Make a book cover with spine and borders - TeX

samcarter replying to निरंजन

Why don't you write a self-answer? You already have all the code :)

निरंजन

@samcarter Do you mind adding an answer? :)

निरंजन replying to samcarter

Yes! You are just amazing! Thanks.

I formed this -

```
\documentclass{article}
\usepackage[%
paperheight=11.69in,%
paperwidth=18in%
]%
{geometry}
\usepackage{tikz}
\usepackage{xcolor}
\pagecolor{blue!20!black}
\color{yellow!90!white}
\pagestyle{empty}

\begin{document}
\begin{tikzpicture}[remember picture, overlay]
  \node[xshift=-.25\paperwidth] at
  (current page.center) {%
    \includegraphics[scale=1]{back-cover}%
  };%
  \node[xshift=.25\paperwidth] at
  (current page.center) {%
    \includegraphics[scale=1]{front-cover}%
  };%
  \node[rotate=270] at
  (current page.center) {%
     text \hspace{6.8in} text
  };%
  \draw[white,thick] (current page.north west)++(0.525cm,0)
  -- ++(0,-11.69in); 
  \draw[white,thick] (current page.north west)++(0,-0.75cm)
  -- ++(18in,0);
  \draw[white,thick] (current page.north east)++(-0.525cm,0)
  -- ++(0,-11.69in); 
  \draw[white,thick] (current page.south west)++(0,0.75cm)
  -- ++(18in,0);
\end{tikzpicture}
\end{document}
```

samcarter replying to निरंजन

Are you looking for something like  
```  
  \draw[red,thick] (current page.north west)++(1cm,0) -- ++(0,-1cm);
  \draw[red,thick] (current page.north west)++(0,-1cm) -- ++(1cm,0);  
```

निरंजन

Okay. Thank you so much. PS: Have you missed the question at the end of the code I posted?

samcarter replying to निरंजन

Yes, the default anchor is in the centre. You can see this here:  
```  
\documentclass{article}

\usepackage{tikz}


\begin{document}

\begin{tikzpicture}[remember picture, overlay]
\node at (current page.north west) {\includegraphics[width=1cm]{example-image-duck}};
\end{tikzpicture}

\begin{tikzpicture}[remember picture, overlay]
\node[xshift=0.5cm] at (current page.north west) {\includegraphics[width=1cm]{example-image-duck}};
\end{tikzpicture}


\end{document}  
```

samcarter replying to निरंजन

Sorry, I was talking non-sense above, (0,0) wont be at the corner of the paper, but at the location of the tikz picture.

निरंजन replying to samcarter

Thanks, so if I place a 1cm object on (0,0) it will be placed at the center, which means actually at (0,0) will 0.5 cm will come and thus when shifting it will be moved from 0.5cm, right?

samcarter replying to निरंजन

Normally the shift starts from where the object would be otherwise. So if you locate something at (0,0) it will shift from there. If you use the `[remember picture, overlay]` options, the coordinates are from the top left corner of the paper.

निरंजन

I think I would prefer something like this -

```
\documentclass{article}
\usepackage[%
paperheight=11.69in,%
paperwidth=18in%
]%
{geometry}
\usepackage{tikz}
\usepackage{xcolor}
\pagecolor{blue!20!black}
\color{yellow!90!white}
\pagestyle{empty}

\begin{document}
\begin{tikzpicture}[remember picture, overlay]
  \node[xshift=-.25\paperwidth,draw=white] at
  (current page.center) {%
    \includegraphics[scale=1]{back-page}%
  };%
  \node[xshift=.25\paperwidth,draw=white] at
  (current page.center) {%
    \includegraphics[scale=1]{front-page}%
  };%
  \node[rotate=270] at
  (current page.center) {%
    Text
  };%
\end{tikzpicture}
\end{document}
```

It gives me output like the following -
![मुखपृष्ठ-व-मलपृष्ठ.jpeg](/image?hash=3cadc1eb6ef7b91bd32eb707e4e40990e1845599fe2cf7417ef45f062b465015)

Can you suggest a way in `tikz` with which I can add cutting guidelines like as in the following?

![बावकर.jpeg](/image?hash=f98ac43122ef4c1810c30e2bfeb5842b587472c36128bf772e84946a4cc61091)

निरंजन replying to marmot

Thanks for this suggestion, but I am not looking for something like this

निरंजन

Thanks, this goes very close to what I am trying to achieve. A general doubt, when in tikz we use xshift let's say for a 1cm object, **from exactly where the object is shifted?** e.g. Does the shifting start from 0cm or 0.5cm or 1cm?

marmot

@निरंजन, re: [your question](#question), how should the spine look like? Like [this](https://tex.stackexchange.com/a/229947)? (A variation thereof using pgf keys can be found [here](https://tex.stackexchange.com/a/540861).)

samcarter

Just as a proof of concept:
```  
\documentclass{article}
\usepackage[a3paper,landscape]{geometry}
\pagestyle{empty}

\usepackage{tikz}

\begin{document}

\begin{tikzpicture}[remember picture, overlay]
\node[xshift=-.25\paperwidth] at (current page.center) {\includegraphics[width=.45\paperwidth]{front-cover}};
\node[xshift=.25\paperwidth] at (current page.center) {\includegraphics[width=.45\paperwidth]{back-cover}};
\node[rotate=90,font=\Large] at (current page.center) {Some Text};
\end{tikzpicture}

\end{document}  
```  
(you'll have to calculate the exact values yourself, as I don't have the necessary data, e.g. margins, size of the front/back covers, etc)

0 Answers