∗

The tikzposter class

Pascal Richter, Elena Botoeva, Richard Barnard, Dirk Surmann
[email protected]
https://bitbucket.org/surmann/tikzposter/wiki/
January 17, 2014

Abstract
This document class aims to provide a simple way of using LateX and
TikZ for generating good looking scientific posters.

Contents
1 Introduction 2
2 Creating a Poster 2
3 Options for the Document Class 3
4 The Poster Contents 4
4.1 Title Matter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
4.2 Blocks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
4.3 Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
4.4 Columns and Subcolumns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
5 Poster Layout 8
5.1 Setting the colors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
5.2 Setting the layout . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
5.3 Background style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
5.4 Title style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
5.5 Block style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
5.6 Inner Block styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
5.7 Note style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
6 Poster template 16
7 Poster example 18
8 Appendix 18
8.1 Available variables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
∗ This document corresponds to tikzposter v2.0, dated 2014/01/15.

1
1 Introduction
The tikzposter document class file may be used to simplify formatting and gener-
ating scientific posters in the .pdf format. It uses the TikZ package to generate a
poster layout. The poster is formed by a series of blocks against a background in
a sequence of aligned columns. The purpose of the class is to reduce the level of
formatting by automatically setting spacing between blocks in the poster as well
as their lengths. The user has control over the width of the columns. Due to the
class’ reliance on TikZ, only .pdf output is supported. This document explains
the formatting options available and how to easily create a basic block layout.
To start with the class, the user can look at either the template file included
with the class tikzposter-template.tex (also shown in Section 6) which pro-
vides a template, the minimal working example shown in Section 2, or the example
file tikzposter-example.tex. The last file illustrates various formatting options
available. In Section 3, the \documentclass is described. Inside of the document
environment, the title is created by the use of one of the title block commands
and columns of aligned blocks are then created; the various commands are de-
scribed in the subsections of Section 4. If you want to alter the appearance of
the poster, the various ways of doing this are explained in Section 5. Finally, the
Appendix (Section 8) lists useful variables for those who want to further customize
the appearance of the posters.

Required packages: The class uses LATEX2e and the following required packages:
tikz, calc, ifthen, ae, xstring, etoolbox, xkeyval.

Changes from previous versions: Significant changes have been made between
the current version and the previous version of tikzposter. Aside from bug fixes,
there have been the following changes: The background can now be customized,
the title formatting can be customized, blocks can be shifted with respect to the
default positioning, the format and appearance of blocks can be customized, the
note object was introduced (a new type of object) and colorthemes have been
modified. The various changes mean backwards compatibility was not possible for
posters using some of the formatting options in the previous version.

2 Creating a Poster
Below is a minimal example of a poster and the relevant places in the manual to
find further information.

2
 \documentclass{tikzposter} % See Section 3
\title{Title} \institute{Inst} % See Section 4.1
\author{Auth} \titlegraphic{Logo}
\usetheme{Basic} % See Section 5
\begin{document}
\maketitle % See Section 4.1
\block{BlocktitleA}{Blocktext} % See Section 4.2
\begin{columns} % See Section 4.4
\column{0.3} % See Section 4.4
\block{BlocktitleB}{Blocktext}
\column{0.7}
\block{BlocktitleC}{Blocktext}
\note{Notetext} % See Section 4.3
\end{columns}
\end{document}

3 Options for the Document Class

In order to use the class, begin the document with
\documentclass[options]{tikzposter}
There are several options available for customizing the general layout of the poster.
These are called as optional arguments when declaring the document class. The
options for the page geometry are
• font size: The size of the text in the main body may be set as : 12pt, 14pt,
17pt, 20pt, or 25pt;
• paper size: Currently, paper sizes may be set to : a0paper, a1paper, or
a2paper;
• orientation: Either landscape or portrait.
The standard options fleqn and leqno may also be invoked here. The following
options are set in the form hvariable namei=hvaluei and deal with spacing of the
poster:
• margin: The margin between outer edge of the poster and the edge of the
paper.
• innermargin: The margin from the edge of the poster edge to the outermost
edge of the blocks;
• colspace: The horizontal spacing between successive columns;
• subcolspace: The horizontal spacing between successive columns in the
subcolumn environment (See Section 4.4 for more on this environment);
• blockverticalspace: The spacing between the bottom of a normal block
and the top of the next block.

