How to preview images generated by MetaPost?

Question

I use the old MetaPost program to create graphics.

My problem is that, to see the result of my MetaPost figures, I have to compile first the .mp file and then the .tex file where I've inserted them. I find it quite boring.

I've found the online MetaPost Previewer but I have to copy and paste my code there and this is even a further waste of time.

I've also tried to add the lines

prologues:=3;
filenametemplate "%j-%3c.eps";

in my .mp files to generate .eps files, but, when I open them with GSView, sometimes I'm able to see my proper figures and sometimes not.

So, the question is: does anyone knows a program which is able to open the output generated by MetaPost? Or any package that can let me generate viewable images? Or any other trick that make me save some time (even an editor feature)?

If this can help, I use MiKTeX 2.9 in Windows XP. My main editor is TeXMaker (v4), but I have WinEdt (v8) installed as well.

Answer 1

This solution won't let you open your MetaPost images with a double-click of the mouse, but probably will let you save a lot of time.

Since you have WinEdt 8 installed, download the add-on MetaPreview (choose the right version) and install it in WinEdt.

Note that the add-on provides a previewer for MetaPost output as well as one for MetaFont output. You can choose only the first one if you are not interested in MetaFont preview.

Once you've installed it, you will find a drop-down button in the toolbar which contains two buttons, as shown in the following image

To have these buttons enabled, you have to compile your .mp file first.

Once you've compiled your .mp file, with the first command ('MetaPost Preview All') you will be able to preview all the generated images, while with the other ('MetaPost Preview One') you will be prompted to choose the image you want to preview (useful when you're working on an image and want to preview only that one).

Just one remark: the add-on works regardless of the prologue but needs the generated output to be in the format .1, .2, etc., so delete the line

filenametemplate "%j-%3c.eps";

from your .mp files.

---

UPDATE

A new version of MetaPreview is available.

The limitation described above has been overcome. Now it can be used even when your .mp file contains

filenametemplate "%j-%c.mps";

or

outputtemplate := "%j-%c.mps";

Answer 2

If you're not opposed to compiling with lualatex, then you could make use of the luamplib package to bypass the preview step altogether and compile the images in-document:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{luamplib}
\begin{document}
Your usual document.
\begin{mplibcode}

%your metapost code here

\end{mplibcode}
The rest of your document.
\end{document}

Answer 3

If you have ConTeXt standalone installed, then you can just run:

context filename.mp

which will generate filename.pdf.

Answer 4

The MetaPost manual describes various ways for previewing MetaPost graphics. To quote from a section titled Previewing PostScript Output:

Previewing MetaPost’s PostScript output is not difficult, but there are some catches that one should know about. This section deals with the following questions: How can graphics be clipped to their true bounding box in the PostScript viewer application? Why are my text labels rendered with an ugly font (or not at all) and how to avoid that? How can several graphics be combined into a multi-page document that can be previewed within one instance of the viewer application?

It then discusses these tools

• GSview
• mproof.tex
• mpsproof.tex

and mentions

• mptopdf
• mpstoeps.pl
• Troy's MetaPost online compiler

as additional alternatives.

Side note: I happen to have written the work-flow and preview related stuff in the MetaPost manual. If you think there's anything missing or unclear and could be improved, please drop me a line.

Answer 5

You can use gmp:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage[shellescape]{gmp}
\begin{document}
\begin{mpost}
%beginfig(1};
a=3cm; b=2cm;
z0=(0,0);
z1=-z3=(a,0);
z2=-z4=(0,b);
draw z1..z2..z3..z4..cycle;
draw z1--z0--z2;
label.top(btex $a$ etex, .5[z0,z1]);
label.lft(btex $b$ etex, .5[z0,z2]);
dotlabel.bot(btex $(0,0)$ etex, z0);
%endfig;
\end{mpost}
\end{document}

Just comment out the beginfig and endfig lines and compile with the -shell-escape option active.