# Put a caption under a drawn picture

I have the following code that produce a 3x3 grid with an arrow in it. Some of the grid cells have a # in them.

\begin{picture}(185,90)
\put(0,0){\framebox(30,30)}
\put(30,0){\framebox(30,30)}
\put(60,0){\framebox(30,30)}
\put(0,30){\framebox(30,30)}
\put(30,30){\framebox(30,30)}
\put(60,30){\framebox(30,30){\Large{\#}}}
\put(0,60){\framebox(30,30){\Large{\#}}}
\put(30,60){\framebox(30,30){\Large{\#}}}
\put(60,60){\framebox(30,30){\Large{\#}}}
\put(15,45){\vector(1,0){30}}
\end{picture}


I would like to put a caption under the drawn picture. How could I achieve this? I believe that you can't put a caption inside a \begin{picture}. I have also try to wrap it inside a \begin{figure} without success.

• This is not directly related to your actual question, but I would recommend you use tikz for drawing. Apr 22 '15 at 19:26
• @PeterGrill I will try to have a look at it soon. Thx for the suggestion Apr 22 '15 at 19:33

Put the picture inside a minipage. This will allow it to be included in a figure environment, which will therefore allow a \caption.

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{lipsum}
\begin{document}
\lipsum[1]
\begin{figure}[ht]
\centering
\begin{minipage}{1.3in}
\begin{picture}(185,90)
\put(0,0){\framebox(30,30)}
\put(30,0){\framebox(30,30)}
\put(60,0){\framebox(30,30)}
\put(0,30){\framebox(30,30)}
\put(30,30){\framebox(30,30)}
\put(60,30){\framebox(30,30){\Large{\#}}}
\put(0,60){\framebox(30,30){\Large{\#}}}
\put(30,60){\framebox(30,30){\Large{\#}}}
\put(60,60){\framebox(30,30){\Large{\#}}}
\put(15,45){\vector(1,0){30}}
\end{picture}
\end{minipage}
\caption{Here is my caption.}
\end{figure}
\lipsum[2]
\end{document}


Following up on the OP's comment, one can, in order to get multiple images on a single line, place adjacent minipages on the same line, as long as they don't exceed the \linewidth.

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{lipsum}
\begin{document}
\lipsum[1]
\begin{figure}[ht]
\centering
\begin{minipage}{1.3in}
\begin{picture}(185,90)
\put(0,0){\framebox(30,30)}
\put(30,0){\framebox(30,30)}
\put(60,0){\framebox(30,30)}
\put(0,30){\framebox(30,30)}
\put(30,30){\framebox(30,30)}
\put(60,30){\framebox(30,30){\Large{\#}}}
\put(0,60){\framebox(30,30){\Large{\#}}}
\put(30,60){\framebox(30,30){\Large{\#}}}
\put(60,60){\framebox(30,30){\Large{\#}}}
\put(15,45){\vector(1,0){30}}
\end{picture}
\end{minipage}
\begin{minipage}{1.3in}
\begin{picture}(185,90)
\put(0,0){\framebox(30,30)}
\put(30,0){\framebox(30,30)}
\put(60,0){\framebox(30,30)}
\put(0,30){\framebox(30,30)}
\put(30,30){\framebox(30,30)}
\put(60,30){\framebox(30,30){\Large{\#}}}
\put(0,60){\framebox(30,30){\Large{\#}}}
\put(30,60){\framebox(30,30){\Large{\#}}}
\put(60,60){\framebox(30,30){\Large{\#}}}
\put(15,45){\vector(1,0){30}}
\end{picture}
\end{minipage}
\caption{Here is my caption.}
\end{figure}
\lipsum[2]
\end{document}


• Thank you, I can work from that (need to find a way to place more than one on the same line but I'll try to find the solution on my own using this documentation : en.wikibooks.org/wiki/LaTeX/…) Apr 22 '15 at 19:06
• @K-Jtan You can just end one minipage and begin the next (with a new image), as long as the linewidth is not exceeded. Apr 22 '15 at 19:08
• @K-Jtan See the 2nd example, in my revised answer. Apr 22 '15 at 19:10
• I would need a caption for each minipage (something like Case 1, Case 2, ... Case n) Apr 22 '15 at 19:31
• @K-Jtan With the basic figure environment, LaTeX does not allow multiple "floats" on a single line. However, depending on your application, there is the subcaption package, which you may be able to adapt to your need. I would suggest searching this site for subcaption to find many examples of how it is used. Apr 22 '15 at 19:43

You're stating too big a bounding box for the picture; moreover you're forgetting the empty argument for the empty boxes. Note that \Large doesn't take an argument.

