Tikzposter Manual

User Manual:

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The tikzposter class ∗

Pascal Richter, Elena Botoeva, Richard Barnard, Dirk Surmann

tikzposter@mathcces.rwth-aachen.de

https://bitbucket.org/surmann/tikzposter/wiki/

January 17, 2014

Abstract

This document class aims to provide a simple way of using LateX and

TikZ for generating good looking scientiﬁc posters.

Contents

1 Introduction 2

2 Creating a Poster 2

3 Options for the Document Class 3

4 The Poster Contents 4

4.1 TitleMatter............................... 4

4.2 Blocks.................................. 5

4.3 Notes .................................. 7

4.4 Columns and Subcolumns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

5 Poster Layout 8

5.1 Settingthecolors............................ 9

5.2 Settingthelayout............................ 11

5.3 Backgroundstyle............................ 12

5.4 Titlestyle................................ 13

5.5 Blockstyle ............................... 14

5.6 InnerBlockstyles............................ 15

5.7 Notestyle................................ 15

6 Poster template 16

7 Poster example 18

8 Appendix 18

8.1 Available variables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

∗This document corresponds to tikzposter v2.0, dated 2014/01/15.

1 Introduction

The tikzposter document class ﬁle may be used to simplify formatting and gener-

ating scientiﬁc posters in the .pdf format. It uses the TikZ package to generate a

poster layout. The poster is formed by a series of blocks against a background in

a sequence of aligned columns. The purpose of the class is to reduce the level of

formatting by automatically setting spacing between blocks in the poster as well

as their lengths. The user has control over the width of the columns. Due to the

class’ reliance on TikZ, only .pdf output is supported. This document explains

the formatting options available and how to easily create a basic block layout.

To start with the class, the user can look at either the template ﬁle included

with the class tikzposter-template.tex (also shown in Section 6) which pro-

vides a template, the minimal working example shown in Section 2, or the example

ﬁle tikzposter-example.tex. The last ﬁle illustrates various formatting options

available. In Section 3, the \documentclass is described. Inside of the document

environment, the title is created by the use of one of the title block commands

and columns of aligned blocks are then created; the various commands are de-

scribed in the subsections of Section 4. If you want to alter the appearance of

the poster, the various ways of doing this are explained in Section 5. Finally, the

Appendix (Section 8) lists useful variables for those who want to further customize

the appearance of the posters.

Required packages: The class uses L

X2e and the following required packages:

tikz,calc,ifthen,ae,xstring,etoolbox,xkeyval.

Changes from previous versions: Signiﬁcant changes have been made between

the current version and the previous version of tikzposter. Aside from bug ﬁxes,

there have been the following changes: The background can now be customized,

the title formatting can be customized, blocks can be shifted with respect to the

default positioning, the format and appearance of blocks can be customized, the

note object was introduced (a new type of object) and colorthemes have been

modiﬁed. The various changes mean backwards compatibility was not possible for

posters using some of the formatting options in the previous version.

2 Creating a Poster

Below is a minimal example of a poster and the relevant places in the manual to

ﬁnd further information.

\documentclass{tikzposter} % See Section 3

\title{Title} \institute{Inst} % See Section 4.1

\author{Auth} \titlegraphic{Logo}

\usetheme{Basic} % See Section 5

\begin{document}

\maketitle % See Section 4.1

\block{BlocktitleA}{Blocktext} % See Section 4.2

\begin{columns} % See Section 4.4

\column{0.3} % See Section 4.4

\block{BlocktitleB}{Blocktext}

\column{0.7}

\block{BlocktitleC}{Blocktext}

\note{Notetext} % See Section 4.3

\end{columns}

\end{document}

3 Options for the Document Class

In order to use the class, begin the document with

\documentclass[options]{tikzposter}

There are several options available for customizing the general layout of the poster.

These are called as optional arguments when declaring the document class. The

options for the page geometry are

•font size: The size of the text in the main body may be set as : 12pt,14pt,

17pt,20pt, or 25pt;

•paper size: Currently, paper sizes may be set to : a0paper,a1paper, or

a2paper;

•orientation: Either landscape or portrait.

The standard options fleqn and leqno may also be invoked here. The following

options are set in the form hvariable namei=hvalueiand deal with spacing of the

poster:

•margin: The margin between outer edge of the poster and the edge of the

paper.

•innermargin: The margin from the edge of the poster edge to the outermost

edge of the blocks;

•colspace: The horizontal spacing between successive columns;

•subcolspace: The horizontal spacing between successive columns in the

subcolumn environment (See Section 4.4 for more on this environment);

•blockverticalspace: The spacing between the bottom of a normal block

and the top of the next block.