3
 A sample usage of these options would be :
\documentclass[25pt, a0paper, portrait, margin=0mm, innermargin=15mm,
blockverticalspace=15mm, colspace=15mm, subcolspace=8mm]{tikzposter}

These listed values are in fact the default values of the optional arguments. To
turn off the comment on how the poster was created in the lower right corner,
include in the preamble \tikzposterlatexaffectionproofoff.

4 The Poster Contents

4.1 Title Matter
\maketitle The information for the title matter is defined in the usual manner; the user may
use \author{}, \institute{}, and \title{}. Additionally, a logo for the title
matter may be defined via \titlegraphic{}. The title is created with the normal
\maketitle[options] command; however, we note that new options are available
to alter the default settings:

• width: The width of the title portion of the poster.

• roundedcorners, linewidth, innersep: Passed to relevant TikZ commands
in the title style, governing the “box” surrounding the title matter (if the
style is made dependent on these parameters – the default style, for instance,
is).
• titletotopverticalspace, titletoblockverticalspace: Space between
the top of the poster (excluding margins) and the top edge of the title por-
tion; and space between the bottom of the poster and the top block, respec-
tively.

• titlegraphictotitledistance: a length, used for a vertical distance be-

tween the titlegraphic and title description.
• titletextscale: a number which allows for relative scaling of the text of
the title.

The necessary spacing is handled using the options chosen in the call to the doc-
ument class described in Section 3. The default format for the title is seen in
Figure 1.
One can redefine the way the title matter (title, author, etc.) are arranged by
\settitle calling \settitle. The user can change this format by including in the preamble
\settitle. Note that when referring to the title, author, titlegraphic, and insti-
tute with this command, one needs to use \@title, \@author, \@institute and
\@titlegraphic. A sample alternative title format is:

4
 titlegraphic

TITLE
author
institute

Figure 1: Default format of the title material

\settitle{ \centering \vbox{

\@titlegraphic \\[\TP@titlegraphictotitledistance] \centering
\color{titlefgcolor} {\bfseries \Huge \sc \@title \par}
\vspace*{1em}
{\huge \@author \par} \vspace*{1em} {\LARGE \@institute}
}}

4.2 Blocks
\block Blocks are created with the command \block[options]{title}{text}. Excluding
options, this creates a block of the width of the page (or column/subcolumn, see
section 4.4), excepting the margin and inner margin. A title for the block will be
generated along the top in a separate, smaller block, centered using the contents
of title. By default, its width will be set to be the \textwidth or, if in a column
(see below), to the \colwidth; alternatively, it may be altered as described below.
If the title field is left empty, then there will be no title for the block created.
Multiline titles are supported and will be (approximately) broken to satisfy the
maximum width of the block titles as specified in the formatting options. The
contents of text will be displayed in the main body of the block. The length of the
block is determined automatically by the contents of text. Further blocks may be
generated in the same column by further uses of \block. However, if the contents
of the blocks in a single column lead to spill over (that is, they take up more
vertical space than allowed under the formatting for the paper size and margins),
then formatting errors will occur.
Block Options If the user wishes to have certain internal spacing and positioning aspects of
the block to differ from those of the layout theme, they may reset the following:
• titleoffsetx, titleoffsety, bodyoffsetx and bodyoffsety: The block
may be placed in violation of the automatic alignment according to the
default spacing rules. This may be achieved with 4 options. The first two
are used to shift the title block from the default position. The latter two shift
the main content block (containing text) from a position directly under the
title. All four are by default set to 0. That is, in relation to previously created
blocks, the class determines the position of the current block according to the
format options’ spacing values and then determines the appropriate heights
of the two components, main part and title. The position can then be
adjusted as desired. Please note that these offset values use the convention
of positive values resulting in a shift right/upwards and negative values in a
shift left/downwards.

5
 • titlewidthscale, bodywidthscale: The relative scaling from the default
widths of the block’s title and main portion, respectively. This is given in
relative terms; i.e., titlewidthscale=.5 will result in a 50% narrower title
width than the default.
• titleleft, titlecenter, titleright: The alignment of the title text
within the title section of the block (if it it exists). Unless specified in
the block or the block style (see below), center alignment is used.
• bodyverticalshift: Additional spacing (in absolute terms) between the
bottom of the title and the beginning of the contents of the block body.

• roundedcorners, linewidth: Parameters used to determine the degree of

roundedness of the corners of the block and the thickness of the outer edge
of the block, respectively; behaves as in TikZ.
• titleinnersep, bodyinnersep: Separation for the title and body of the
block, respectively, between the edge and their contents.

