[texhax] graphics question

[Steve Peter]

On May 23, 2007, at 6:45 AM, Diego L. Guarín wrote:

> I have a question related to the treatment of the graphics in  
> latex, in the WYSIWYG programs (word, open-office, etc..) u can put  
> an image in the work space, send it to the
> background and then write over the image, to be more explicit i  
> send a picture showing that i mean.
> As far as i know in latex when u put a picture using
>
> \begin{figure}
>   % Requires \usepackage{graphicx}
>   \includegraphics[width=10cm]{image}\\
>   \caption{image}\label{this is a picture of u}
> \end{figure}
>
> latex separate a space that can only be occupied by the file name  
> image, so it´s impossible to write over the image, i´d have to  
> modify the picture in GIMP or some other program.
> Or it´s possible to do the same i show in the attacked picture in  
> latex?????

I (ab)use fancyhdr for this purpose. The trick is to include the  
graphic in the header, move it down to where you want it, then  
typeset your text. Here's a simple example (replace FILE with your  
actual graphic, and vary the amount of shift in the raisebox to taste):

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{graphicx}
\usepackage{fancyhdr}

\fancyhead{} % clear all fields
\fancyhead[C]{\raisebox{-10pc}[0pc][0pc]{\includegraphics{FILE}}}
\fancyfoot{}
\renewcommand{\headrulewidth}{0pt}
\renewcommand{\footrulewidth}{0pt}

\begin{document}
\pagestyle{fancy}

Testing to see if this text will overrun the picture included in the  
header. It works!

\end{document}

Alternatively, you can investigate the wallpaper package:
http://www.ctan.org/tex-archive/help/Catalogue/entries/wallpaper.html

Steve