A sample usage of these options would be :

\documentclass[25pt, a0paper, portrait, margin=0mm, innermargin=15mm,

blockverticalspace=15mm, colspace=15mm, subcolspace=8mm]{tikzposter}

These listed values are in fact the default values of the optional arguments. To

turn oﬀ the comment on how the poster was created in the lower right corner,

include in the preamble \tikzposterlatexaffectionproofoff.

4 The Poster Contents

4.1 Title Matter

The information for the title matter is deﬁned in the usual manner; the user may\maketitle

use \author{},\institute{}, and \title{}. Additionally, a logo for the title

matter may be deﬁned via \titlegraphic{}. The title is created with the normal

\maketitle[options]command; however, we note that new options are available

to alter the default settings:

•width: The width of the title portion of the poster.

•roundedcorners,linewidth,innersep: Passed to relevant TikZ commands

in the title style, governing the “box” surrounding the title matter (if the

style is made dependent on these parameters – the default style, for instance,

is).

•titletotopverticalspace,titletoblockverticalspace: Space between

the top of the poster (excluding margins) and the top edge of the title por-

tion; and space between the bottom of the poster and the top block, respec-

tively.

•titlegraphictotitledistance: a length, used for a vertical distance be-

tween the titlegraphic and title description.

•titletextscale: a number which allows for relative scaling of the text of

the title.

The necessary spacing is handled using the options chosen in the call to the doc-

ument class described in Section 3. The default format for the title is seen in

Figure 1.

One can redeﬁne the way the title matter (title, author, etc.) are arranged by

calling \settitle. The user can change this format by including in the preamble\settitle

\settitle. Note that when referring to the title, author, titlegraphic, and insti-

tute with this command, one needs to use \@title,\@author,\@institute and

\@titlegraphic. A sample alternative title format is:

titlegraphic

TITLE

author

institute

Figure 1: Default format of the title material

\settitle{ \centering \vbox{

\@titlegraphic \\[\TP@titlegraphictotitledistance] \centering

\color{titlefgcolor} {\bfseries \Huge \sc \@title \par}

\vspace*{1em}

{\huge \@author \par} \vspace*{1em} {\LARGE \@institute}

}}

4.2 Blocks

Blocks are created with the command \block[options]{title}{text}. Excluding\block

options, this creates a block of the width of the page (or column/subcolumn, see

section 4.4), excepting the margin and inner margin. A title for the block will be

generated along the top in a separate, smaller block, centered using the contents

of title. By default, its width will be set to be the \textwidth or, if in a column

(see below), to the \colwidth; alternatively, it may be altered as described below.

If the title ﬁeld is left empty, then there will be no title for the block created.

Multiline titles are supported and will be (approximately) broken to satisfy the

maximum width of the block titles as speciﬁed in the formatting options. The

contents of text will be displayed in the main body of the block. The length of the

block is determined automatically by the contents of text. Further blocks may be

generated in the same column by further uses of \block. However, if the contents

of the blocks in a single column lead to spill over (that is, they take up more

vertical space than allowed under the formatting for the paper size and margins),

then formatting errors will occur.

If the user wishes to have certain internal spacing and positioning aspects ofBlock Options

the block to diﬀer from those of the layout theme, they may reset the following:

•titleoffsetx,titleoffsety,bodyoffsetx and bodyoffsety: The block

may be placed in violation of the automatic alignment according to the

default spacing rules. This may be achieved with 4 options. The ﬁrst two

are used to shift the title block from the default position. The latter two shift

the main content block (containing text) from a position directly under the

title. All four are by default set to 0. That is, in relation to previously created

blocks, the class determines the position of the current block according to the

format options’ spacing values and then determines the appropriate heights

of the two components, main part and title. The position can then be

adjusted as desired. Please note that these oﬀset values use the convention

of positive values resulting in a shift right/upwards and negative values in a

shift left/downwards.

•titlewidthscale,bodywidthscale: The relative scaling from the default

widths of the block’s title and main portion, respectively. This is given in

relative terms; i.e., titlewidthscale=.5 will result in a 50% narrower title

width than the default.

•titleleft,titlecenter,titleright: The alignment of the title text

within the title section of the block (if it it exists). Unless speciﬁed in

the block or the block style (see below), center alignment is used.

•bodyverticalshift: Additional spacing (in absolute terms) between the

bottom of the title and the beginning of the contents of the block body.

