MetaPost on the Web

This page has a list of links related to MetaPost, a powerful tool for creating graphics in scalable PostScript. It was written by John Hobby, based on Metafont by Donald Knuth. Around 2007, it was separated into a frontend and backend library (MPlib, which was then linked into LuaTeX) by Taco Hoekwater, who also converted the source to CWEB.

Basics

• What is MetaPost?
• Precompiled binaries for many platforms are available as part of TeX Live and MiKTeX. The development repository.

MetaPost mailing lists

• metapost@tug.org (archive) for general mpost discussion, bug reports, feature requests, etc.
• Discussion of MetaPost in ConTeXt also takes place on the ntg-context list (archive).

Manuals

The basic manuals were all originally written by John Hobby and published as AT&T technical reports. They continue to be updated and maintained as part of the MetaPost distribution. These links are for the documentation of the last released version.

• A User's Manual for MetaPost.
• Drawing Graphs with MetaPost.
• Drawing Boxes with MetaPost.
• doc sources

Taco Hoekwater's white papers

Taco Hoekwater has written an excellent series of articles on the MetaPost language. They were originally published in the ConTeXt Group Journal (2019–2023), and then collected in NTG's MAPS journal, issue 53:

• Sparks, tags, suffixes and subscripts.
• Definitions.
• Paths, pairs, pens and transforms.
• Conditionals and loops.
• Colors and pictures.

Tutorials

• Running MetaPost, a short web page by Mari Voipio.
• A very brief tutorial by example, by Urs Oswald.
• Drawing with Metapost, a more comprehensive document of ideas and techniques for using plain MetaPost, by Toby Thurston.
• Petite propagande pour MetaPost tutorial (in English), by Anthony Phan.
• A beginner's guide to MetaPost for creating high-quality graphics by Troy Henderson.
• FAQ entry for Metafont and MetaPost tutorials.
• Metapost, une introduction by Laurent Chéno (in French).
• MetaPost: Uma introdução ao estudante (MetaPost: an introduction to students), by Nicole Rodrigues Cuellar and Estevão Vinícius Candia (in Brazilian Portuguese).

Examples

• Metapost examples package on CTAN, hundreds of examples showing source and output side by side, from simple to complex, by Vincent Zoonekynd.
• Exemples MetaPost, a collection of examples with sources from GUTenberg (text in French).
• Examples and tips from L. Nobre G.
• Puzzling graphics in MetaPost, by Hans Hagen.
• Swelled rules and MetaPost, by Steve Peter, an introduction to MetaPost in ConTeXt.

Additional documentation

• MetaPost: A Reference Manual, by Peter Gorgono.
• Marc's MetaPost Pages from Marc van Dongen.
• An introduction focusing on unique features of MetaPost, notably solving linear equations, by Klaus Höppner.
• Matemática e o MetaPost (Mathematics of MetaPost), by Estevão Vinícius Candia (in Brazilian Portuguese). See also brief summary in English.

MetaPost programming and related projects

• MetaPost previewer, an interactive form to allow online viewing of MetaPost figures, by Troy Henderson.
• Asymptote, a modern MetaPost replacement with C++-like syntax and floating-point numerics, by Andy Hammerlindl, John Bowman, and Tom Prince.
• GNU 3DLDF by Laurence Finston, an independent implementation for
• IPE, a drawing editor for creating figures in PDF format. It supports making small figures for inclusion into LaTeX documents as well as multi-page PDF presentations.
• MetaGraf by Santiago Muelas.
• MetaType1, a font development system using MetaPost, by Bogusław Jackowski, Janus M. Nowacki, Piotr Strzelczyk.
• mf2pt1 for conversion of Metafont fonts to PostScript Type 1 using MetaPost, by Scott Pakin.

Macros and contributions (most on CTAN)

• MetaPost and MetaFun by Hans Hagen; MetaFun is essentially a format for MetaPost, and Hans' ConTeXt format for TeX has integrated support for MetaPost.
• MPtoPDF by Hans Hagen is a tool to convert MetaPost output into standalone PDF files.
• MPtoSVG from Troy Henderson, an online tool for converting MetaPost to SVG.
• Mpattern package from Piotr Bolek for filling patterns.
• 3D animations in MetaPost from Denis Roegel.
• CTAN:/graphics/metapost/contrib/

