Graphics, Figures & Tables ⇒ Tikz and PsTricks

[kapowza]

I'm relatively new to Latex, so this may be a silly question. I've been playing around with Tikz for graphics. But, I've seen posts on the web debating the benefits of Tikz with those of PsTricks. I'm wondering...is there any reason that I couldn't use both in my document? As in, switch between whichever is most appropriate for the graphic I'm trying to make? Or is there something preventing me from doing that?

[localghost]

Both are powerful and have their advantages and disadvantages. Which one to use often depends on what tasks are to do. For both packages there are very comprehensive manuals and they need similar time for orientation.

PSTricks benefits from the calculating capabilities of the Postscript language but therefore is (at first sight) bound to compilation with latex. But the auto-pst-pdf package can circumvent that by calling some external programs and so makes compilation with pdflatex possible. I once created a special build profile for TeXnicCenter which only needs the pst-pdf package and does the necessary post processing. Many other packages have been derived from the original for special purposes like 3D representations.

pgf/tikZ produces both Postscript and PDF output and so does not depend on a certain compiler. For calculations the developers have created an internal math engine which aims for similar calculating capabilities. A real 3D engine is not yet available, but there is the possibility of 3D representations with fixed axes.


Best regards
Thorsten¹

[kapowza]

But, there's nothing preventing me from using both in a single document, right? (Sorry, I'm very new to Latex)

[phi]

Not technically, but if you use more than one vector graphics program, your results will be inconsistent. Please take a look at the section "Guidelines on Graphics" in the PGF/TikZ manual to get some ideas about how to make good graphics. (This section is independent of TikZ/PGF.)