•roundedcorners,linewidth: Parameters used to determine the degree of

roundedness of the corners of the block and the thickness of the outer edge

of the block, respectively; behaves as in TikZ.

•titleinnersep,bodyinnersep: Separation for the title and body of the

block, respectively, between the edge and their contents.

A sample block may be created by the command

\block[titleleft,titleoffsetx=2em,titleoffsety=1em,bodyoffsetx=2em,

bodyoffsety=1em,titlewidthscale=.6, bodywidthscale=.8, roundedcorners=14,

linewidth=8mm, bodyinnersep=4em, titleinnersep=2em]

{Sample Block}{Text\\Text\\Text Text}

Block objects

There are three special objects which may be placed in the blocks: inner\innerblock

blocks, colored boxes, and ﬁgures. Inner blocks, called by the command

\innerblock[options]{Heading}{Text}, are blocks placed in the body. If no

heading is provided, the title area is not drawn, as in the case of normal blocks.

The available options are:

•titlewidth,bodywidth,titlewidthscale,bodywidthscale: Respec-

tively, the absolute width of the title and body, and scaling from the default

widths set by the inner block style (see below). NOTE: If using the style

Table (see Section 5.6) sec: for inner blocks, the sum of titlewidthscale

and bodywidthscale must be no greater than 1 and the total height of the

heading text should be less than the the total height of the text.

•Title alignment: Either titlecenter,titleleft, or titleright.

•titleoffsetx,titleoffsety,bodyoffsetx,bodyoffsety: For positioning

from the default placement of the title and body, similar in function to the

options for a block.

•roundedcorners,linewidth,titleinnersep,bodyinnersep: Same func-

tionality as the options for blocks.

Colored boxes can be used for emphasizing parts of the block body and are gener-\coloredbox

ated by \coloredbox[options]{Text}. Without options, a box of the width of the

block body (minus the length blockbodyinnersep) is created, highlighted by the

color assigned to the background of notes (see below for more on setting colors).

The options are:

•width: the width of the highlighted region.

•linewidth,roundedcorners: similar as above.

•bgcolor,fgcolor,framecolor: Colors of the background highlighting, the

text, and the frame of the colored box.

Due to implementation of the blocks, using the standard L

Xfigure environ-tikzfigure

ment is not possible. As a workaround, the environment tikzfigure has been

included using a solution adapted from code suggested by Stephan Thober. It

may be used in the same manner as the standard ﬁgure environment.

\begin{tikzfigure}[Caption of the figure]

\label{fig:fig1}

Figure

\end{tikzfigure}

4.3 Notes

Smaller objects called notes are also available. These are associated with\note

blocks and can be used to attach comments to speciﬁc points in the blocks.

Their use is slightly more complicated; they are created with the use of the

\note[options]{contents}command. We will here remark on the options that

are needed for placing them. These options are:

•targetoffsetx,targetoffsety: The note places a “target” point in the

center of the previously created block and uses this as a reference point for

placement. If this target should be moved, these two parameters can be set

to shift the target away from the default;

•angle,radius: After the target has been set, the center of the note is a

distance of radius away from the target with angle (with respect to the

horizontal axis) angle;

•width: The desired width of the note;

•connection: If the note style allows for it (see below on the styles for notes),

using the connection option draws the relevant connection (i.e. line or arrow)

from the note’s center point to the target point;

•rotate: If the entire note should be rotated, a rotation angle (again with

respect to the horizontal axis) may be deﬁned using this option.

•roundedcorners,linewidth,innersep: If the note should be drawn using

corners that are rounded diﬀerently than the default, with a thicker/thinner

bounding line than the default, or with a diﬀerent separation between con-

tent and edge of the note, respectively, these options may be used to reset

the values.

Two comments should be kept in mind. First, notes are always visible over the

background and blocks. Second, there are no automatic spacing rules for notes, so

care should be used in placement to ensure the proper appearance of the poster.

A sample note could be constructed via:

\note[targetoffsetx=2cm, targetoffsety=-1cm, angle=90, radius=3cm,

width=5cm, rotate=30, connection, linewidth=.2cm,

roundedcorners=30, innersep=1cm]{Text}

This inserts a note which is directly above (angle=90) and 3 cm from the target,

which is 2 cm to the right of and 1 cm below the block center, and is then rotated

30 degrees. A connection is then drawn from the block center to this target.