TUGboat articles

• Entry-level MetaPost, a set of introductory columns by Mari Voipio published in TUGboat.
• Curvature combs and harmonized paths in MetaPost, Linus Romer (v.44,n.2).
• Ventrella's terdragon in MetaPost, Linus Romer (v.43,n.3).
• Animating Fourier series decomposition of a character with LuaTeX and MPLIB, Maxime Chupin (v.42,n.1).
• A Brazilian Portuguese work on MetaPost, and how mathematics is embedded in it, Estevão Vinícius Candia (v.40,n.3).
• Corrections for slanted stems in Metafont and MetaPost, Linus Romer (v.37,n.3).
• MetaPost arrowhead variants, Alan Braslau and Hans Hagen (v.37,n.1).
• MetaPost path resolution isolated (new interface in MPlib 1.800 for resolving paths from external programs), Taco Hoekwater (v.35,n.3).
• Artful lines, Mari Voipio (v.35,n.1).
• drawdot in MetaPost: A bug, a fix, Hans Hagen (v.35,n.1).
• Color, Mari Voipio (v.34,n.3).
• Move it, Mari Voipio (v.34,n.2).
• Recreating historical patterns with MetaPost, Mari Voipio (v.34,n.1).
• User-friendly web utilities for generating LaTeX output and MetaPost graphics, Troy Henderson (v.33,n.1).
• MetaPost 1.750: Numerical engines, Taco Hoekwater (v.32,n.2).
• MetaPost 2 project goals, Hans Hagen and Taco Hoekwater (v.30,n.3).
• Introduction to MetaPost, Klaus Höppner (v.30,n.2).
• Supporting layout routines in MetaPost, Wentao Zheng (v.30,n.1).
• MetaPost macros for drawing Chinese and Japanese abaci, Denis Roegel (v.30,n.1).
• Spheres, great circles and parallels, Denis Roegel (v.30,n.1).
• An introduction to nomography: Garrigues' nomogram for the computation of Easter, Denis Roegel (v.30,n.1).
• The MetaPost library and LuaTeX, Hans Hagen (v.29,n.3).
• MetaPost development: MPlib project report, Taco Hoekwater (v.29,n.3).
• Kanji-Sudokus: Integrating Chinese and graphics, Denis Roegel (v.29,n.2).
• MPlib: MetaPost as a reusable component, Taco Hoekwater (v.28,n.3).
• A beginner's guide to MetaPost for creating high-quality graphics, Troy Henderson (v.28,n.1).
• MetaPost developments—autumn 2006, Taco Hoekwater. New features in MetaPost 0.99 and future plans (v.27,n.1).
• MP2GL: prototyping 3D objects with MetaPost and OpenGL, Denis Roegel (EuroTeX 2005 proceedings).
• Embedding fonts in MetaPost output, Troy Henderson (v.26,n.3).
• Swelled rules and MetaPost (introduction to using MetaPost in ConTeXt), Steve Peter (v.26,n.3).
• Qin notation generator, Candy L.K. Yiu and Jim Binkley (v.26,n.2).
• Converting Metafont sources to outline fonts using MetaPost, Karel Píška (v.26,n.2).
• Kissing circles: A French romance in MetaPost, Denis Roegel (v.26,n.1).
• FEATPOST and a review of 3D MetaPost packages, Luís Gonçalves (TUG 2004 preprints).
• Programming PostScript Type 1 fonts using MetaType1: Auditing, enhancing, creating, Bogusław Jackowski, Janusz Nowacki, Piotr Strzelczyk (v.24,n.3).
• Floating point numbers and Metafont, MetaPost, TeX, and PostScript Type1 fonts, Claudio Beccari (v.23,n.3-4).
• Space geometry with MetaPost, Denis Roegel (v.22,n.4).
• Drawing graphs with MetaPost, John Hobby (v.22,n.1-2).
• The Calculator Demo: Integrating TeX, MetaPost, JavaScript and PDF, Hans Hagen (v.19,n.3).
• MetaPost and patterns, Piotr Bolek (v.19,n.3).
• Creating 3D animations with MetaPost, Denis Roegel (v.18,n.4).
• Graphics and TeX: A reappraisal of MF/MetaPost/PS, Kees van der Laan (v.17,n.3).
• Introducing MetaPost, Alan Hoenig (v.16,n.1).

MAPS articles

• Special MetaPost issue: five articles on the MetaPost language by Taco Hoekwater.
• Aligning MetaPost graphs in ConTeXt, Karel Wesseling (n.29).
• Practical MetaPost, Fabrice Popineau (n.28).
• A letterhead in ConTeXt, Karel Wesseling (n.28).
• Shifted bullets in graphs with MetaPost, Frans Goddijn, Karel Wesseling (n.28).
• Meta-Euro, Patrick Gundlach (n.28).
• The euro symbol, Hans Hagen (n.27).
• Reintroducing Type 3 fonts to the world of TeX, Wlodek Byzl (n.26).
• MetaType1: a MetaPost-based engine for generating Type 1 fonts, Bogusław Jackowski, Janusz M. Nowacki, Piotr Strzelczyk (n.26).
• Special fonts, Bogusław Jackowski, Krzysztof Leszczyński (n.26).
• MetaFun, Chapter 3: Embedded graphics, Hans Hagen (n.25).
• A macro routine for writing text along a path in MetaPost, Santiago Muelas (n.25).
• Antykwa Półtawskiego: a parameterized outline font, Bogusław Jackowski, Janusz M. Nowacki, Piotr Strzelczyk (n.25).
• Making standalone MetaPost graphics, Hans Hagen (n.24).
• Toolbox, Maarten Gelderman (n.24).
• Typesetting flow charts - let TeX and MetaPost do the job, Hans Hagen (n.23).
• Pretty printing TeX, MetaPost, Perl and JavaScript, Hans Hagen (n.20).
• Stars around 2 -- what a little math can do, Kees van der Laan (n.18).
• Stars around 1 -- PostScript straightaway, Kees van der Laan (n.18).
• Using fonts in MetaPost, Hans Hagen (n.18).

More contributions are welcome; please email webmaster@tug.org.