Latex Beamer

LaTeX & Beamer on macOS (TeX Live)

When to Activate

• Compiling .tex files on macOS
• Authoring or editing Beamer presentations
• Diagnosing LaTeX compilation errors
• Working with bibliographies (bibtex/natbib)

Prerequisites Check

which pdflatex          # should return /Library/TeX/texbin/pdflatex
pdflatex --version      # TeX Live version
which latexmk           # optional but preferred for automation

If missing: install MacTeX from https://tug.org/mactex/ (full install 5 GB) or BasicTeX (100 MB, minimal).

Compilation

Standard (manual, 2 passes)

Always run twice — first pass builds .aux, second pass resolves cross-references and TOC.

cd /path/to/project
pdflatex main.tex && pdflatex main.tex

With bibliography (bibtex)

pdflatex main.tex
bibtex main
pdflatex main.tex
pdflatex main.tex

With latexmk (preferred — handles passes automatically)

latexmk -pdf main.tex          # compile
latexmk -pdf -pvc main.tex     # watch mode (recompiles on save)
latexmk -C                     # clean all generated files

Clean auxiliary files manually

rm -f *.aux *.log *.out *.toc *.bbl *.blg *.nav *.snm *.vrb

Common Errors and Fixes

Read the log

grep -n "^!" main.log          # fatal errors
grep -n "Warning" main.log     # warnings

Install missing packages (TeX Live)

sudo tlmgr update --self
sudo tlmgr install <package-name>   # e.g.: tlmgr install beamer
sudo tlmgr install collection-latexrecommended   # common bundle

Beamer Patterns

Minimal slide structure

\documentclass[aspectratio=169]{beamer}
\usetheme{SimplePlus}          % or Madrid, Warsaw, etc.
\usepackage{amsmath,amssymb,bm}
\usepackage{graphicx,booktabs}

\title{Title}
\author{Author}
\date{\today}

\begin{document}
\begin{frame}
    \titlepage
\end{frame}
\begin{frame}{Contenido}
    \tableofcontents
\end{frame}

\section{Sección 1}
\input{sections/01_intro.tex}
\end{document}

Frame types

% Two columns
\begin{frame}{Título}
    \begin{columns}[T]
    \begin{column}{0.48\textwidth}
        Columna izquierda
    \end{column}
    \begin{column}{0.48\textwidth}
        Columna derecha
    \end{column}
    \end{columns}
\end{frame}

% Alert / Example blocks
\begin{alertblock}{Problema}
    Texto en rojo.
\end{alertblock}

\begin{exampleblock}{Solución}
    Texto en verde.
\end{exampleblock}

% Figure
\begin{frame}{Figura}
    \begin{center}
        \includegraphics[width=0.8\linewidth]{fig/nombre.png}
        {\footnotesize Descripción de la figura}
    \end{center}
\end{frame}

% Table
\begin{frame}{Tabla}
    \begin{table}
    \small
    \begin{tabular}{@{}lcc@{}}
    \toprule
    \textbf{Col 1} & \textbf{Col 2} & \textbf{Col 3} \\
    \midrule
    A & 1.23 & 4.56 \\
    \bottomrule
    \end{tabular}
    \end{table}
\end{frame}

TikZ diagrams in Beamer

\usepackage{tikz}
\usetikzlibrary{arrows.meta, positioning, shapes.geometric}

\begin{frame}{Diagrama}
\begin{center}
\begin{tikzpicture}[
    node distance=0.5cm and 0.4cm,
    box/.style={draw, rounded corners, minimum width=2cm, minimum height=0.8cm,
                align=center, font=\small},
    done/.style={box, fill=green!20, draw=green!60!black},
    curr/.style={box, fill=orange!20, draw=orange},
    future/.style={box, fill=gray!15, draw=gray},
    arrow/.style={-{Stealth[length=2mm]}, thick}
]
    \node[done]   (a) {Fase 0\\\checkmark};
    \node[curr,   right=of a] (b) {Fase 1\\En curso};
    \node[future, right=of b] (c) {Fase 2\\Futuro};
    \draw[arrow] (a) -- (b);
    \draw[arrow] (b) -- (c);
\end{tikzpicture}
\end{center}
\end{frame}

Math in Beamer

% Inline
$\omega_e = (P/2)\,\omega_m$

% Display
\begin{equation}
    \mathbf{e}_{\alpha\beta} = K_e\,\omega_m\,\mathbf{s}(\theta_e)
\end{equation}

% Aligned
\begin{align}
    f_1 &= \frac{1}{L}(u_1 - e - R\,i) \\
    f_2 &= \frac{1}{L}(u_2 - e - R\,i)
\end{align}

Placeholder for missing figures

\newcommand{\placeholder}[2][0.8\textwidth]{%
    \begin{center}
    \fcolorbox{gray}{gray!10}{%
        \parbox{#1}{\centering\vspace{1cm}\textit{#2}\vspace{1cm}}%
    }
    \end{center}
}
% Usage:
\placeholder[0.6\textwidth]{Figura: ripple vs velocidad}

Project Layout (modular)

presentation/
├── main.tex              # root: \input{sections/...}
├── reference.bib         # bibliography
├── fig/                  # all images (.png, .pdf, .eps)
├── sections/
│   ├── 01_intro.tex
│   ├── 02_theory.tex
│   └── ...
└── theme/                # custom .sty files if any

• Keep one \section per file in sections/.
• Use \input{}, not \include{} (no forced page breaks).
• Store figures as PNG (≥150 DPI) or PDF (vector, preferred for equations).

Open PDF after compilation (macOS)

open main.pdf             # opens in Preview
open -a Skim main.pdf     # Skim supports auto-reload on recompile

Skim (free, recommended): https://skim-app.sourceforge.io/