A sample block may be created by the command

\block[titleleft,titleoffsetx=2em,titleoffsety=1em,bodyoffsetx=2em,
bodyoffsety=1em,titlewidthscale=.6, bodywidthscale=.8, roundedcorners=14,
linewidth=8mm, bodyinnersep=4em, titleinnersep=2em]
{Sample Block}{Text\\Text\\Text Text}

Block objects
\innerblock There are three special objects which may be placed in the blocks: inner
blocks, colored boxes, and figures. Inner blocks, called by the command
\innerblock[options]{Heading}{Text}, are blocks placed in the body. If no
heading is provided, the title area is not drawn, as in the case of normal blocks.
The available options are:

• titlewidth, bodywidth, titlewidthscale, bodywidthscale: Respec-

tively, the absolute width of the title and body, and scaling from the default
widths set by the inner block style (see below). NOTE: If using the style
Table (see Section 5.6) sec: for inner blocks, the sum of titlewidthscale
and bodywidthscale must be no greater than 1 and the total height of the
heading text should be less than the the total height of the text.

• Title alignment: Either titlecenter, titleleft, or titleright.

• titleoffsetx, titleoffsety, bodyoffsetx, bodyoffsety: For positioning
from the default placement of the title and body, similar in function to the
options for a block.

• roundedcorners, linewidth, titleinnersep, bodyinnersep: Same func-

tionality as the options for blocks.

6
\coloredbox Colored boxes can be used for emphasizing parts of the block body and are gener-
ated by \coloredbox[options]{Text}. Without options, a box of the width of the
block body (minus the length blockbodyinnersep) is created, highlighted by the
color assigned to the background of notes (see below for more on setting colors).
The options are:

• width: the width of the highlighted region.

• linewidth, roundedcorners: similar as above.
• bgcolor, fgcolor, framecolor: Colors of the background highlighting, the
text, and the frame of the colored box.

tikzfigure Due to implementation of the blocks, using the standard LATEXfigure environ-
ment is not possible. As a workaround, the environment tikzfigure has been
included using a solution adapted from code suggested by Stephan Thober. It
may be used in the same manner as the standard figure environment.
\begin{tikzfigure}[Caption of the figure]
\label{fig:fig1}
Figure
\end{tikzfigure}

4.3 Notes
\note Smaller objects called notes are also available. These are associated with
blocks and can be used to attach comments to specific points in the blocks.
Their use is slightly more complicated; they are created with the use of the
\note[options]{contents} command. We will here remark on the options that
are needed for placing them. These options are:

• targetoffsetx, targetoffsety: The note places a “target” point in the

center of the previously created block and uses this as a reference point for
placement. If this target should be moved, these two parameters can be set
to shift the target away from the default;
• angle, radius: After the target has been set, the center of the note is a
distance of radius away from the target with angle (with respect to the
horizontal axis) angle;
• width: The desired width of the note;
• connection: If the note style allows for it (see below on the styles for notes),
using the connection option draws the relevant connection (i.e. line or arrow)
from the note’s center point to the target point;
• rotate: If the entire note should be rotated, a rotation angle (again with
respect to the horizontal axis) may be defined using this option.

7
 • roundedcorners, linewidth, innersep: If the note should be drawn using
corners that are rounded differently than the default, with a thicker/thinner
bounding line than the default, or with a different separation between con-
tent and edge of the note, respectively, these options may be used to reset
the values.
Two comments should be kept in mind. First, notes are always visible over the
background and blocks. Second, there are no automatic spacing rules for notes, so
care should be used in placement to ensure the proper appearance of the poster.
A sample note could be constructed via:
\note[targetoffsetx=2cm, targetoffsety=-1cm, angle=90, radius=3cm,
width=5cm, rotate=30, connection, linewidth=.2cm,
roundedcorners=30, innersep=1cm]{Text}

This inserts a note which is directly above (angle=90) and 3 cm from the target,
which is 2 cm to the right of and 1 cm below the block center, and is then rotated
30 degrees. A connection is then drawn from the block center to this target.

