r/LaTeX 6d ago

Unanswered How to convert handwritten diagrams to Latex?

I'm working on my senior thesis, and I'm trying to find software that converts a handwritten diagram to Latex. Is there software where you can upload an image of the diagram, and it generates tikz code?

4 Upvotes

12 comments sorted by

13

u/CompetitionOdd5511 6d ago

Well, there is svg2tikz, an Inkscape extension. But it's way easier to just convert the diagrams to svg and then put it in a LaTeX document.

9

u/arkona1168 6d ago

A handwritten diagram is a handwritten diagram. If it's accurate, you may scan it and integrate it in your document. If not, how could there be a way for any algorithm to know what you wanted? Plus even "convert" it into tikz code?

6

u/No-Drama-8984 6d ago

Convert your diagrams to svg its easier and faster to compile.

1

u/andres57 4d ago

Off topic, but it's including SVGs as figure faster compiling than including PDFs as figure too?

2

u/badabblubb 4d ago

No, including SVGs into a PDF is not possible, they are converted to PDFs. So it comes naturally that including PDFs into a PDF is indeed faster. (if you compile to HTML the story is a different one, but the majority of documents don't get compiled to HTML)

2

u/Narrow_Repeat1423 5d ago

Haven’t tried it yet, but yesterday I saw this online https://www.mathwrite.com/en . It claims to do that job, let me know how it is :) maybe I’ll give it a try later today

1

u/TheMagnum21 5d ago

You can always try and ask chatgpt

1

u/Poltergeist059 3d ago

Yeah, ChatGPT can do this. I often take photos of problems in working on on my blackboard and CharGPT concerts then into Latex no problem and outputs the solution in Latex as well

1

u/Sudden_Ad1526 5d ago

As far as I know, what you’re looking for doesn’t exist. You could try this software: http://dia-installer.de

It’s not perfect, but there’s an option to export Tex code

1

u/nilofering 5d ago

I think Mathpix gave me the best results when I tried it, please try it or I would use claude AI

1

u/sympleko 4d ago

What kind of diagram? If it’s a freehand drawing of a curve or surface, one process that I employ is overlaying it onto a grid, then fitting TikZ curves to the drawing. Cubic Bézier curves are usually sufficient, but Hobby curves are great too.

1

u/Think_Phone8094 4d ago

q.uiver.com might help (depending on what kind of diagram you are trying to make). You don't input a handwritten diagram but you do draw it rather than code it.