NTUA Beamer

NTUA Beamer is a Beamer class for NTUA-style presentations, with an optional cross-platform CLI for scaffolding and building decks.

Preview

Install The Class

If you already have a TeX distribution and only want to start writing slides, install the class first.

Unix-like shells:

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/constatza/beamer-ntua/main/scripts/install-class.sh | sh

Windows PowerShell:

Invoke-RestMethod https://raw.githubusercontent.com/constatza/beamer-ntua/main/scripts/install-class.ps1 | Invoke-Expression

After that, this is enough to start:

\documentclass[10pt,aspectratio=169]{ntuabeamer}

\title{My Presentation}
\subtitle{Optional subtitle}
\author{NTUA School of Civil Engineering}
\date{\today}

\begin{document}

\begin{frame}[plain]
  \makepresentationtitle
\end{frame}

\sectiondivider{Overview}

\begin{frame}{First Slide}
  Hello world.
\end{frame}

\end{document}

Compile with:

latexmk -pdf -interaction=nonstopmode -halt-on-error main.tex

Your PDF will be written to:

.build/main.pdf

Quick Start With The Template

If you want a ready-to-use starter project with local assets and a vendored standalone class:

texlua scripts/ntua-beamer.lua setup
ntua-beamer new talks/my-first-talk
ntua-beamer build talks/my-first-talk/main.tex

On Unix-like systems, setup installs ntua-beamer and ntuabeamer-class into ~/.local/bin by default. If that directory is not already on your PATH, add:

export PATH="$HOME/.local/bin:$PATH"

The generated starter includes:

• main.tex
• .latexmkrc
• ntuabeamer.cls
• assets/

This path does not require a prior class install.

LaTeX Authoring API

The class is intended to be usable directly, without needing the CLI.

Core Commands

\makepresentationtitle
\sectiondivider{Section Title}
\twocols{...}{...}
\threecols{...}{...}{...}
\framesource{key}{text}
\framecite{key}

Typical Usage

\begin{frame}{Two-Column Example\framecite{goodfellow2014}}
  \twocols{%
    Left column content.
  }{%
    Right column content.
  }
\end{frame}

Frame Sources

\framesource and \framecite provide per-frame reference marks in the footer.

\framesource{goodfellow2014}{Goodfellow et al. \emph{Generative Adversarial Nets}. NeurIPS, 2014.}

\begin{frame}{GANs\framecite{goodfellow2014}}
  Reusing the same key keeps the same mark\framecite{goodfellow2014}.
\end{frame}

If a deck uses biblatex, \framecite{key} can also fall back to \fullcite{key}.

Theme And Logo Configuration

Use \ntuabeamersetup{...} for normal deck-level customization.

\ntuabeamersetup{
  assetpath=assets,
  topleftlogo=assets/my-top-left-logo.pdf,
  toprightlogo=assets/my-top-right-logo.pdf,
  bottomleftlogo=assets/my-bottom-left-logo.pdf,
  bottomrightlogo=assets/my-bottom-right-logo.pdf,
  headerleftlogo=assets/my-header-left-logo.pdf,
  headerrightlogo=assets/my-header-right-logo.pdf,
}

Supported keys:

• assetpath
• topleftlogo
• toprightlogo
• bottomleftlogo
• bottomrightlogo
• headerleftlogo
• headerrightlogo
• topleftlogomaxwidth
• topleftlogomaxheight
• toprightlogomaxwidth
• toprightlogomaxheight
• bottomleftlogomaxwidth
• bottomleftlogomaxheight
• bottomrightlogomaxwidth
• bottomrightlogomaxheight
• headerleftlogomaxwidth
• headerleftlogomaxheight
• headerrightlogomaxwidth
• headerrightlogomaxheight

Slot mapping:

• topleftlogo: title slide top-left
• toprightlogo: title slide top-right
• bottomleftlogo: title slide bottom-left
• bottomrightlogo: title slide bottom-right
• headerleftlogo: frame header left
• headerrightlogo: frame header right

If you installed the class with the provided installer, or created a project with ntua-beamer new, the default logos are already available.

To omit a logo, set it to an empty value:

\ntuabeamersetup{
  toprightlogo=,
  bottomleftlogo=,
  headerleftlogo=,
}

To constrain unusually wide or tall logos, set a fit box with ...logomaxwidth and ...logomaxheight:

\ntuabeamersetup{
  headerrightlogo=assets/lab-logo.pdf,
  headerrightlogomaxwidth=1.3cm,
  headerrightlogomaxheight=0.8cm,
}

If a logo file is missing, the class omits that logo instead of failing the build.

Optional CLI Tooling

The CLI is useful when you want a ready-made starter, explicit export commands, or a path-first workflow across arbitrary directories.

Bootstrap once:

texlua scripts/ntua-beamer.lua setup

Workflow commands:

ntua-beamer doctor
ntua-beamer new <directory>
ntua-beamer build [path]
ntua-beamer build --all [directory]
ntua-beamer export <path> --output <file-or-dir>

Behavior:

• build [path] builds one root .tex file
• build with no path finds the nearest root .tex from the current directory upward
• build --all [directory] recursively finds and builds every root .tex file
• export builds one root file and copies the resulting PDF to an explicit destination
• every build writes all artifacts into a sibling .build/ directory next to the source file

Examples:

ntua-beamer build talks/my-first-talk/main.tex
ntua-beamer build
ntua-beamer export talks/my-first-talk/main.tex --output out/

Class Packaging And Global Install

If you want to package or install the class through the CLI instead of the one-line installer:

ntuabeamer-class package
ntuabeamer-class install
ntuabeamer-class uninstall

install copies the modular class bundle into TEXMFHOME, so:

\documentclass{ntuabeamer}

works from arbitrary projects.

Requirements

Required:

Tool	Why
TeX distribution	Core LaTeX, Beamer, TikZ, fonts, and texlua
latexmk	Main build driver

Optional:

Tool	Why
kpsewhich	Resolves TEXMFHOME for class install tooling
biber	Needed only for decks that explicitly use biblatex

Recommended distributions:

• macOS: MacTeX
• Linux: TeX Live with latexmk
• Windows: MiKTeX or TeX Live

Verification:

texlua --version
latexmk --version
kpsewhich beamer.cls

Notes

• The class can be used in three ways: globally installed into TEXMFHOME, copied locally next to a document, or vendored through ntua-beamer new.
• The CLI is path-based and does not assume deck names or fixed project directories.
• CI generates a fresh starter project and publishes its PDF as a GitHub artifact instead of committing demo PDFs.