4.4 Columns and Subcolumns

columns If multicolumn formats are desired, the environment columns may be used. All
blocks generated inside of this environment will be divided into the desired columns
with the specified width. To begin a column, use the command \column{width},
e.g., width=0.3\textwidth or width=20cm. Any blocks created after this will be
aligned along a vertical line automatically placed, depending on the number of
columns and their widths, as specified inside of the instance of the environment.
Formatting errors may arise if the sum of the column widths is greater than
\textwidth. The width of the column may be referred – for formatting pictures
or altering a block’s width, for instance – by referencing the length \colwidth.
subcolumns If you wish to create a set of subcolumns in the current column, the environ-
ment subcolumns can be used. In this environment, subcolumns are created by
\subcolumn{width}. However, the width in the \subcolumn command is relative
now to the current \colwidth and can be referenced by the length \subcolwidth.
The same comments on formatting made above regarding widths and text length
hold here as well.

5 Poster Layout
We will describe additional options which govern the appearance of the poster.
There are options for changing the:
• colors used,
• background of the poster,
• the appearance of the title matter,
• the shapes of the various blocks,
• the appearance of inner blocks, and
• the shapes of the notes.

8
 \usetheme A poster theme provides the settings for the other options. A theme is called by
the command \usetheme{layout style} where the argument is either a predefined
object name in tikzposterLayoutthemes.tex, or a style defined in the preamble
for the appropriate object. Creating styles and their components is described
in the following subsections. The predefined themes are Default, Rays, Basic,
Simple, Envelope, Wave, Board, Autumn, and Desert. It should be noted that the
user may call \usetheme and subsequently overwrite any or all components of the
layout theme by resetting the different styles contained.

5.1 Setting the colors

The colors used in the poster are defined using two objects: the palette and the
style. The palette provides 3 basic colors to be used. There are several included
\usecolorpalette color palettes. They may be called by the command \usecolorpalette{}. The in-
cluded palettes are Default, BlueGrayOrange, GreenGrayViolet, PurpleGrayBlue,
BrownBlueOrange.
\usecolorstyle The way that these colors are used in the poster is defined in a color style,
which is called by the command \usecolorstyle[options]{style name}. The op-
tions are the basic colors or the palette to be used. A sample set of options is
[colorPalette=BrownOrangeBlue,colorOne=blue,colorTwo=black,colorThree=green],
which would not be used due to redundancy.
All styles have a predefined palette as default. The included color styles are
named after various countries (please note the associated default palettes are not
connected by the names) and are: Default, Australia, Britain, Sweden, Spain,
Russia, Denmark, Germany. The color style (with the palette) is used by the styles
which define the appearance of the title, blocks, notes, and background. If no color
palette or style is chosen, a default color theme is used. We now will explain the
different components that can have colors assigned to them.
background colors The background has associated with it the colors backgroundcolor and
framecolor which are, respectively, the color for the solid background and the
color for the outer edges of the poster and the outer edges for all blocks.
title colors The text of the title material of the poster is in the color titlefgcolor. The
background of the title material is given by the color titlebgcolor.
block colors The colors for the backgrounds of the blocks can also be defined. The back-
ground color of the title portion of the block may be set with blocktitlebgcolor
and the background color of the portion of the block with the text is set by
blockbodybgcolor. The text colors for the title and the block contents are set
innerblock colors with blocktitlefgcolor and blockbodyfgcolor, respectively.
Inside blocks, the inner blocks will be colored using innerblocktitlebgcolor,
innerblocktitlefgcolor, innerblockbodybgcolor, innerblockbodyfgcolor
for, respecitvely, the background color of the title, the text color for the title,
the background color of the body, and the text color of the body.
coloredbox colors The note background color is used as the default of the background of colored
boxes in the blocks.
note colors The note blocks created have background color defined by notebgcolor and

9
 text color defined by notefgcolor. The note blocks’ frames are colored by
noteframecolor.
text colors The relevant text colors may also be individually defined. The color of the
text of the title matter is defined via titlefgcolor. The color of the title text in
each block is defined by blocktitlefgcolor and the color of the text of the main
portion of the block is defined by blockbodyfgcolor. Finally, the notes’ text uses
the color notefgcolor.
\definecolorpalette Finally, if one wishes, one may define the color palette and style locally in the
\definecolorstyle preamble. The palette is defined by the command \definecolorpalette{color
palette name}{definitions}. A sample palette can defined by
\definecolorpalette{sampleColorPalette} {
\definecolor{colorOne}{named}{green}
\definecolor{colorTwo}{named}{black}
\definecolor{colorThree}{named}{cyan}
}

