Christian von Faber's TeX Text Plugin:

cerbo.thphy.uni-duesseldorf.de/~ferber/sketch/

This plugin is an extremely nice and reliable LaTeX plugin. The TeX plugin uses dvips to create an EPS file of the formula. The EPS file is then placed into the document. One issue faced by the TeX plugin is that the EPS file is stored externally. This non-embedded method of graphic inclusion makes the management of the document more difficult (making a directory for each project can solve this.). Another issue with the TeX plugin is that preview of the formula is a "blocky" bitmap image. The formulas in the final product (mostly a PS file) do not display as a "blocky" bitmap image. Rather, the formulas display sharp and with a clear background. The TeX plugin also allows the user to write in plain TEX.

Despite the EPS issues faced by the TeX plugin, the TeX plugin has some real advantages over skLaTeX and SketchLaTeX (below). Most notably, unlike skLaTeX and SketchLaTeX, the TeX plugin is not limited by the pstoedit/GS conversions. That is, the TeX plugin has very little limitations. Also the TeX plugin is easy to install for it has very little external dependencies. The TeX plugin only requires teTeX (No pstoedit/GS, Pmw and so on.).

Soren Henriksen's SketchLaTeX Plugin:

www.2pi.info/latex/sketchlatex/

This LaTeX plugin is very similar to skLaTeX. Both use pstoedit/GS to bridge LaTeX to Skencil. In fact, the plugins make the same command line calls. The difference between the two resides on the command options used. (One might think skLaTeX was modeled after Soren Henriksen's SketchLaTeX. Rather skLaTeX was modeled after Christof Ecker's Graph plugin. Once you accept that everything in skLaTeX is a curve, the relationship between Graph and skLaTeX is apparent.)

In SketchLaTeX, the formula objects are composed of fonts and not curves. This method of formula inclusion has the advantage of sharp clean "text" previews. The only disadvantage of SketchLaTeX is that you must install the Computer Modern fonts used by LaTeX into Skencil (which implies installing the fonts for X as well). This is not a problem for those who are experienced with their Unix boxes and with font installation with Skencil. But this can be a problem for Unix and Skencil beginners and/or casual users. Soren Henriksen does provided detailed instructions for font installation for Skencil and X Windows (including Solaris X-Sun) on his web site (above).

Soren has made changes to SketchLaTeX as of 2005. It now allows the placement of LaTeX objects as curves.

http://home.comcast.net/~jbiddier/skEffects/

SkEffects is a Skencil plugin that adds simple effects to Skencil that aid in the creation non simple objects. SkEffects contains two plugin menus. The first menu is "Transform II" and the second is "skEffects". The Transform menu adds simple vector graphic affine transformations with extra options. The skEffects menu adds a lens mask effect (simulates a transparency), blend to curve effect and a object to curve effect.