4.4 Columns and Subcolumns

If multicolumn formats are desired, the environment columns may be used. Allcolumns

blocks generated inside of this environment will be divided into the desired columns

with the speciﬁed width. To begin a column, use the command \column{width},

e.g., width=0.3\textwidth or width=20cm. Any blocks created after this will be

aligned along a vertical line automatically placed, depending on the number of

columns and their widths, as speciﬁed inside of the instance of the environment.

Formatting errors may arise if the sum of the column widths is greater than

\textwidth. The width of the column may be referred – for formatting pictures

or altering a block’s width, for instance – by referencing the length \colwidth.

If you wish to create a set of subcolumns in the current column, the environ-subcolumns

ment subcolumns can be used. In this environment, subcolumns are created by

\subcolumn{width}. However, the width in the \subcolumn command is relative

now to the current \colwidth and can be referenced by the length \subcolwidth.

The same comments on formatting made above regarding widths and text length

hold here as well.

5 Poster Layout

We will describe additional options which govern the appearance of the poster.

There are options for changing the:

•colors used,

•background of the poster,

•the appearance of the title matter,

•the shapes of the various blocks,

•the appearance of inner blocks, and

•the shapes of the notes.

A poster theme provides the settings for the other options. A theme is called by\usetheme

the command \usetheme{layout style}where the argument is either a predeﬁned

object name in tikzposterLayoutthemes.tex, or a style deﬁned in the preamble

for the appropriate object. Creating styles and their components is described

in the following subsections. The predeﬁned themes are Default,Rays,Basic,

Simple,Envelope,Wave,Board,Autumn, and Desert. It should be noted that the

user may call \usetheme and subsequently overwrite any or all components of the

layout theme by resetting the diﬀerent styles contained.

5.1 Setting the colors

The colors used in the poster are deﬁned using two objects: the palette and the

style. The palette provides 3 basic colors to be used. There are several included

color palettes. They may be called by the command \usecolorpalette{}. The in-\usecolorpalette

cluded palettes are Default,BlueGrayOrange,GreenGrayViolet,PurpleGrayBlue,

BrownBlueOrange.

The way that these colors are used in the poster is deﬁned in a color style,\usecolorstyle

which is called by the command \usecolorstyle[options]{style name}. The op-

tions are the basic colors or the palette to be used. A sample set of options is

[colorPalette=BrownOrangeBlue,colorOne=blue,colorTwo=black,colorThree=green],

which would not be used due to redundancy.

All styles have a predeﬁned palette as default. The included color styles are

named after various countries (please note the associated default palettes are not

connected by the names) and are: Default,Australia,Britain,Sweden,Spain,

Russia,Denmark,Germany. The color style (with the palette) is used by the styles

which deﬁne the appearance of the title, blocks, notes, and background. If no color

palette or style is chosen, a default color theme is used. We now will explain the

diﬀerent components that can have colors assigned to them.

The background has associated with it the colors backgroundcolor andbackground colors

framecolor which are, respectively, the color for the solid background and the

color for the outer edges of the poster and the outer edges for all blocks.

The text of the title material of the poster is in the color titlefgcolor. Thetitle colors

background of the title material is given by the color titlebgcolor.

The colors for the backgrounds of the blocks can also be deﬁned. The back-block colors

ground color of the title portion of the block may be set with blocktitlebgcolor

and the background color of the portion of the block with the text is set by

blockbodybgcolor. The text colors for the title and the block contents are set

with blocktitlefgcolor and blockbodyfgcolor, respectively.innerblock colors

Inside blocks, the inner blocks will be colored using innerblocktitlebgcolor,

innerblocktitlefgcolor,innerblockbodybgcolor,innerblockbodyfgcolor

for, respecitvely, the background color of the title, the text color for the title,

the background color of the body, and the text color of the body.

The note background color is used as the default of the background of coloredcoloredbox colors

boxes in the blocks.

The note blocks created have background color deﬁned by notebgcolor andnote colors

text color deﬁned by notefgcolor. The note blocks’ frames are colored by

noteframecolor.

The relevant text colors may also be individually deﬁned. The color of thetext colors

text of the title matter is deﬁned via titlefgcolor. The color of the title text in

each block is deﬁned by blocktitlefgcolor and the color of the text of the main

portion of the block is deﬁned by blockbodyfgcolor. Finally, the notes’ text uses

the color notefgcolor.

