Using LaTeX with TikZDevice in R: is it possible to set the font for Tikzfigures to 10 while 12 for the text?

Question

I use R and ggplot to create figures, which I then import as tikz code into my LaTeX file. The publisher wants me to submit in their template, which is based on [12pt]{article}. However, whenever I use the following code to export my ggplot2-figure, there is a small problem.

if (!require("pacman")) install.packages("pacman")
pacman::p_load( 'ggplot2', 'tikzDevice', 'tinytex')



trialfigure <- ggplot(mpg, aes(y = class)) +
  geom_bar(aes(fill = drv)) +
  scale_fill_discrete(labels = c("4" = "really long label")) +
  theme(legend.position = "bottom")

trialfigure
tikz('trialfigure.tex', width = 6.5, height = 4.875, sanitize = TRUE, documentDeclaration = "\\documentclass[12pt]{article}") 
print(trialfigure)
dev.off()    

In the LaTex Output from Overleaf, I feel like the fonts are too big, which can be seen as the "longish color legend" texts always interfere with the legend colors.

If I set my document to 10 points, everything works as expected.

I include the tikz-code as follows:

\documentclass[12pt,authoryear]{article}
\usepackage{tikz}
\usepackage{xcolor}
\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc} % for easy quotation marks ""

%%%%% for the TIKZPictures
\makeatletter
\tikzset{dangerous style/.code={
    \tikzoption{clip}[]{\pgf@relevantforpicturesizefalse}
    \tikzoption{use as bounding box}[]{\pgf@relevantforpicturesizefalse}
    }
}
\makeatother
%%%%% for the TIKZPictures

\usepackage{graphicx}

\begin{document}

\begin{figure}[htbp!]
 
\centering
\resizebox{\textwidth}{!}{

% Created by tikzDevice version 0.12.3.1 on 2023-07-24 15:04:05
% !TEX encoding = UTF-8 Unicode
\begin{tikzpicture}[x=1pt,y=1pt]
\definecolor{fillColor}{RGB}{255,255,255}
\path[use as bounding box,fill=fillColor,fill opacity=0.00] (0,0) rectangle (469.75,352.32);
\begin{scope}
\path[clip] (  0.00,  0.00) rectangle (469.75,352.32);
\definecolor{drawColor}{RGB}{255,255,255}
\definecolor{fillColor}{RGB}{255,255,255}

\path[draw=drawColor,line width= 0.6pt,line join=round,line cap=round,fill=fillColor] (  0.00,  0.00) rectangle (469.75,352.32);
\end{scope}
\begin{scope}
\path[clip] ( 59.42, 67.12) rectangle (464.26,346.82);
\definecolor{fillColor}{gray}{0.92}

\path[fill=fillColor] ( 59.42, 67.12) rectangle (464.26,346.82);
\definecolor{drawColor}{RGB}{255,255,255}

\path[draw=drawColor,line width= 0.3pt,line join=round] (137.18, 67.12) --
    (137.18,346.82);

\path[draw=drawColor,line width= 0.3pt,line join=round] (255.90, 67.12) --
    (255.90,346.82);

\path[draw=drawColor,line width= 0.3pt,line join=round] (374.62, 67.12) --
    (374.62,346.82);

\path[draw=drawColor,line width= 0.6pt,line join=round] ( 59.42, 90.42) --
    (464.26, 90.42);

\path[draw=drawColor,line width= 0.6pt,line join=round] ( 59.42,129.27) --
    (464.26,129.27);

\path[draw=drawColor,line width= 0.6pt,line join=round] ( 59.42,168.12) --
    (464.26,168.12);

\path[draw=drawColor,line width= 0.6pt,line join=round] ( 59.42,206.97) --
    (464.26,206.97);

\path[draw=drawColor,line width= 0.6pt,line join=round] ( 59.42,245.81) --
    (464.26,245.81);

\path[draw=drawColor,line width= 0.6pt,line join=round] ( 59.42,284.66) --
    (464.26,284.66);

\path[draw=drawColor,line width= 0.6pt,line join=round] ( 59.42,323.51) --
    (464.26,323.51);

\path[draw=drawColor,line width= 0.6pt,line join=round] ( 77.82, 67.12) --
    ( 77.82,346.82);

\path[draw=drawColor,line width= 0.6pt,line join=round] (196.54, 67.12) --
    (196.54,346.82);

\path[draw=drawColor,line width= 0.6pt,line join=round] (315.26, 67.12) --
    (315.26,346.82);

\path[draw=drawColor,line width= 0.6pt,line join=round] (433.98, 67.12) --
    (433.98,346.82);
\definecolor{fillColor}{RGB}{248,118,109}

