[Tex/LaTex] Horizontal icons between subfloats

horizontal alignmentspacingsubfloatstabularxvertical alignment

following up on this Vertical icons between subfloats problem, I'm struggling now adding horizontal (e.g. from left to right or from right to left) to my subfloats

This is what I have so far:

\documentclass{report}
\usepackage{pifont}
\usepackage[svgnames, x11names]{xcolor}
\usepackage{graphicx
}
\usepackage{caption}
\usepackage{subfig}
\usepackage{tabularx}
\newcommand\bigleftArrow{\color{Tomato2}\rotatebox[origin=c]{180}{\scalebox{2.4}[3.6]{\ding{225}}}}
\newcommand\bigrightArrow{\color{Tomato2}\rotatebox[origin=c]{0}{\scalebox{2.4}[3.6]{\ding{225}}}}
\begin{document}

\begin{figure} [h]
\begin{tabularx}{\textwidth}{@{}*{5}{>{\centering\arraybackslash}X}@{}}
  \subfloat[text 1]{
     \includegraphics[width=0.28\textwidth]
     {example-image-a}}
      &
      \bigleftArrow
      &
  \subfloat[text 2]{
     \includegraphics[width=0.28\textwidth]
     {example-image-b}}
      &
      \bigleftArrow
      &
  \subfloat[text 3]{
     \includegraphics[width=0.28\textwidth]
     {example-image-c}}
     \\
  \subfloat[text 4]{
     \includegraphics[width=0.28\textwidth]
     {example-image}}
       &
       \bigrightArrow
      &
  \subfloat[text 5]{
     \includegraphics[width=0.28\textwidth]
     {example-image}}
      &
      \bigrightArrow
      &
  \subfloat[text 6]{
     \includegraphics[width=0.28\textwidth]
     {example-image}}
\end{tabularx}
  \captionof{figure}[]{long text}
  \label{fig:merge}
\end{figure}

\end{document}

which gives me this:

But obviously I would like to have the icons centered vertical and horizontal between the images e.g. between (a) and (b) (and not between the image captions)

Any suggestions?

This it how it should look like (roughly 😀 )

UPDATE

both so far provided answers are working pretty good. But I discovered a issue if one caption is longer than the others like provided for in the following for figure (c). The whole image moves up (insted of the regular behaviour where the text box grows to the bottom). I even amended how it should appear (Now: 1x 3 images; 1x 2 images connected with arrows) Here is the amended code with the little issue:

\documentclass{report}
\usepackage{pifont}
\usepackage[svgnames, x11names]{xcolor}
\usepackage{graphicx
}
\usepackage{caption}
\usepackage{subfig}
\usepackage{tabularx}

%% Fix Vertical Alignment
\renewcommand{\tabularxcolumn}[1]{>{\small}m{#1}} 

% Add \hspace to arrow definition
\newcommand\bigleftArrow{\hspace{40pt}\color{green}\rotatebox[origin=c]{180}{\scalebox{2.4}[3.6]{\ding{225}}}} 
\newcommand\bigrightArrow{\hspace{40pt}\color{green}\rotatebox[origin=c]{0}{\scalebox{2.4}[3.6]{\ding{225}}}}



\begin{document}

\begin{figure} [h]
\begin{tabularx}{\textwidth}{@{}*{5}{>{\centering\arraybackslash}X}@{}}
  \subfloat[text 1]{
     \includegraphics[width=0.28\textwidth]
     {example-image-a}}
      &
      \bigrightArrow
      &
  \subfloat[text 2]{
     \includegraphics[width=0.28\textwidth]
     {example-image-b}}
      &
      \bigrightArrow
      &
  \subfloat[text 3 is longer than the others: text text text text text text text text text]{
     \includegraphics[width=0.28\textwidth]
     {example-image-c}}
     \\
  \subfloat[text 4]{
     \includegraphics[width=0.28\textwidth]
     {example-image}}
      &
      &
       \bigrightArrow
      &
      &
  \subfloat[text 6]{
     \includegraphics[width=0.28\textwidth]
     {example-image}}
\end{tabularx}
  \captionof{figure}[]{long text}
  \label{fig:merge}
\end{figure}

\end{document}

And this is how its drawn. (note image (c)/text 3 and the red lines I draw on to it):

Best Answer

I would like to show you a couple of solutions with a tikz matrix.