Finally, if one wishes, one may deﬁne the color palette and style locally in the\definecolorpalette

\definecolorstyle preamble. The palette is deﬁned by the command \definecolorpalette{color

palette name}{deﬁnitions}. A sample palette can deﬁned by

\definecolorpalette{sampleColorPalette} {

\definecolor{colorOne}{named}{green}

\definecolor{colorTwo}{named}{black}

\definecolor{colorThree}{named}{cyan}

}

For a style, this is accomplished by \definecolorstyle{color style name}{default

palette}{deﬁnitions}. Using the name convention below of colorOne,colorTwo,

and colorThree when setting the colors allows the ﬂexibility of various palettes.

A sample color style can be deﬁned by:

\definecolorstyle{sampleColorStyle} {

\definecolor{colorOne}{named}{blue}

\definecolor{colorTwo}{named}{yellow}

\definecolor{colorThree}{named}{orange}

}{

% Background Colors

\colorlet{backgroundcolor}{colorOne}

\colorlet{framecolor}{black}

% Title Colors

\colorlet{titlefgcolor}{black}

\colorlet{titlebgcolor}{colorOne}

% Block Colors

\colorlet{blocktitlebgcolor}{colorThree}

\colorlet{blocktitlefgcolor}{white}

\colorlet{blockbodybgcolor}{white}

\colorlet{blockbodyfgcolor}{black}

% Innerblock Colors

\colorlet{innerblocktitlebgcolor}{white}

\colorlet{innerblocktitlefgcolor}{black}

\colorlet{innerblockbodybgcolor}{colorThree!30!white}

\colorlet{innerblockbodyfgcolor{black}

% Note colors

\colorlet{notefgcolor}{black}

\colorlet{notebgcolor}{colorTwo!50!white}

\colorlet{noteframecolor}{colorTwo}

}

5.2 Setting the layout

The basic components of the poster fall into three categories: the title portion,

the blocks of content, and smaller notes. General rules for the appearance of the

components as well as the background are set by a layout theme. The layout

theme is composed of rules for the general shape of the components.

One may use, for instance, the Default color style with the Envelope layout.\definelayouttheme

A sample theme called sample may be deﬁned with the following:

\definelayouttheme{sample}{

\usecolorstyle[colorPalette=sampleColorPalette]{sampleColorStyle}

\usebackgroundstyle{sample}

\usetitlestyle{Test}

\useblockstyle{sample}

\useinnerblockstyle{sample}

\usenotestyle{Corner}

}

In the following subsections, the styles for background, title, block, innerblock,

and notes are described.

5.3 Background style

The background is by default a vertically graded single color depending on

the value of backgroundcolor set by the color theme chosen (see Section

5.1). If the user wishes to alter this, then in the preamble you can use the

\usebackgroundstyle{} command. This command takes as argument a name for\usebackgroundstyle

a setting in the ﬁle tikzBackgrounds.tex; predeﬁned backgrounds included with

the package are: Default,Rays,VerticalGradation,BottomVerticalGradation,

Empty.

If you want to deﬁne a custom background style, you can use the commnd\definebackgroundstyle

\definebackgroundstyle{style name}{background commands}: This command

takes as ﬁrst argument a name for the background and as second argument valid

TikZ commands; an example usage of this is:

\definebackgroundstyle{samplebackgroundstyle}{

\draw[inner sep=0pt, line width=0pt, color=red, fill=backgroundcolor!30!black]

(bottomleft) rectangle (topright);

}

Following this deﬁnition, the preamble should include the command

\usebackgroundstyle{samplebackgroundstyle} either directly or inside of a

layout theme.

In making a custom background, it is important to note that the point (0,0)

is the center of the poster (after removing the margins). Additionally, as can be

seen from the example commands above, the user has access to several variables.

These include:

•\textwidth: The total width of the available poster space, after creating

the margins.

•\textheight: The total height of the available poster space, after creating

the margins.

•\titlegraphicheight,\titletotopverticalspace,\titleinnersep: See

the information in desigining a titlestyle.

•backgroundcolor: Deﬁned in color theme or by user in preamble (see

above).

•topright: a TikZ node deﬁning the top right position poster background.

•bottomleft: a TikZ node deﬁning the bottom left position poster back-

ground.

5.4 Title style

If the default simple box surrounding the title matter is not desired, the user\usetitlestyle

\definetitlestyle may use one of the several predeﬁned title styles by using in the preamble

\usetitlestyle[options]{style name}where the argument is a style listed in

tikzposterTitlestyles.tex or the name of a style deﬁned in the preamble.

The preset title styles are: Default,Basic,Envelope,Wave,VerticalShading,

Filled,Empty. If the user wishes to use a title with a diﬀerent appearance, then

\definetitlestyle{style name}{options}{title commands}. The available op-

tions are those mentioned above. Several parameters which might be helpful when

writing a custom title style are:

•\textwidth: The width of the poster contents, similar to the standard usage

in L

X, albeit having incorporated both margins set in the document class’

options.

