MetaPost on the Web

This page has a list of links related to MetaPost, a powerful tool for creating graphics in scalable PostScript. It was written by John Hobby, based on Metafont by Donald Knuth.

Please email webmaster@tug.org with suggestions or corrections.

Basics

• What is MetaPost?
• All MetaPost-related FAQ entries.
• John Hobby's original MetaPost web site gives some history, downloads of original material, and more.
• MetaPost project at supelec.fr is the active development site, with current sources available through Subversion.

MetaPost mailing lists

• metapost@tug.org (archive) for general mp discussion, bug reports, feature requests, etc.
• MetaPost discussion also takes place on the the ntg-context list (archive).

Manuals

The basic manuals were all written by John Hobby and originally published as AT&T technical reports. They continue to be updated and maintained as part of the MetaPost distribution.

• A User's Manual for MetaPost.
• Drawing Graphs with MetaPost.

The above links are for the documentation of the last released version. You can also read the documentation in the development sources.

In addition, Taco Hoekwater's 2006 article on MetaPost developments describes the new features in MetaPost 0.99 and some plans for the future.

Tutorials and documentation

• FAQ entry for Metafont and MetaPost tutorials.
• MetaPost previewer, an interactive form to allow online viewing of MetaPost figures, by Troy Henderson.
• A beginner's guide to MetaPost for creating high-quality graphics by Troy Henderson.
• A very brief tutorial by example, by Urs Oswald.
• MétaPost exemples, dozens of examples showing source and output side by side, from simple to complex.
• Practical introduction to MetaPost, by Clément Hurlin, in English, French, and Italian.
• Tutorial, from André Heck.
• Examples and tips from L. Nobre G.
• Petite propagande pour MetaPost tutorial (in English), by Anthony Phan.
• Puzzling graphics in MetaPost, by Hans Hagen.
• Swelled rules and MetaPost, by Steve Peter, an introduction to MetaPost in ConTeXt.
• Marc's MetaPost Pages from Marc van Dongen.
• Metapost, une introduction by Laurent Chéno (in French).
• http://www.loria.fr/~roegel/metapost.html from Denis Roegel (in French). Includes animated examples taken from his 3D package.
• MetaPost tutorial by Robert Spalek (in Czech).

MetaPost programming and projects

• Animations from Denis Barbier (in French). Application of 3D package.
• asymptote, a modern MetaPost replacement with a C++-like syntax and floating-point numerics, by Andy Hammerlindl, John Bowman, and Tom Prince.
• cm_arrows from Tommy Ekola.
• MetaGraf by Santiago Muelas.
• MetaType1, a font development system using MetaPost, by Bogusław Jackowski, Janusz M. Nowacki, Piotr Strzelczyk.
• mf2pt1 for conversion of Metafont fonts to PostScript Type 1 using MetaPost, by Scott Pakin.
• scherer-src from Andreas Scherer. Curves.
• GNU 3DLDF by Laurence Finston, an independent implementation for 3d drawing with MetaPost syntax.

Macros and contributions (most on CTAN)

• MetaPost and MetaFun by Hans Hagen; MetaFun is essentially a format for MetaPost, and Hans' ConTeXt format for TeX has integrated support for MetaPost.
• MPtoPDF by Hans Hagen is a tool to convert MetaPost output into standalone PDF files.
• MPtoSVG from Troy Henderson, an online tool for converting MetaPost to SVG.
• Mpattern package from Piotr Bolek for filling patterns.
• 3D animations in MetaPost from Denis Roegel.
• CTAN:/graphics/metapost/contrib/

TUGboat articles

• MPlib: MetaPost as a reusable component, Taco Hoekwater (v.28,n.3).
• A beginner's guide to MetaPost for creating high-quality graphics, Troy Henderson (v.28,n.1).
• MetaPost developments—autumn 2006, Taco Hoekwater. See also the manual in the current release.
• MP2GL: prototyping 3D objects with MetaPost and OpenGL, Denis Roegel (EuroTeX 2005 proceedings).
• Embedding fonts in MetaPost output, Troy Henderson (v.26,n.3).
• Swelled rules and MetaPost (introduction to using MetaPost in ConTeXt), Steve Peter (v.26,n.3).
• Qin notation generator, Candy L.K. Yiu and Jim Binkley (v.26,n.2).
• Converting Metafont sources to outline fonts using MetaPost, Karel Píška (v.26,n.2).
• Kissing circles: A French romance in MetaPost, Denis Roegel (v.26,n.1).
• FEATPOST and a review of 3D MetaPost packages, Luís Gonçalves (TUG 2004 preprints).
• Programming PostScript Type 1 fonts using MetaType1: Auditing, enhancing, creating, Bogusław Jackowski, Janusz Nowacki, Piotr Strzelczyk (v.24,n.3).
• Floating point numbers and Metafont, MetaPost, TeX, and PostScript Type1 fonts, Claudio Beccari (v.23,n.3-4).
• Space geometry with MetaPost, Denis Roegel (v.22,n.4).
• Drawing graphs with MetaPost, John Hobby (v.22,n.1-2).
• The Calculator Demo: Integrating TeX, MetaPost, JavaScript and PDF, Hans Hagen (v.19,n.3).
• MetaPost and patterns, Piotr Bolek (v.19,n.3).
• Creating 3D animations with MetaPost, Denis Roegel (v.18,n.4).
• Graphics and TeX: A reappraisal of MF/MetaPost/PS, Kees van der Laan (v.17,n.3).
• Introducing MetaPost, Alan Hoenig (v.16,n.1).

MAPS articles

• Aligning MetaPost graphs in ConTeXt, Karel Wesseling (n.29).
• Practical MetaPost, Fabrice Popineau (n.28).
• A letterhead in ConTeXt, Karel Wesseling (n.28).
• Shifted bullets in graphs with MetaPost, Frans Goddijn, Karel Wesseling (n.28).
• Meta-Euro, Patrick Gundlach (n.28).
• The euro symbol, Hans Hagen (n.27).
• Reintroducing Type 3 fonts to the world of TeX, Wlodek Byzl (n.26).
• MetaType1: a MetaPost-based engine for generating Type 1 fonts, Bogusław Jackowski, Janusz M. Nowacki, Piotr Strzelczyk (n.26).
• Special fonts, Bogusław Jackowski, Krzysztof Leszczyński (n.26).
• MetaFun, Chapter 3: Embedded graphics, Hans Hagen (n.25).
• A macro routine for writing text along a path in MetaPost, Santiago Muelas (n.25).
• Antykwa Półtawskiego: a parameterized outline font, Bogusław Jackowski, Janusz M. Nowacki, Piotr Strzelczyk (n.25).
• Making standalone MetaPost graphics, Hans Hagen (n.24).
• Toolbox, Maarten Gelderman (n.24).
• Typesetting flow charts - let TeX and MetaPost do the job, Hans Hagen (n.23).
• Pretty printing TeX, MetaPost, Perl and JavaScript, Hans Hagen (n.20).
• Stars around 2 -- what a little math can do, Kees van der Laan (n.18).
• Stars around 1 -- PostScript straightaway, Kees van der Laan (n.18).
• Using fonts in MetaPost, Hans Hagen (n.18).

More contributions are welcome, please email webmaster@tug.org.