I recommend tikz
. The advantage of tikz
over graphical methods are analogous to the reasons to use LaTeX in other situations:
To write documents, many people in science use LaTeX instead of word-processing software. It has a steep learning curve, but saves time in the end and produces better-looking results.
To create presentations, quite a number of people use beamer instead of powerpoint-like software. Probably a bit less than #1, but the story is the same: It has a steep learning curve, but saves time and produces better-looking results in the end.
Some people use tikz
(and pgfplots
) to create their graphics. Probably a considerable lower number than in #1 and #2, but again, the reasoning is the same: It has a steep learning curve, but...
Does it start to sound familiar? I guess it should! For a long time, I used LaTeX only for #1. When I prepared my Master thesis presentation, I made the jump and decided to learn beamer, and then I used LaTeX for #1 and #2. Then, when I was writing my licentiate thesis (midterm PhD thesis in the Swedish academic system), I wasn't satisfied with the diagrams and plots, and decided to learn tikz
and pgfplots
. So then I used LaTeX for #1, #2 and #3.
That's my current situation. I don't know right now if I will make any further steps in the forseeable future. If any, it would be package writing, but so far the prospect of programming in TeX looks daunting to me. Quite possibly the reasoning will once again be the same: It has a steep learning curve, but...
Etc.
P.S. Of course, you can always use other programs to create graphics and then draw on top of your picture!
tikz
. It does have a bit of learning curve, but once you get going the basics are quite simple to do. From the brief description of what you need perhaps\tikzmark
would suffice. There are numerous example on the usage of\tikzmark
on this site. If you put together a small example of exactly what you require and make an attempt, people here can help you along the way. – Peter Grill Oct 24 '12 at 18:49\tikzmark
and then use this marked location to place the label. I use both techniques depending on the application. – Peter Grill Oct 24 '12 at 18:51