I've added a yshift to your \bigleftArrow and \bigrightArrow commands to refine the vertical alignment of the arrows.

To avoid the Underfull \hbox you could use \centering within your \subcaption command.

\documentclass{report}
\usepackage{pifont}
\usepackage[x11names]{xcolor}
\usepackage{graphicx}
\usepackage{subcaption}
\usepackage{tikz}
\usetikzlibrary{matrix}

\newcommand*{\bigrightArrow}{|[yshift=-2]| \color{green}{\scalebox{2.4}[3.6]{\ding{225}}}}
\newcommand*{\bigleftArrow}{|[yshift=2]| \color{Tomato2}{\rotatebox[origin=c]{180}{\scalebox{2.4}[3.6]{\ding{225}}}}}

\begin{document}
    \begin{figure}
        \centering
        \begin{tikzpicture}
        \matrix[matrix of nodes, 
        nodes={anchor=center},
        column sep=-3.7em]{%
            \includegraphics[width=0.26\textwidth]{example-image-a}
            &
            \bigrightArrow
            &
            \includegraphics[width=0.26\textwidth]{example-image-b}
            &
            \bigrightArrow
            &
            \includegraphics[width=0.26\textwidth]{example-image-c}
            \\
            \begin{minipage}[t][10ex][t]{0.26\textwidth}
            \subcaption{text 1\label{fig:1amerge2}}
            \end{minipage}
            &&
            \begin{minipage}[t][10ex][t]{0.26\textwidth}
            \subcaption{text 2}
            \end{minipage}%
            &&
            \begin{minipage}[t][10ex][t]{0.26\textwidth}
            \subcaption{\centering text 3 is longer than the others: text text text text text text text text text}
            \end{minipage}%
            \\[4pt]
            &
            \includegraphics[width=0.26\textwidth]{example-image}
            &
            \bigleftArrow
            &
            \includegraphics[width=0.26\textwidth]{example-image}
            \\
            &
            \begin{minipage}[t]{0.26\textwidth}
            \subcaption{text 4}
            \end{minipage}%
            &&
            \begin{minipage}[t]{0.26\textwidth}
            \subcaption{text 6}
            \end{minipage}%
            \\
        };
        \end{tikzpicture}
        \caption{long text\label{fig:merge2}}
    \end{figure}
    \begin{figure}
        \centering
        \begin{tikzpicture}
        \matrix[matrix of nodes, 
                nodes={anchor=center},
                column sep=-3pt
                ]{%
            \includegraphics[width=0.26\textwidth]{example-image-a}
            &
            \bigrightArrow
            &
            \includegraphics[width=0.26\textwidth]{example-image-b}
            &
            \bigrightArrow
            &
            \includegraphics[width=0.26\textwidth]{example-image-c}
            \\
            \begin{minipage}[t][10ex][t]{0.26\textwidth}
            \subcaption{text 1\label{fig:1a}}
            \end{minipage}
            &&
            \begin{minipage}[t][10ex][t]{0.26\textwidth}
            \subcaption{text 2}
            \end{minipage}%
            &&
            \begin{minipage}[t][10ex][t]{0.26\textwidth}
            \subcaption{text 3 is longer than the others: text text text text text text text text text}
            \end{minipage}%
            \\[4pt]
            \includegraphics[width=0.26\textwidth]{example-image}
            &&
            \bigleftArrow
            &&
            \includegraphics[width=0.26\textwidth]{example-image}
            \\
            \begin{minipage}[t]{0.26\textwidth}
            \subcaption{text 4}
            \end{minipage}%
            &&&&
            \begin{minipage}[t]{0.26\textwidth}
            \subcaption{text 6}
            \end{minipage}%
            \\
        };
        \end{tikzpicture}
        \caption{long text\label{fig:merge}}
    \end{figure}
\end{document}

Related Solutions

[Tex/LaTex] subfloats vspace between its subcaption

Your have loaded the package caption incorrectly.

small, sc, bf, nooneline are not package options. You can use the font setting small, sc, bf with the package options font,labelfont and textfont.