For a style, this is accomplished by \definecolorstyle{color style name}{default

palette}{definitions}. Using the name convention below of colorOne, colorTwo,
and colorThree when setting the colors allows the flexibility of various palettes.
A sample color style can be defined by:
\definecolorstyle{sampleColorStyle} {
\definecolor{colorOne}{named}{blue}
\definecolor{colorTwo}{named}{yellow}
\definecolor{colorThree}{named}{orange}
}{
% Background Colors
\colorlet{backgroundcolor}{colorOne}
\colorlet{framecolor}{black}
% Title Colors
\colorlet{titlefgcolor}{black}
\colorlet{titlebgcolor}{colorOne}
% Block Colors
\colorlet{blocktitlebgcolor}{colorThree}
\colorlet{blocktitlefgcolor}{white}
\colorlet{blockbodybgcolor}{white}
\colorlet{blockbodyfgcolor}{black}
% Innerblock Colors
\colorlet{innerblocktitlebgcolor}{white}
\colorlet{innerblocktitlefgcolor}{black}
\colorlet{innerblockbodybgcolor}{colorThree!30!white}
\colorlet{innerblockbodyfgcolor{black}
% Note colors
\colorlet{notefgcolor}{black}
\colorlet{notebgcolor}{colorTwo!50!white}
\colorlet{noteframecolor}{colorTwo}
}

10
 5.2 Setting the layout
The basic components of the poster fall into three categories: the title portion,
the blocks of content, and smaller notes. General rules for the appearance of the
components as well as the background are set by a layout theme. The layout
theme is composed of rules for the general shape of the components.
\definelayouttheme One may use, for instance, the Default color style with the Envelope layout.
A sample theme called sample may be defined with the following:
\definelayouttheme{sample}{
\usecolorstyle[colorPalette=sampleColorPalette]{sampleColorStyle}
\usebackgroundstyle{sample}
\usetitlestyle{Test}
\useblockstyle{sample}
\useinnerblockstyle{sample}
\usenotestyle{Corner}
}

In the following subsections, the styles for background, title, block, innerblock,
and notes are described.

5.3 Background style

The background is by default a vertically graded single color depending on
the value of backgroundcolor set by the color theme chosen (see Section
5.1). If the user wishes to alter this, then in the preamble you can use the
\usebackgroundstyle \usebackgroundstyle{} command. This command takes as argument a name for
a setting in the file tikzBackgrounds.tex; predefined backgrounds included with
the package are: Default, Rays, VerticalGradation, BottomVerticalGradation,
Empty.
\definebackgroundstyle If you want to define a custom background style, you can use the commnd
\definebackgroundstyle{style name}{background commands}: This command
takes as first argument a name for the background and as second argument valid
TikZ commands; an example usage of this is:
\definebackgroundstyle{samplebackgroundstyle}{
\draw[inner sep=0pt, line width=0pt, color=red, fill=backgroundcolor!30!black]
(bottomleft) rectangle (topright);
}

Following this definition, the preamble should include the command

\usebackgroundstyle{samplebackgroundstyle} either directly or inside of a
layout theme.
In making a custom background, it is important to note that the point (0, 0)
is the center of the poster (after removing the margins). Additionally, as can be
seen from the example commands above, the user has access to several variables.
These include:
• \textwidth: The total width of the available poster space, after creating
the margins.

11
 • \textheight: The total height of the available poster space, after creating
the margins.
• \titlegraphicheight, \titletotopverticalspace, \titleinnersep: See
the information in desigining a titlestyle.

• backgroundcolor: Defined in color theme or by user in preamble (see

above).
• topright: a TikZ node defining the top right position poster background.
• bottomleft: a TikZ node defining the bottom left position poster back-
ground.

5.4 Title style

\usetitlestyle If the default simple box surrounding the title matter is not desired, the user
\definetitlestyle may use one of the several predefined title styles by using in the preamble
\usetitlestyle[options]{style name} where the argument is a style listed in
tikzposterTitlestyles.tex or the name of a style defined in the preamble.
The preset title styles are: Default, Basic, Envelope, Wave, VerticalShading,
Filled, Empty. If the user wishes to use a title with a different appearance, then
\definetitlestyle{style name}{options}{title commands}. The available op-
tions are those mentioned above. Several parameters which might be helpful when
writing a custom title style are:
• \textwidth: The width of the poster contents, similar to the standard usage
in LATEX, albeit having incorporated both margins set in the document class’
options.