\path[fill=fillColor] (285.58,111.79) rectangle (356.81,146.75);

\path[fill=fillColor] (303.39,150.64) rectangle (321.20,185.60);

\path[fill=fillColor] ( 77.82,228.33) rectangle (273.71,263.29);

\path[fill=fillColor] (261.84,267.18) rectangle (285.58,302.14);

\path[fill=fillColor] (143.12,306.03) rectangle (445.85,340.99);
\definecolor{fillColor}{RGB}{0,186,56}

\path[fill=fillColor] ( 77.82,111.79) rectangle (285.58,146.75);

\path[fill=fillColor] ( 77.82,150.64) rectangle (303.39,185.60);

\path[fill=fillColor] ( 77.82,189.49) rectangle (143.12,224.45);

\path[fill=fillColor] (131.24,267.18) rectangle (261.84,302.14);
\definecolor{fillColor}{RGB}{97,156,255}

\path[fill=fillColor] ( 77.82, 72.94) rectangle (107.50,107.91);

\path[fill=fillColor] ( 77.82,267.18) rectangle (131.24,302.14);

\path[fill=fillColor] ( 77.82,306.03) rectangle (143.12,340.99);
\end{scope}
\begin{scope}
\path[clip] (  0.00,  0.00) rectangle (469.75,352.32);
\definecolor{drawColor}{gray}{0.30}

\node[text=drawColor,anchor=base east,inner sep=0pt, outer sep=0pt, scale=  0.73] at ( 54.47, 87.90) {2seater};

\node[text=drawColor,anchor=base east,inner sep=0pt, outer sep=0pt, scale=  0.73] at ( 54.47,126.75) {compact};

\node[text=drawColor,anchor=base east,inner sep=0pt, outer sep=0pt, scale=  0.73] at ( 54.47,165.59) {midsize};

\node[text=drawColor,anchor=base east,inner sep=0pt, outer sep=0pt, scale=  0.73] at ( 54.47,204.44) {minivan};

\node[text=drawColor,anchor=base east,inner sep=0pt, outer sep=0pt, scale=  0.73] at ( 54.47,243.29) {pickup};

\node[text=drawColor,anchor=base east,inner sep=0pt, outer sep=0pt, scale=  0.73] at ( 54.47,282.14) {subcompact};

\node[text=drawColor,anchor=base east,inner sep=0pt, outer sep=0pt, scale=  0.73] at ( 54.47,320.98) {suv};
\end{scope}
\begin{scope}
\path[clip] (  0.00,  0.00) rectangle (469.75,352.32);
\definecolor{drawColor}{gray}{0.20}

\path[draw=drawColor,line width= 0.6pt,line join=round] ( 56.67, 90.42) --
    ( 59.42, 90.42);

\path[draw=drawColor,line width= 0.6pt,line join=round] ( 56.67,129.27) --
    ( 59.42,129.27);

\path[draw=drawColor,line width= 0.6pt,line join=round] ( 56.67,168.12) --
    ( 59.42,168.12);

\path[draw=drawColor,line width= 0.6pt,line join=round] ( 56.67,206.97) --
    ( 59.42,206.97);

\path[draw=drawColor,line width= 0.6pt,line join=round] ( 56.67,245.81) --
    ( 59.42,245.81);

\path[draw=drawColor,line width= 0.6pt,line join=round] ( 56.67,284.66) --
    ( 59.42,284.66);

\path[draw=drawColor,line width= 0.6pt,line join=round] ( 56.67,323.51) --
    ( 59.42,323.51);
\end{scope}
\begin{scope}
\path[clip] (  0.00,  0.00) rectangle (469.75,352.32);
\definecolor{drawColor}{gray}{0.20}

\path[draw=drawColor,line width= 0.6pt,line join=round] ( 77.82, 64.37) --
    ( 77.82, 67.12);

\path[draw=drawColor,line width= 0.6pt,line join=round] (196.54, 64.37) --
    (196.54, 67.12);

\path[draw=drawColor,line width= 0.6pt,line join=round] (315.26, 64.37) --
    (315.26, 67.12);

\path[draw=drawColor,line width= 0.6pt,line join=round] (433.98, 64.37) --
    (433.98, 67.12);
\end{scope}
\begin{scope}
\path[clip] (  0.00,  0.00) rectangle (469.75,352.32);
\definecolor{drawColor}{gray}{0.30}

\node[text=drawColor,anchor=base,inner sep=0pt, outer sep=0pt, scale=  0.73] at ( 77.82, 57.12) {0};

\node[text=drawColor,anchor=base,inner sep=0pt, outer sep=0pt, scale=  0.73] at (196.54, 57.12) {20};

