustbox}
usepackage{filecontents}
begin{filecontents*}{myfig.tikz}
begin{tikzpicture}[inner sep=0pt, outer sep=0pt]
    draw[use as bounding box](-20,-20) rectangle (20,20);
    node at (0,0) (A) {A};
    node[above right] (B) at (A.north east) {B};
    draw (A.south west)--(B.north east);
  end{tikzpicture}
end{filecontents*}

begin{document}
Xhrulefill X

This is resized to verb|1.1textwidth|
begin{figure}[htp]
begin{adjustbox}{max width=1.1textwidth,center}
includegraphics[width=1.2textwidth]{myfig.tikz}
end{adjustbox}
end{figure}
clearpage
The following is not resized:
begin{figure}[htp]
begin{adjustbox}{max width=1.1textwidth,center}
includegraphics[width=0.7textwidth]{myfig.tikz}
end{adjustbox}
end{figure}
end{document}

centerline{} command alternative?

2 Answers

Add your own answers!

Ask a Question