An example:

\usepacakge[labelfont={bf,sc},texfont=small]{caption}

The option nooneline is no longer supported. Instead, use singlelinecheck=off. The documentation of caption listed such changes in the appendix.

The documentation can be found on your computer with

texdoc caption

or CTAN: caption on CTAN

In relation to you minimal example:

\documentclass[demo]{report}
\usepackage{graphicx}
\usepackage{subfig,float}
\usepackage[skip=5pt,font={bf,sc,small},singlelinecheck=off]{caption}
\captionsetup[subfloat]{captionskip=50pt}
\begin{document}
\begin{figure}
\centering
%%----start of first subfigure----
\subfloat[yyy]{
\label{subfig:a} %% label for first subfigure
\includegraphics[width=10cm]{fig1.eps}}\\[5pt]
%%----start of 2nd subfigure----
\subfloat[xxx]{
\label{subfig:b} %% label for third subfigure
\includegraphics[width=10cm]{fig2.eps}}
\caption{Cap}
\label{fig} %% label for entire figure
\end{figure}
\end{document}

enter image description here

[Tex/LaTex] Why are the Images not correctly centered

The trick is to put your graphics in a \vcenter box. The rest is just bureaucracy: \vcenter requires math mode, and \hbox prevents the image from taking the whole line width.

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{graphics}

\newcommand\myincludegraphics[1]{%
  \ensuremath{\vcenter{\hbox{\includegraphics{#1}}}}%
}

\begin{document}

\begin{figure}
  \centering
  \renewcommand\arraystretch{3}
  \begin{tabular}{rcl}
    description&\myincludegraphics{gfx/test}&description\\
    description&\myincludegraphics{gfx/test}&description\\
    description&\myincludegraphics{gfx/test}&description\\
    description&\myincludegraphics{gfx/test}&description\\
    &0\hfill 5\hfill\hfill 15\hfill\hfill\hfill 30&min
  \end{tabular}
  \caption{A caption}
  \label{fig:figure}
\end{figure}

\end{document}

EDIT: This version deals with descriptions of different lengths, keeping the images horizontally centered no matter what.

The main idea is to put the left descriptions in a \llap (so it will stick out to the left, while pretending to 0pt wide) and the right descriptions in a \hbox to 0pt (these will pretend to be 0pt wide but stick out to the right --- by the way, \rlap doesn't work well in this case).

The rest is to make things easy to use. Package array allows to you automatically but arbitrary code around your entries using < and >. Furthermore, it allows you to define new column types. So I put all the \llap and \hbox magic in the column type C, and included the vertical positioning magic in there as well. This should make things easier to use.

Since the middle column type was redefined, the old timeline didn't work anymore, so I used \multicolumn to reset the middle column type for the last line back to a simple c. While at it, I have packed it all in a macro to save some further typing. (Maybe we should make it extremely fancy by making LaTeX position the numbers on the timeline automatically? :-))))

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{graphicx}
\usepackage{array}
\newcolumntype{C}{%
      >{\llap\bgroup}c<{\egroup}%
      >{$\vcenter\bgroup\hbox\bgroup}c<{\egroup\egroup$}
      >{\hbox to 0pt\bgroup}c<{\egroup}%
    }%
\newcommand\timeline[1]{&\multicolumn{1}{c}{#1}&min}

\begin{document}
\begin{figure}
  \centering
  \renewcommand\arraystretch{3}
  \begin{tabular}{C}
    description long&\includegraphics{gfx/test}&desc\\
    description&\includegraphics{gfx/test}&description very very extremely long\\
    description&\includegraphics{gfx/test}&desc\\
    description&\includegraphics{gfx/test}&descript\\
    \timeline{0\hfill 5\hfill\hfill 15\hfill\hfill\hfill 30}
  \end{tabular}
  \caption{A caption}
  \label{fig:figure1}
\end{figure}

\begin{figure}
  \centering
  \renewcommand\arraystretch{3}
  \begin{tabular}{C}
    description long&\includegraphics{gfx/test}&desc\\
    description very very extremely long&\includegraphics{gfx/test}&desc\\
    description&\includegraphics{gfx/test}&desc\\
    description&\includegraphics{gfx/test}&descript\\
    \timeline{%
      \makebox[0pt][c]{0}\hfill
      \makebox[0pt][c]{5}\hfill\hfill
      \makebox[0pt][c]{15}\hfill\hfill\hfill
      \makebox[0pt][c]{30}}
  \end{tabular}
  \caption{A caption}
  \label{fig:figure2}
\end{figure}

