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Helpful Hints for Working with LaTeX
 

Usage of the VGTC Latex Document Class

The following text describes key points to be aware of when using the new VGTC Journal style latex document class - [VAST/InfoVis/SciVis Papers] | [VR Long Papers] | [ISMAR Long Papers]. The best way to create a paper that complies with the provided document class is to create your own content by replacing the text given in our example template.tex file. That way it is ensured that title, author information, abstract, keywords, section title, etc. are specified in the correct form. For those who have already formatted their documents with the VGTC conference template we will here give a brief summary of the key differences to the previous version.

A feature of the template is the [journal] option. General conference publications omit this switch. However, since VAST/InfoVis/SciVis from 2006, VR Long Papers from 2011, and ISMAR Long Papers from 2015 on will appear as journal articles in a special issue of TVCG, the layout has to be adjusted to conform with the TVCG journal style. So, if your publication is for any of these conferences pass the [journal] option to the document class. Furthermore, inside the latex source file the two style versions can be distinguished with a conditional 
\ifvgtcjournal
...specific contents for the journal style...
\else
...specific contents for the conference style...
\fi
The only place where this distinction is needed is for specifying author information.

Specifying Title, Author Information, Abstract, Keywords, ... for your Paper

All of the following commands should be issued before \begin{document}. Please note that especially for abstract and keywords this is different from the conference style latex template.
  • Title
    \title{...Title of the paper...}
  • Author Information
    The author information is the only entry that has to be provided in different form depending which style your publication is supposed to be in.
    a) journal style
    The authors are specified in a comma separated list, the last one being attached with , and. If only two authors are given simply separate them with a single and. IEEE Members should be indicated by appending \textit{Member, IEEE} or \textit{Student Member, IEEE}, whichever applies. 
    \author{Roy G. Biv, Ed Grimley, \textit{Member, IEEE}, and Martha Stewart}
    Affiliation and contact information is provided as a list in a separate footnote as follows. Please insert punctuation at end of each \item. 
    \authorfooter{
\item
  Roy G. Biv is with Starbucks Research, E-mail: roy.g.biv@aol.com.
\item
  Ed Grimley is with Grimley Widgets, Inc., E-mail: ed.grimley@aol.com.
\item
  Martha Stewart is with Martha Stewart Enterprises at Microsoft
  Research, E-mail: martha.stewart@marthastewart.com.
}
    b) conference style
    Author information, including affiliation and contact information, is given in a table layout as follows. 
    \author{Roy G. Biv\thanks{e-mail: roy.g.biv@aol.com}\\ %
        \scriptsize Starbucks Research %
\and Ed Grimley\thanks{e-mail:ed.grimley@aol.com}\\ %
     \scriptsize Grimley Widgets, Inc. %
\and Martha Stewart\thanks{e-mail:martha.stewart@marthastewart.com}\\ %
     \parbox{1.4in}{\scriptsize \centering Martha Stewart Enterprises \\ Microsoft Research}}
  • Teaser
    To include the optional teaser image, you will need to un-/comment the \teaser block in the template.tex.
     %% Uncomment below to include a teaser figure.
 %% Note: No figures other than the optional teaser are permitted on title page.
 %\centering
 %\includegraphics[width=16cm]{CypressView.eps}
 %\caption{In the Clouds: Vancouver from Cypress Mountain}
 %}
  • Abstract
    Please note, that the abstract is not specified in an environment anymore, but with the /abstract{...} command before the start of the document environment. Also, in the past, copyright space had to be taken care of here, this is not the case anymore. 
    \abstract{This is an abstract text.}
  • Keywords, ACM Computing Review (CR) categories
    Please note that the CR categories will not appear in the journal style. Instead your keywords will be shown as "index terms". 
    \keywords{radiosity, global illumination, constant time.}

\CRcatlist{ % not used in journal version
  \CRcat{K.6.1}{Management of Computing and Information Systems}%
{Project and People Management}{Life Cycle};
  \CRcat{K.7.m}{The Computing Profession}{Miscellaneous}{Ethics}
}
  • Acknowledgements
    If you specify your acknowledgements section the following way, it'll be ommitted in the 'review' mode. 
    \acknowledgements{We greatly acknowledge ...}
  • Paper Category
    This information is only relevant and visible in the 'review' option. Note that it changed its name from the previous vgtc document class version. 
    \vgtccategory{Research}
First Section Title
The title of the first section is shown above the two-column text in the journal layout. To allow for this please specify 
\firstsection{Introduction}
after \begin{document} and before \maketitle. In the conference layout this section will appear as usual within the first column below the abstract.
General Remarks
To keep the math fonts consistent throughout the proceedings we encourage the use of the mathptmx package as it is included in the template.tex. However, if you encounter incompatibilities with other math related packages that you need to use you may disable it.

High Quality PDF Output

For rendering your document to PDF please consider our advice on generating high-quality documents.

Back to main Formatting Guidelines - [VAST/InfoVis/SciVis Papers] and [VR Long Papers].