Using MaTeX with Callout

Question

Recently, I tried to use Callout with the MaTeX objects. MaTeX is a package I downloaded in the following link http://szhorvat.net/pelican/latex-typesetting-in-mathematica.html

My test code is the following.

Plot[ Callout[ x, MaTeX["A=2", FontSize -> 40], Scaled[0.5]] , {x, 1,   10}]

I wanted to control the size of label by specifying the FontSize->40. However, Callout seems to rescale the size of the label. Is there a way to manually change the size of MaTeX object within Callout environment?

Answer 1

I assume you are using Mathematica 11.3. The resizing you observe is due to the new LabelingSize feature.

The default is LabelingSize -> Automatic, which limits the size of graphics and images (but not text) in labels. MaTeX output is always a Graphics expression, thus it is resized by default. The workaround is LabelingSize -> Full.

Plot[Callout[x, MaTeX["A=2", FontSize -> 32], Scaled[1/2]], {x, 1, 10}, LabelingSize -> Full]

You may not want to use this workaround when you also have actual images/graphics that you use as labels, and you want those to be auto-scaled, but not the MaTeX labels. An alternative workaround is to wrap the MaTeX output with Pane (or similar) so that it won't be detected as Graphics.

Plot[Callout[x, Pane@MaTeX["A=2", Magnification -> 3], Scaled[1/2]], {x, 1, 10}]

In versions earlier than 11.3, these workarounds are not needed, as no automatic label scaling is done. I will add a note about this potential problem to the MaTeX documentation. Thanks for the feedback!

---

A note on Magnification vs FontSize in MaTeX:

• FontSize is passed down to LaTeX and it affects the glyph shapes with some fonts

• Magnification simply rescales LaTeX's output proportionally

These are demonstrated in the MaTeX symbol reference page, under Examples -> Options.

Using Magnification won't for your problem.

Answer 2

You can use the Magnification option of MaTeX to manually change the size of the label within the Callout environment, as below:

Plot[Callout[x,MaTeX["A=2",FontSize->40,Magnification->2],Scaled[0.5]],{x,1,10},ImageSize->600]

Answer 3

I cannot decide whether this is a bug or not, but I can also reproduce the Vixillator's plot with the older version 11.2 in Ubuntu.

I checked both InputForm of the Plot. This seems to suggest that in 11.3 the relevant expressions for MaTeX are now wrapped with DynamicModule. My limited investigation seems to show that, DynamicModule rescales the MaTeX object regardless of its actual size.

As a very ugly workaround, my tentative solution is as follows.

plot = Plot[
    Callout[x, f@MaTeX["A=2", FontSize -> 30], Scaled[0.5]], {x, 1, 
10}];

pos = plot // Cases[#, BSplineCurve[x___] -> x, Infinity] & // Last  //
   MaximalBy[ # [[1, 2 ]] &] // DeleteDuplicates // First //  ReplaceAll[ Offset[x_ , y_] :> Offset[ x  + {0, 15}, y]];
plot /. Text[Style[Rotate[f[ x__], ___], ___], ___] -> Inset[x, pos]