• \textheight: Same as the standard LATEXusage.

• \titlewidth: Stores the value passed from the options in \maketitle.
• \titlegraphicheight: Height of the defined title graphic.
• \titlelinewidth, \titleinnersep: Line width and inner sep.

• \titletotopverticalspace: Spacing between the upper edge of the poster

(after including margins) and the upper edge of the title.
• titlebgcolor: As defined in the color style.
• \titleposleft, \titleposright, \titleposbottom, \titlepostop: The
horizontal (resp. vertical) coordinates of the left and right (resp. bottom
and top) edges of the title portion.
A sample title style is shown below

12
 \definetitlestyle{sampletitle}{
width=500mm, roundedcorners=20, linewidth=2pt, innersep=5pt,
titletotopverticalspace=15mm, titletoblockverticalspace=30mm
}{
\begin{scope}[line width=\titlelinewidth, rounded corners=\titleroundedcorners]
\draw[color=blocktitlebgcolor, fill=titlebgcolor]
(\titleposleft,\titleposbottom) rectangle (\titleposright,\titlepostop);
\end{scope}
}

and could be called using \usetitlestyle{sampletitle}. For more information

on the available variables to assist in designing a custom title style, please refer to
the Appendix.

5.5 Block style

\useblockstyle If the user wishes to use blocks with a different style, he or she may use
\defineblockstyle \useblockstyle[options]{style name}. This loads either prewritten styles
available in tikzposterBlockstyles.tex or custom styles. The predefined
styles are Default, Basic, Minimal, Envelope, Corner, Slide, TornOut. The
user can also create a custom block style, in the preamble via the command
\defineblockstyle{stylename}{ default values}{commands} which contains the
name of the style, the default values (see below) of relevant parameters; and a def-
inition for drawing a block and (if wanted) the title composed of TikZ commands.
A sample definition of this might be
\defineblockstyle{sampleblockstyle}{
titlewidthscale=0.9, bodywidthscale=1,titleleft,
titleoffsetx=0pt, titleoffsety=0pt, bodyoffsetx=0mm, bodyoffsety=15mm,
bodyverticalshift=10mm, roundedcorners=5, linewidth=2pt,
titleinnersep=6mm, bodyinnersep=1cm
}{
\draw[color=framecolor, fill=blockbodybgcolor,
rounded corners=\blockroundedcorners] (blockbody.south west)
rectangle (blockbody.north east);
\ifBlockHasTitle
\draw[color=framecolor, fill=blocktitlebgcolor,
rounded corners=\blockroundedcorners] (blocktitle.south west)
rectangle (blocktitle.north east);
\fi
}

At any point, the user may change the block style used for subsequent blocks
by using \useblockstyle{} with the new style. The block will then draw
the objects as defined by \defineblockstyle and afterwards put the con-
tents in those positions. The parameters that may be assigned default values
and referenced in the commands are \blockroundedcorners, \blocklinewidth,
\blockbodyinnersep, and \blocktitleinnersep; if this is not done, preset de-
fault values are used. These are used for values in TikZ commands that use the

13
 parameters for rounded corners, line width (for the edge of the block), inner sep
for the body content and title, respectively.
As can be seen, when creating the style, the user has access to several parame-
ters. They are computed after the class determines, under the rules of formatting
and given the width of the block, dimensions of the block. These, aside from those
already mentioned, include:
• \ifBlockhasTitle: A boolean for whether the block has nonempty first
argument;
• blocktitle: A TikZ node defining the appropriate position of the title
subject to the spacing rules and the length/width of the title;

• blockbody: A TikZ node defining the appropriate position of the body sub-
ject to the spacing rules and the length/width of the body and title(assuming
the title is above the body);
• \blockroundedcorners, \blocklinewidth, \blockbodyinnersep, and
\blocktitleinnersep: Parameters passed from the options of the block.
• framecolor, blocktitlebgcolor, blockbodybgcolor: Determined by the
chosen color scheme.

5.6 Inner Block styles

\useinnerblockstyle If one wishes, inner blocks may have their appearance changed by the command
\defineinnerblockstyle \useinnerblockstyle{style name}. The included styles are Default and Table,
along with copies of the styles for blocks. If the user wants, additional inner block
styles may be created with the command \defineinnerblockstyle{stylename}
{default values}{commands}. The relevant parameters are:

• \ifInnerblockHasTitle: A boolean denoting whether the inner block has

nonempty first argument
• innerblocktitle, innerblockbody: TikZ nodes for the position of the
heading and body of the inner block.