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{pict2e}

\begin{document}

\begin{figure}
\centering

\begin{picture}(90,90)
\put(0,0){\framebox(30,30){}}
\put(30,0){\framebox(30,30){}}
\put(60,0){\framebox(30,30){}}
\put(0,30){\framebox(30,30){}}
\put(30,30){\framebox(30,30){}}
\put(60,30){\framebox(30,30){\Large\#}}
\put(0,60){\framebox(30,30){\Large\#}}
\put(30,60){\framebox(30,30){\Large\#}}
\put(60,60){\framebox(30,30){\Large\#}}
\put(15,45){\vector(1,0){30}}
\end{picture}

\caption{A picture}

\end{figure}

\end{document}


There is no problem with more than one picture:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{pict2e}

\begin{document}

\begin{figure}
\centering

\begin{picture}(90,90)
\put(0,0){\framebox(30,30){}}
\put(30,0){\framebox(30,30){}}
\put(60,0){\framebox(30,30){}}
\put(0,30){\framebox(30,30){}}
\put(30,30){\framebox(30,30){}}
\put(60,30){\framebox(30,30){\Large\#}}
\put(0,60){\framebox(30,30){\Large\#}}
\put(30,60){\framebox(30,30){\Large\#}}
\put(60,60){\framebox(30,30){\Large\#}}
\put(15,45){\vector(1,0){30}}
\begin{picture}(90,90)
\put(0,0){\framebox(30,30){}}
\put(30,0){\framebox(30,30){}}
\put(60,0){\framebox(30,30){}}
\put(0,30){\framebox(30,30){}}
\put(30,30){\framebox(30,30){}}
\put(60,30){\framebox(30,30){\Large\#}}
\put(0,60){\framebox(30,30){\Large\#}}
\put(30,60){\framebox(30,30){\Large\#}}
\put(60,60){\framebox(30,30){\Large\#}}
\put(15,45){\vector(1,0){30}}
\end{picture}

\caption{A picture}

\end{figure}

\end{document}


A better way to draw the picture is using lines instead of boxes: this avoids the “doubling” of the inner lines.

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{pict2e}

\begin{document}

\begin{figure}
\centering

\begin{picture}(90,90)
\polygon(0,0)(90,0)(90,90)(0,90)
\put(30,0){\line(0,1){90}}
\put(60,0){\line(0,1){90}}
\put(0,30){\line(1,0){90}}
\put(0,60){\line(1,0){90}}
\put(15,75){\makebox(0,0){\Large\#}}
\put(45,75){\makebox(0,0){\Large\#}}
\put(75,75){\makebox(0,0){\Large\#}}
\put(75,45){\makebox(0,0){\Large\#}}
\put(15,45){\vector(1,0){30}}
\end{picture}

\caption{A picture}

\end{figure}

\end{document}


Note how the border is drawn with \polygon.

The question is quite old, but I wanted to show the power and easiness of tikz:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{tikz}
\begin{document}

\begin{figure}
\centering
\begin{tikzpicture}

\foreach \x in {0,1,2,3}
\draw (\x,0)--(\x,3)  (0,\x)--(3,\x);

\foreach \x/\y in {0.5/2.5,1.5/2.5,2.5/2.5,2.5/1.5}
\node at (\x,\y) {\Large{\#}};

\draw[-latex] (.5,1.5)--(1.5,1.5);

\end{tikzpicture}
\caption{A picture}
\end{figure}

\end{document}


• Thx for your solution on my question. It might be usefull to someone else. Nov 24 '16 at 19:45