LaTeX Research Posters

LaTeX Posters is a skill in K-Dense's Claude Scientific Writer (MIT plugin) for conference and symposium posters. It supports three LaTeX packages and pushes a visual-first design: the recommended workflow generates the major graphics with AI first, then assembles them in a template, aiming for roughly 60 to 70 percent visuals and 30 to 40 percent text.

Key Features

• Three packages: beamerposter for Beamer users and institutional themes, tikzposter for modern colorful layouts, and baposter for structured multi-column boxes. Templates for each are in assets/, with a package comparison in the reference files.
• Hard limits for AI graphics (version 1.4): 3 to 4 elements per graphic, at most 10 words, at least 50 percent white space, key numbers at 120 pt or more, labels at 80 pt or more, body text at 24 pt or more, 5 to 6 sections on an A0 poster, 300 to 800 words total, and figures at 0.85\linewidth.
• Two review gates: before generating, each graphic must carry one message; after generating, every figure is checked at 25 percent zoom and regenerated if it fails.
• Overflow is an error: after compiling, run grep -i overfull poster.log and inspect every edge. scripts/review_poster.sh poster.pdf runs a PDF quality check.
• Six-stage workflow: planning, visual generation, layout, content integration, refinement and print testing, then compilation with pdflatex or lualatex.

Use Cases

• An A0 or 36 by 48 inch conference poster built from a paper's results.
• Department poster templates with consistent branding.
• A thesis-defense poster with QR codes to supplementary material.

Pricing and Access

Free. You need a LaTeX distribution. AI graphics come from Scientific Schematics and use an optional OPENROUTER_API_KEY, billed by OpenRouter.

Getting Started

1. Install the plugin in Claude Code: /plugin marketplace add https://github.com/K-Dense-AI/claude-scientific-writer, then /plugin install claude-scientific-writer.
2. Confirm the event's poster size and orientation, and pick a package.
3. Generate simple graphics, for example python scripts/generate_schematic.py "POSTER FORMAT for A0. SIMPLE flowchart with ONLY 4 boxes" -o figures/methods.png, then compile and check for overflow.

Limitation: AI graphics can misrender numbers and labels, so proof every figure. The skill's own pitfalls list says complex flowcharts and multi-item comparisons fail most often; split them into several simple graphics.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I use my own figures instead of AI ones?

Yes. The templates accept any image through \includegraphics; the AI step is recommended, not required.

Which package should I choose?

beamerposter if you know Beamer, tikzposter for a modern look, baposter for rigid multi-column boxes.

Alternatives

• PPTX Posters Skill: HTML/CSS posters exportable to PDF or PowerPoint, for teams that do not use LaTeX.
• Venue Templates Skill: a single venue-agnostic beamerposter scaffold plus compliance notes.
• Scientific Slides Skill: the same content as a talk.

Conclusion

LaTeX Posters is useful if you already write in LaTeX and want strict, poster-specific readability rules enforced. Expect some trial and error with AI graphics and budget for a test print. More research tools are in the skills hub.