• \innerblockroundedcorners, \innerblocklinewidth,
\innerblockbodyinnersep, and \innerblocktitleinnersep : Parameters
passed from the options of the inner block.
• innerblockbodybgcolor, innerblocktitlebgcolor, framecolor: Colors
determined by the chosen color scheme, or passed as options.

Styles are similar in structure as those for blocks.

14
 5.7 Note style
\usenotestyle If one wishes, alternative note appearances may be used. If the user wants to use
one of the included note styles Default, Corner, VerticalShading, or Sticky,
then the command \usenotestyle[options]{style name} may be employed.
\definenotestyle Alternatively, one may include in either the preamble or inside of the document
the command \definenotestyle{note style name}{default values}{commands}
where the inputs are the name of the style, default values for relevant for-
mat options and valid TikZ commands for drawing the note. In the use of
\definenotestyle, the user may make use of the following parameters:
• \ifNoteHasConnection: A boolean denoting whether connection has been
included as an option;
• notetarget: A TikZ node defining the placement of the note target;
• notecenter: A TikZ node defining the placement of the center of the note;

• \noterotate: The angle the entire note should be rotated;

• \notelinewidth, \noteroundedcorners, \noteinnersep: Values from ei-
ther the default values or from the user passing options corresponding to the
width of the outer edge of the note, the roundedness of the corners, and the
separation between the note edge and contents, respectively.

• noteframecolor, notefgcolor, notebgcolor: Colors defined in the color

them (see above).
An example style may be defined via the command:
\definenotestyle{samplenotestyle}{
targetoffsetx=0pt, targetoffsety=0pt, angle=45, radius=8cm,
width=6cm, connection=true, rotate=0, roundedcorners=0, linewidth=1pt,
innersep=0pt%
}{
\ifNoteHasConnection
\draw[thick] (notecenter) -- (notetarget) node{$\bullet$};
\fi
\draw[draw=notebgcolor,fill=notebgcolor,rotate=\noterotate]
(notecenter.south west) rectangle (notecenter.north east);
}

6 Poster template
The following LATEX document is intended to be used as a template. It
has a minimal set of inputs. Included with the package is an additional
tikzposter-example.tex which has more extensive comments and additional
options implemented, see Section 7.

15
1 h∗tikzposter-template.texi
2 \documentclass{tikzposter} %Options for format can be included here
3
4 % Title, Author, Institute
5 \title{Template Poster}
6 \author{Author(s)}
7 \institute{Institute}
8 \titlegraphic{LogoGraphic Inserted Here}
9
10 %Choose Layout
11 \usetheme{Default}
12
13 \begin{document}
14
15 % Title block with title, author, logo, etc.
16\maketitle
17 \block{Basic Block}{Text}
18 \begin{columns}
19
20 % FIRST column
21 \column{0.6}% Width set relative to text width
22
23 \block{Large Column}{Text\\Text\\Text Text Text}
24 \note{Note with default behavior}
25 \note[targetoffsetx=12cm, targetoffsety=-1cm, angle=20, rotate=25]
26 {Note \\ offset and rotated}
27
28 % First column - second block
29 \block{Block titles with enough text will automatically obey spacing requirements }
30 {Text\\Text}
31
32 % First column - third block
33 \block{Sample Block 4}{T\\E\\S\\T}
34
35 % SECOND column
36\column{0.4}
37 %Second column with first block’s top edge aligned with with previous column’s top.
38
39 % Second column - first block
40 \block[titleleft]{Smaller Column}{Test}
41
42 % Second column - second block
43 \block[titlewidthscale=0.6, bodywidthscale=0.8]
44 {Variable width title}{Block with smaller width.}
45
46 % Second column - third block
47 \block{}{Block with no title}
48
49 % Second column - A collection of blocks in subcolumn environment.

