Newsgroups: comp.graphics.gnuplot, comp.text.tex
Date: 1994-05-03 13:47:22 PST

> I need to include plots in a latex file and am trying gnuplot.  I
> tried many variations and eventually decided that the eepic output
> of gnuplot look aceptably good, apart from one teensy little
> problem that was not addressed in the Latex Companion or the
> gnuplot FAQ, and that is writing the y axis label vertically.
> Latex and eepic write it horizontally accross the graph.  On xfig
> it appears correctly, but a latex or eepic export from xfig again
> messes it up.

The problem is that LaTeX (and in general TeX) doesn't do rotated text like you want. It is not a supported feature of the program. Since you mention that you use rotating.sty, you imply that you have a PostScript printer. The text rotating is done via PostScript trickery when the file is converted from a DVI file into a PostScript file. Your best bet in this case, is to use the pslatex terminal for gnuplot. It produces the best looking graphics, with the advantage of the nice LaTeX text (including the ability to do math-mode superscripts, greek, etc.)

As an aside, the text appeared properly in xfig since xfig supports rotated text. When you re-exported back to eepic or latex, it can't support it so xfig does the best it can in that case.

Vivek Khera