•\textheight: Same as the standard L

Xusage.

•\titlewidth: Stores the value passed from the options in \maketitle.

•\titlegraphicheight: Height of the deﬁned title graphic.

•\titlelinewidth,\titleinnersep: Line width and inner sep.

•\titletotopverticalspace: Spacing between the upper edge of the poster

(after including margins) and the upper edge of the title.

•titlebgcolor: As deﬁned in the color style.

•\titleposleft,\titleposright,\titleposbottom,\titlepostop: The

horizontal (resp. vertical) coordinates of the left and right (resp. bottom

and top) edges of the title portion.

A sample title style is shown below

\definetitlestyle{sampletitle}{

width=500mm, roundedcorners=20, linewidth=2pt, innersep=5pt,

titletotopverticalspace=15mm, titletoblockverticalspace=30mm

}{

\begin{scope}[line width=\titlelinewidth, rounded corners=\titleroundedcorners]

\draw[color=blocktitlebgcolor, fill=titlebgcolor]

(\titleposleft,\titleposbottom) rectangle (\titleposright,\titlepostop);

\end{scope}

}

and could be called using \usetitlestyle{sampletitle}. For more information

on the available variables to assist in designing a custom title style, please refer to

the Appendix.

5.5 Block style

If the user wishes to use blocks with a diﬀerent style, he or she may use\useblockstyle

\defineblockstyle \useblockstyle[options]{style name}. This loads either prewritten styles

available in tikzposterBlockstyles.tex or custom styles. The predeﬁned

styles are Default,Basic,Minimal,Envelope,Corner,Slide,TornOut. The

user can also create a custom block style, in the preamble via the command

\defineblockstyle{stylename}{ default values}{commands}which contains the

name of the style, the default values (see below) of relevant parameters; and a def-

inition for drawing a block and (if wanted) the title composed of TikZ commands.

A sample deﬁnition of this might be

\defineblockstyle{sampleblockstyle}{

titlewidthscale=0.9, bodywidthscale=1,titleleft,

titleoffsetx=0pt, titleoffsety=0pt, bodyoffsetx=0mm, bodyoffsety=15mm,

bodyverticalshift=10mm, roundedcorners=5, linewidth=2pt,

titleinnersep=6mm, bodyinnersep=1cm

}{

\draw[color=framecolor, fill=blockbodybgcolor,

rounded corners=\blockroundedcorners] (blockbody.south west)

rectangle (blockbody.north east);

\ifBlockHasTitle

\draw[color=framecolor, fill=blocktitlebgcolor,

rounded corners=\blockroundedcorners] (blocktitle.south west)

rectangle (blocktitle.north east);

\fi

}

At any point, the user may change the block style used for subsequent blocks

by using \useblockstyle{} with the new style. The block will then draw

the objects as deﬁned by \defineblockstyle and afterwards put the con-

tents in those positions. The parameters that may be assigned default values

and referenced in the commands are \blockroundedcorners,\blocklinewidth,

\blockbodyinnersep, and \blocktitleinnersep; if this is not done, preset de-

fault values are used. These are used for values in TikZ commands that use the

parameters for rounded corners, line width (for the edge of the block), inner sep

for the body content and title, respectively.

As can be seen, when creating the style, the user has access to several parame-

ters. They are computed after the class determines, under the rules of formatting

and given the width of the block, dimensions of the block. These, aside from those

already mentioned, include:

•\ifBlockhasTitle: A boolean for whether the block has nonempty ﬁrst

argument;

•blocktitle: A TikZ node deﬁning the appropriate position of the title

subject to the spacing rules and the length/width of the title;

•blockbody: A TikZ node deﬁning the appropriate position of the body sub-

ject to the spacing rules and the length/width of the body and title(assuming

the title is above the body);

•\blockroundedcorners,\blocklinewidth,\blockbodyinnersep, and

\blocktitleinnersep: Parameters passed from the options of the block.

•framecolor,blocktitlebgcolor,blockbodybgcolor: Determined by the

chosen color scheme.

5.6 Inner Block styles

If one wishes, inner blocks may have their appearance changed by the command\useinnerblockstyle

\defineinnerblockstyle \useinnerblockstyle{style name}. The included styles are Default and Table,

along with copies of the styles for blocks. If the user wants, additional inner block

styles may be created with the command \defineinnerblockstyle{stylename}

{default values}{commands}. The relevant parameters are:

•\ifInnerblockHasTitle: A boolean denoting whether the inner block has

nonempty ﬁrst argument

•innerblocktitle,innerblockbody: TikZ nodes for the position of the

heading and body of the inner block.