\node[text=drawColor,anchor=base,inner sep=0pt, outer sep=0pt, scale=  0.73] at (315.26, 57.12) {40};

\node[text=drawColor,anchor=base,inner sep=0pt, outer sep=0pt, scale=  0.73] at (433.98, 57.12) {60};
\end{scope}
\begin{scope}
\path[clip] (  0.00,  0.00) rectangle (469.75,352.32);
\definecolor{drawColor}{RGB}{0,0,0}

\node[text=drawColor,anchor=base,inner sep=0pt, outer sep=0pt, scale=  0.92] at (261.84, 46.63) {count};
\end{scope}
\begin{scope}
\path[clip] (  0.00,  0.00) rectangle (469.75,352.32);
\definecolor{drawColor}{RGB}{0,0,0}

\node[text=drawColor,rotate= 90.00,anchor=base,inner sep=0pt, outer sep=0pt, scale=  0.92] at ( 11.81,206.97) {class};
\end{scope}
\begin{scope}
\path[clip] (  0.00,  0.00) rectangle (469.75,352.32);
\definecolor{fillColor}{RGB}{255,255,255}

\path[fill=fillColor] (178.83,  5.50) rectangle (344.84, 33.84);
\end{scope}
\begin{scope}
\path[clip] (  0.00,  0.00) rectangle (469.75,352.32);
\definecolor{drawColor}{RGB}{0,0,0}

\node[text=drawColor,anchor=base west,inner sep=0pt, outer sep=0pt, scale=  0.92] at (184.33, 16.52) {drv};
\end{scope}
\begin{scope}
\path[clip] (  0.00,  0.00) rectangle (469.75,352.32);
\definecolor{fillColor}{gray}{0.95}

\path[fill=fillColor] (203.35, 11.00) rectangle (220.70, 28.34);
\end{scope}
\begin{scope}
\path[clip] (  0.00,  0.00) rectangle (469.75,352.32);
\definecolor{fillColor}{RGB}{248,118,109}

\path[fill=fillColor] (204.06, 11.71) rectangle (219.99, 27.63);
\end{scope}
\begin{scope}
\path[clip] (  0.00,  0.00) rectangle (469.75,352.32);
\definecolor{fillColor}{gray}{0.95}

\path[fill=fillColor] (283.04, 11.00) rectangle (300.38, 28.34);
\end{scope}
\begin{scope}
\path[clip] (  0.00,  0.00) rectangle (469.75,352.32);
\definecolor{fillColor}{RGB}{0,186,56}

\path[fill=fillColor] (283.75, 11.71) rectangle (299.67, 27.63);
\end{scope}
\begin{scope}
\path[clip] (  0.00,  0.00) rectangle (469.75,352.32);
\definecolor{fillColor}{gray}{0.95}

\path[fill=fillColor] (313.62, 11.00) rectangle (330.97, 28.34);
\end{scope}
\begin{scope}
\path[clip] (  0.00,  0.00) rectangle (469.75,352.32);
\definecolor{fillColor}{RGB}{97,156,255}

\path[fill=fillColor] (314.33, 11.71) rectangle (330.26, 27.63);
\end{scope}
\begin{scope}
\path[clip] (  0.00,  0.00) rectangle (469.75,352.32);
\definecolor{drawColor}{RGB}{0,0,0}

\node[text=drawColor,anchor=base west,inner sep=0pt, outer sep=0pt, scale=  0.73] at (226.20, 17.15) {really long label};
\end{scope}
\begin{scope}
\path[clip] (  0.00,  0.00) rectangle (469.75,352.32);
\definecolor{drawColor}{RGB}{0,0,0}

\node[text=drawColor,anchor=base west,inner sep=0pt, outer sep=0pt, scale=  0.73] at (305.88, 17.15) {f};
\end{scope}
\begin{scope}
\path[clip] (  0.00,  0.00) rectangle (469.75,352.32);
\definecolor{drawColor}{RGB}{0,0,0}

\node[text=drawColor,anchor=base west,inner sep=0pt, outer sep=0pt, scale=  0.73] at (336.47, 17.15) {r};
\end{scope}
\end{tikzpicture}



 }
\caption{Some caption. The problem is in the "really long label".}
 \label{fig:someplotlabel}
\end{figure}


\end{document}

The problem with the figure is in the large label. And I do not want to alter the tikz code, please.

I am not sure, what I could do for a reproducible example, any tips are welcome.

Is there any way to solve my problem with the 12 pt font? - e.g., by defining all figures should be 10 pt?

Answer 1

Edit

(Complete rewrite of the original answer since the question show code that allow a better understanding of the issues.)