\end{document}

UPDATE 2: Automatic tick-placement (for fun) and fixed intercolumn spacing (for real):

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{graphicx}
\usepackage{array}
\newcolumntype{C}{%
      >{\llap\bgroup}c<{\egroup\hskip 1em}%
      @{}>{$\vcenter\bgroup\hbox\bgroup}c<{\egroup\egroup$}@{}
      >{\hskip 1em\hbox to 0pt\bgroup}c<{\egroup}%
    }%
\usepackage{etoolbox}
\newcommand\timeline[1]{%
  &\multicolumn{1}{@{}c@{}}\begingroup
  \global\let\do\firstT
  \docsvlist{#1}%
  \endgroup&min%
}
\def\firstT#1{\makebox[0pt][c]{#1}\xdef\previousT{#1}\global\let\do\otherTs}
\def\otherTs#1{%
  \count0=#1\relax \advance\count0-\previousT\relax
  \loop\ifnum\count0>0 \typeout{\the\count0}\advance\count0-1 \hfill\repeat
  \makebox[0pt][c]{#1}\xdef\previousT{#1}%
}    

\begin{document}
\begin{figure}
  \centering
  \renewcommand\arraystretch{3}
  \begin{tabular}{C}
    description long&\includegraphics{gfx/test}&desc\\
    description&\includegraphics{gfx/test}&description very very extremely long\\
    description&\includegraphics{gfx/test}&desc\\
    description&\includegraphics{gfx/test}&descript\\
    \timeline{0,5,15,30}\\
    \timeline{0,10,20,30}\\
    \timeline{0,20,25,30}\\
  \end{tabular}
  \caption{A caption}
  \label{fig:figure1}
\end{figure}

\begin{figure}
  \centering
  \renewcommand\arraystretch{3}
  \begin{tabular}{C}
    description long&\includegraphics{gfx/test}&desc\\
    description very very extremely long&\includegraphics{gfx/test}&description\\
    description&\includegraphics{gfx/test}&desc\\
    description&\includegraphics{gfx/test}&descript\\
    \timeline{0,2,4,6,8,10,20,30}
  \end{tabular}
  \caption{A caption}
  \label{fig:figure1}
\end{figure}

\end{document}

UPDATE: left-aligned left description

I don't know how to do this automatically, because one needs to know the width of the widest left description in advance. A semi-automatic solution is to set this length in advance, just before the tabular environment --- the column definiton then puts the left description in a \hbox of the given width.

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{graphicx}
\usepackage{array}
\newlength\widestLeftEntryLength
\newcolumntype{C}{%
      >{\llap\bgroup\hbox to \widestLeftEntryLength\bgroup}c<{\hss\egroup\egroup\hskip 1em}%
      @{}>{$\vcenter\bgroup\hbox\bgroup}c<{\egroup\egroup$}@{}
      >{\hskip 1em\hbox to 0pt\bgroup}c<{\egroup}%
    }%

\begin{document}
\begin{figure}
  \centering
  \renewcommand\arraystretch{3}
  \settowidth\widestLeftEntryLength{description very very extremely long}
  \begin{tabular}{C}
    description long&\includegraphics{gfx/test}&desc\\
    description very very extremely long&\includegraphics{gfx/test}&description\\
    description&\includegraphics{gfx/test}&desc\\
    description&\includegraphics{gfx/test}&descript\\
  \end{tabular}
  \caption{A caption}
  \label{fig:figure2}
\end{figure}
\end{document}

Best Answer

Related Solutions

[Tex/LaTex] subfloats vspace between its subcaption

[Tex/LaTex] Why are the Images not correctly centered

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