•\innerblockroundedcorners,\innerblocklinewidth,

\innerblockbodyinnersep, and \innerblocktitleinnersep : Parameters

passed from the options of the inner block.

•innerblockbodybgcolor,innerblocktitlebgcolor,framecolor: Colors

determined by the chosen color scheme, or passed as options.

Styles are similar in structure as those for blocks.

5.7 Note style

If one wishes, alternative note appearances may be used. If the user wants to use\usenotestyle

one of the included note styles Default,Corner,VerticalShading, or Sticky,

then the command \usenotestyle[options]{style name}may be employed.

Alternatively, one may include in either the preamble or inside of the document\definenotestyle

the command \definenotestyle{note style name}{default values}{commands}

where the inputs are the name of the style, default values for relevant for-

mat options and valid TikZ commands for drawing the note. In the use of

\definenotestyle, the user may make use of the following parameters:

•\ifNoteHasConnection: A boolean denoting whether connection has been

included as an option;

•notetarget: A TikZ node deﬁning the placement of the note target;

•notecenter: A TikZ node deﬁning the placement of the center of the note;

•\noterotate: The angle the entire note should be rotated;

•\notelinewidth,\noteroundedcorners,\noteinnersep: Values from ei-

ther the default values or from the user passing options corresponding to the

width of the outer edge of the note, the roundedness of the corners, and the

separation between the note edge and contents, respectively.

•noteframecolor,notefgcolor,notebgcolor: Colors deﬁned in the color

them (see above).

An example style may be deﬁned via the command:

\definenotestyle{samplenotestyle}{

targetoffsetx=0pt, targetoffsety=0pt, angle=45, radius=8cm,

width=6cm, connection=true, rotate=0, roundedcorners=0, linewidth=1pt,

innersep=0pt%

}{

\ifNoteHasConnection

\draw[thick] (notecenter) -- (notetarget) node{$\bullet$};

\fi

\draw[draw=notebgcolor,fill=notebgcolor,rotate=\noterotate]

(notecenter.south west) rectangle (notecenter.north east);

}

6 Poster template

The following L

X document is intended to be used as a template. It

has a minimal set of inputs. Included with the package is an additional

tikzposter-example.tex which has more extensive comments and additional

options implemented, see Section 7.

1h∗tikzposter-template.texi

2\documentclass{tikzposter} %Options for format can be included here

4% Title, Author, Institute

5\title{Template Poster}

6\author{Author(s)}

7\institute{Institute}

8\titlegraphic{LogoGraphic Inserted Here}

10 %Choose Layout

11 \usetheme{Default}

13 \begin{document}

15 % Title block with title, author, logo, etc.

16 \maketitle

17 \block{Basic Block}{Text}

18 \begin{columns}

20 % FIRST column

21 \column{0.6}% Width set relative to text width

23 \block{Large Column}{Text\\Text\\Text Text Text}

24 \note{Note with default behavior}

25 \note[targetoffsetx=12cm, targetoffsety=-1cm, angle=20, rotate=25]

26 {Note \\ offset and rotated}

28 % First column - second block

29 \block{Block titles with enough text will automatically obey spacing requirements }

30 {Text\\Text}

32 % First column - third block

33 \block{Sample Block 4}{T\\E\\S\\T}

35 % SECOND column

36 \column{0.4}

37 %Second column with first block’s top edge aligned with with previous column’s top.

39 % Second column - first block

40 \block[titleleft]{Smaller Column}{Test}

42 % Second column - second block

43 \block[titlewidthscale=0.6, bodywidthscale=0.8]

44 {Variable width title}{Block with smaller width.}

46 % Second column - third block

47 \block{}{Block with no title}

49 % Second column - A collection of blocks in subcolumn environment.

50 \begin{subcolumns}

51 \subcolumn{0.27} \block{1}{First block.} \block{2}{Second block}

52 \subcolumn{0.4} \block{Sub-columns}{Sample subblocks\\Second subcolumn}

53 \subcolumn{0.33} \block{4}{Fourth} \block{}{Final Subcolumn block}

54 \end{subcolumns}

56 % Bottomblock

57 \block{Final Block in column}{

58 Sample block.

59 }

60 \end{columns}

61 \block[titleleft, titleoffsetx=2em, titleoffsety=1em, bodyoffsetx=2em,%

62 bodyoffsety=-2cm, roundedcorners=10, linewidth=0mm, titlewidthscale=0.7,%

63 bodywidthscale=0.9, bodyverticalshift=2cm, titleright]

64 {Block outside of Columns}{Along with several options enabled}

66 \end{document}

67 h/tikzposter-template.texi

7 Poster example

Included in the class directory is an example tex ﬁle tikzposter-example.tex.