A) First, you have a problem with R code. It seems that you created a "document agnostic" tikz picture without the option standAlone=TRUE, so I guess that tikzDocumentDeclaration has no effect and the figure is calculated for the default (10pt). A tikz picture intended for 10pt in 12pt latex text can produce this label overflow.

But even making a standalone TeX document adding this option, the tuning of font metrics of tkiz seems to fail in this way (The R script below, make the wrong picture in 12pt document, the output of trialfigure.tex is included as figure 1 in the next MWE.Rnw):

The MWE.R script:

require(ggplot2)
require(tikzDevice)

options(tikzDocumentDeclaration = "\\documentclass[12pt]{article}")
    
trialfigure <- ggplot(mpg, aes(y = class)) +
  geom_bar(aes(fill = drv)) +
  scale_fill_discrete(labels = c("4" = "really long label")) +
  theme(legend.position = "bottom")

trialfigure
tikz('trialfigure.tex', 
     width = 6.5, height = 4.875, 
     standAlone=TRUE,
     sanitize = TRUE) 
print(trialfigure)
dev.off()    

Now you have a few alternatives to solve the issue:

1. Do not ask me why, but change in the source the label "really long label" by "really lang label" (just replacing "o" by "a") solves the issue for me. It seems a bug, failing to measure the right dimensions for 12pt with this exact label, but not with 10pt or 11pt. I see no problems using even clearly longer labels with 12 pt as "really long long label". But thinking in other cases of miscalculation:

2. Presumably, add the pointsize=12 option to the tikz() function. That is used as base font size if tikzDocumentDeclaration fails to produce a math with a valid latex font size. But it does not work with the damn "really long label".

3. Make the image for the default 10 pt, save the pdf, and scale up the image a 20% (scale=1.2) in the final document.

4. Edit trialfigure.tex and in \begin{tikzpicture} line change [x=1pt,y=1pt] to [x=1.2pt,y=1.2pt], and take care of reduce picture dimensions proportionally in the tikz() function if needed, to avoid any resizing in LaTeX side.

5. Alternatively, make "almost" the same standalone documents via knitr in a .Rnw file. Now R will make the figure correctly for 12 pt, so it is ready to use without modifications nor scaling (figure 2). No idea why "really long label" is not problematic here, but although the plot look the same, all tikz coordinates are different, so maybe this avoided the bug?

B) Second, as said in the original anwers, you have also a problem in LaTeX using \resizebox. Using the correct tikz code for 10pt in a 12pt document can produce label overflows (of any label, no only of this weird label), but besides this, the font sizes will be inconsistent between plots and with the main text, depending on whether each one is enlarged or narrowed, just ugly. If instead of the tikz code, you include a pdf image, you will face the same problem using any kind of redimension, via \includegraphics options, or when document set automatically the image dimensions (e.g.: \setkeys{Gin}{width=3cm,height=3cm}). In special you should be aware that Rstudio reports that in PDF (via LaTeX) use templates to automatically shrink large files exceeding \maxdimen (figure 3). So again take care of the dimensions in the R side to avoid redimensions in the LaTeX side, if the final font size matter.

Nonetheless, note that no matter if you make this plot large o small, for 10pt or 12pt, with R script or knitr, invariably the tikz nodes are scaled to 92% or 73% for labels a axis ticks. In a 12pt document, this mean final that the non-scaled image will have font sizes of roughly 11pt and 8pt, respectively. If this matter, you should control also the cex in the R side.

The MWE.Rnw file:

\documentclass[12pt]{article}
\usepackage[bmargin=1cm,tmargin=1cm]{geometry}
\usepackage{tikz}
\parskip1em\parindent0pt
\begin{document}

\begin{figure}[h!]
\centering
\includegraphics[scale=1]{trialfigure.pdf}
\caption{Plot generated by the standalone R script}
\end{figure} 

<<theplot,echo=F,include=F>>=
require(ggplot2)
trialfigure <- ggplot(mpg, aes(y = class)) +
  geom_bar(aes(fill = drv)) +
  scale_fill_discrete(labels = c("4" = "really long label")) +
  theme(legend.position = "bottom")
@
<<herewego,echo=F,dev='tikz',fig.cap="Plot generated with knitr.", fig.align='center', fig.width=4,  fig.height=2,  message=FALSE, fig.pos="h!">>=
trialfigure 
@

<<herewego2,echo=F,dev='tikz',fig.cap="The same but too big = smaller fonts.", fig.align='center', fig.width=6.5,  fig.height=2,  message=FALSE, fig.pos="h!">>=
trialfigure 
@
\end{document}

The MWE.pdf:

Note:

Yes, the knitr workflow is very different , but IMHO plenty of advantages, besides manage well this issue.