[XeTeX] xelatex does not find pdf graphics ?

[Michael Gedalin]

pdftex and latex look first for files residing in the current 
directory, then in ~/Library/texmf/(subdirectories), and in the end in 
the tetex tree. If you use the Gerben Wierda's tetex distribution 
(i-Installer), the description of the search algorithm is in the file 
/usr/local/teTeX/share/texmf.gwtex/README.howtexfindsfiles.txt. 
Graphics files are searched in the same way as all other files (tex, 
sty, fd, tfm, etc.). This is very wise, since at allows to make 
site-wide files (including graphics) which could be put in various 
directories and used without any necessity to remember where they are 
(if one wishes he/she can see the exact location during  typeset of 
look in a .log file).
******************************************
* Michael Gedalin
* Department of Physics
* Ben-Gurion University
* 84105 Beer-Sheva, Israel
* tel: 972-8-6461645
* fax: 972-8-6472904
* email: gedalin at bgumail.bgu.ac.il
* http://burster.bgu.ac.il/~gedalin
*******************************************