16
50 \begin{subcolumns}
51 \subcolumn{0.27} \block{1}{First block.} \block{2}{Second block}
52 \subcolumn{0.4} \block{Sub-columns}{Sample subblocks\\Second subcolumn}
53 \subcolumn{0.33} \block{4}{Fourth} \block{}{Final Subcolumn block}
54 \end{subcolumns}
55
56 % Bottomblock
57 \block{Final Block in column}{
58 Sample block.
59 }
60 \end{columns}
61 \block[titleleft, titleoffsetx=2em, titleoffsety=1em, bodyoffsetx=2em,%
62 bodyoffsety=-2cm, roundedcorners=10, linewidth=0mm, titlewidthscale=0.7,%
63 bodywidthscale=0.9, bodyverticalshift=2cm, titleright]
64 {Block outside of Columns}{Along with several options enabled}
65
66 \end{document}
67 h/tikzposter-template.texi

7 Poster example
Included in the class directory is an example tex file tikzposter-example.tex.
This demonstrates the various options available, as opposed to the minimal work-
ing copy tikzposter-template.tex.

8 Appendix
8.1 Available variables
If one wishes to create their own themes/styles/etc, the following variables which
govern positioning, spacing, and appearance may be of use. They may be used
within themes, title styles, block styles, and note styles. Please note that each of
these are defined and then passed to the style; they may then be referenced and
redefined inside of a style. However, not all are local to that block; only those
that are noted as being redefined.
• \TP@visibletextwidth, \TP@visibletextheight: The width and height
of the poster material. Excludes the margin length set in the option.

• \TP@titleinnersep, \TP@titletoblockverticalspace: Defined in op-

tions of the document. May be redefined in a theme.
• \titlewidth, \titleheight: Width and height of the title block.
• \titlegraphicheight: The height of graphic used in the title.

• \titletotopverticalspace: Defined in the options.

17
• \TP@colspace, \TP@coltop, \TP@colbottom, \TP@colcenter, \TP@colwidth:
The space between columns, defined in the options, the y-coordinate of the
current column’s beginning, end, center axis, and absolute width, respec-
tively.
• \TP@subcolspace, \TP@subcoltop, \TP@subcolbottom, \TP@subcolcenter,
\subcolwidth: The same lengths, in the subcolumn environment.
• \TP@blockverticalspace, \TP@blocktitleinnersep, \TP@blockbodyinnersep:
Spacing rules for blocks, defined in options.
• \TP@blockcenter: Horizontal position of the center of the current block; it
is redefined for each call to the \block command.
• \blockwidth, \blockbodyheight, \blocktitleheight: Dimensions of the
current block’s components; it is redefined for each call to the \block com-
mand.
• \TP@blocktop: The y-coordinate of the top edge of the block (including the
title if it exists).
• \TP@blocktitleoffsetx, \TP@blocktitleoffsety: Shifts to the position
of the block title component; each call to \block resets them to 0.
• \TP@blockbodyoffsetx, \TP@blockbodyoffsety: Similar to the above, but
for the block’s body component; also reset to 0 with each \block call.
• \blockroundedcorners, \blocklinewidth, \blockbodyinnersep, \blocktitleinnersep:
Values passed by the user with each block, or defined in a block style,
which give the values to be used for TiKz draw parameters rounded cor-
ners, line width, and inner seps of the body and title, respectively. These
may have default values defined in a style/theme using the functions:
\setblockDefaultroundedcorners{}, \setblockDefaultlinewidth{},
\setblockDefaultbodyinnersep{}, and \setblockDefaulttitleinnersep{}.
If the user does not specify these values in the options of the block call, the
defaults are used.
• \TP@noteinnersep: Defined in the options

• \TP@noteradius, \TP@notetargetoffsetx, \TP@notetargetoffsety, \notewidth:

Arguments optionally passed from the \note command; redefined for each
call to \note.
• \noteheight: The height of the current note computed according to size of
contents and \notewidth; redefine with each call to \note.
• \noteroundedcorners, \notelinewidth, \noteinnersep: Values passed
by the user with each note, or defined in a note style, which give the values
to be used for TiKz draw parameters rounded corners, line width, and inner

18
 seps of the body and title, respectively. These may have default values de-
fined in a style/theme using the functions: \setnoteDefaultroundedcorners{},
\setnoteDefaultlinewidth{}, and \setnoteDefaultbodyinnersep{}. If
the user does not set in a note call the options, the defaults are used.
Additionally, several nodes are defined for the title and the blocks. These should
be used when defining block styles and title styles. The title node is the main
node for the title material which spans an area large enough to cover the entirety
of the title material as formatted with the \settitle command. The vertical and
horizontal positions of the title are stored as \titlepostop, \titleposbottom,
\titleposleft, and \titleposright. For blocks, blocktitle and blockbody
are nodes which cover the extent of the relevant components.

19