This demonstrates the various options available, as opposed to the minimal work-

ing copy tikzposter-template.tex.

8 Appendix

8.1 Available variables

If one wishes to create their own themes/styles/etc, the following variables which

govern positioning, spacing, and appearance may be of use. They may be used

within themes, title styles, block styles, and note styles. Please note that each of

these are deﬁned and then passed to the style; they may then be referenced and

redeﬁned inside of a style. However, not all are local to that block; only those

that are noted as being redeﬁned.

•\TP@visibletextwidth,\TP@visibletextheight: The width and height

of the poster material. Excludes the margin length set in the option.

•\TP@titleinnersep,\TP@titletoblockverticalspace: Deﬁned in op-

tions of the document. May be redeﬁned in a theme.

•\titlewidth,\titleheight: Width and height of the title block.

•\titlegraphicheight: The height of graphic used in the title.

•\titletotopverticalspace: Deﬁned in the options.

•\TP@colspace,\TP@coltop,\TP@colbottom,\TP@colcenter,\TP@colwidth:

The space between columns, deﬁned in the options, the y-coordinate of the

current column’s beginning, end, center axis, and absolute width, respec-

tively.

•\TP@subcolspace,\TP@subcoltop,\TP@subcolbottom,\TP@subcolcenter,

\subcolwidth: The same lengths, in the subcolumn environment.

•\TP@blockverticalspace,\TP@blocktitleinnersep,\TP@blockbodyinnersep:

Spacing rules for blocks, deﬁned in options.

•\TP@blockcenter: Horizontal position of the center of the current block; it

is redeﬁned for each call to the \block command.

•\blockwidth,\blockbodyheight,\blocktitleheight: Dimensions of the

current block’s components; it is redeﬁned for each call to the \block com-

mand.

•\TP@blocktop: The y-coordinate of the top edge of the block (including the

title if it exists).

•\TP@blocktitleoffsetx,\TP@blocktitleoffsety: Shifts to the position

of the block title component; each call to \block resets them to 0.

•\TP@blockbodyoffsetx,\TP@blockbodyoffsety: Similar to the above, but

for the block’s body component; also reset to 0 with each \block call.

•\blockroundedcorners,\blocklinewidth,\blockbodyinnersep,\blocktitleinnersep:

Values passed by the user with each block, or deﬁned in a block style,

which give the values to be used for TiKz draw parameters rounded cor-

ners, line width, and inner seps of the body and title, respectively. These

may have default values deﬁned in a style/theme using the functions:

\setblockDefaultroundedcorners{},\setblockDefaultlinewidth{},

\setblockDefaultbodyinnersep{}, and \setblockDefaulttitleinnersep{}.

If the user does not specify these values in the options of the block call, the

defaults are used.

•\TP@noteinnersep: Deﬁned in the options

•\TP@noteradius,\TP@notetargetoffsetx,\TP@notetargetoffsety,\notewidth:

Arguments optionally passed from the \note command; redeﬁned for each

call to \note.

•\noteheight: The height of the current note computed according to size of

contents and \notewidth; redeﬁne with each call to \note.

•\noteroundedcorners,\notelinewidth,\noteinnersep: Values passed

by the user with each note, or deﬁned in a note style, which give the values

to be used for TiKz draw parameters rounded corners, line width, and inner

seps of the body and title, respectively. These may have default values de-

ﬁned in a style/theme using the functions: \setnoteDefaultroundedcorners{},

\setnoteDefaultlinewidth{}, and \setnoteDefaultbodyinnersep{}. If

the user does not set in a note call the options, the defaults are used.

Additionally, several nodes are deﬁned for the title and the blocks. These should

be used when deﬁning block styles and title styles. The title node is the main

node for the title material which spans an area large enough to cover the entirety

of the title material as formatted with the \settitle command. The vertical and

horizontal positions of the title are stored as \titlepostop,\titleposbottom,

\titleposleft, and \titleposright. For blocks, blocktitle and blockbody

are nodes which cover the extent of the relevant components.

Tikzposter Manual

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