Paper Poster: From Paper to Conference Poster

Generate a conference poster from: $ARGUMENTS

Context

This skill runs after Workflow 3 (/aris-paper-writing). It takes a compiled paper and generates a print-ready poster for conference poster sessions. The poster extracts key content from the paper — it does not dump the full paper text onto a poster.

Unlike papers (dense prose, 8-15 pages), posters are visual-first: one page, 4 columns, bullet points only, figures dominant. A good poster tells the story in 60 seconds.

Constants

• VENUE = NeurIPS — Target venue, determines color scheme. Supported: NeurIPS, ICML, ICLR, AAAI, ACL, EMNLP, CVPR, ECCV, GENERIC. Override via argument (e.g., /aris-paper-poster "— venue: ICML").
• POSTER_SIZE = A0 — Paper size. Options: A0 (841x1189mm, default), A1 (594x841mm).
• ORIENTATION = landscape — Orientation. Options: landscape (default), portrait.
• COLUMNS = 4 — Number of content columns. Typical: 4 for landscape A0 (IMRAD), 3 for portrait A0 (research consensus), 2 for portrait A1. Portrait A0 should NEVER use 4 columns — text becomes too narrow and unreadable.
• PAPER_DIR = paper/ — Directory containing the compiled paper (main.tex + figures/).
• OUTPUT_DIR = poster/ — Output directory for all poster files.
• REVIEWER_MODEL = gpt-5.4 — Model used via Codex MCP for poster review.
• AUTO_PROCEED = false — At each checkpoint, always wait for explicit user confirmation. Set true only if user explicitly requests fully autonomous mode.
• COMPILER = latexmk — LaTeX build tool.
• ENGINE = pdflatex — LaTeX engine. Use xelatex for CJK text.

💡 Override: /aris-paper-poster "paper/" — venue: CVPR, size: A1, orientation: portrait, columns: 3

Venue Color Schemes

Use deep, saturated colors for primary — pastel/light colors wash out on large posters viewed from distance. Each venue uses a 3-color system: primary (dark, for title bar), secondary (medium, for section headers), accent (contrast, for highlights).

Venue	Primary	Secondary	Accent	Background	Text
NeurIPS	#4C1D95 (deep purple)	#6D28D9 (purple)	#2563EB (blue)	#F5F3FF	#1F2937
ICML	#7F1D1D (deep maroon)	#B91C1C (red)	#1E40AF (blue)	#EDD5D5	#111827
ICLR	#065F46 (deep green)	#059669 (green)	#0284C7 (blue)	#F0FDF4	#1F2937
CVPR	#1E3A8A (deep blue)	#2563EB (blue)	#7C3AED (purple)	#F8FAFC	#1F2937
AAAI	#0C4A6E (deep navy)	#0369A1 (blue)	#DC2626 (red)	#F0F9FF	#1F2937
ACL	#155E75 (deep teal)	#0891B2 (teal)	#7C3AED (purple)	#F0FDFA	#1F2937
EMNLP	#713F12 (deep amber)	#D97706 (amber)	#2563EB (blue)	#FFFBEB	#1F2937
ECCV	#701A75 (deep fuchsia)	#C026D3 (fuchsia)	#0891B2 (teal)	#FDF4FF	#1F2937
GENERIC	#1E293B (deep slate)	#334155 (slate)	#2563EB (blue)	#F8FAFC	#1F2937

⚠️ Color lesson: Never use light/pastel colors (e.g., #8B5CF6) as primary — they look washed out on A0 posters. Always use the darkest shade as primary for the title bar.

State Persistence (Compact Recovery)

Poster generation can be long. Persist state to poster/POSTER_STATE.json after each phase:

{
  "phase": 3,
  "venue": "NeurIPS",
  "poster_size": "A0",
  "orientation": "landscape",
  "columns": 4,
  "figures_selected": ["architecture.pdf", "results.pdf"],
  "codex_thread_id": "019cfcf4-...",
  "status": "in_progress",
  "timestamp": "2026-03-18T15:00:00"
}

On startup: if POSTER_STATE.json exists with "status": "in_progress" and within 24h → resume from saved phase. Otherwise → fresh start.

Critical LaTeX Architecture Decisions

⚠️ MUST use article class, NEVER beamer class. The beamer class consumes too many TeX grouping levels for its overlay/mode system. Combined with tcbposter's enhanced style on 8+ posterboxes, this triggers ! TeX capacity exceeded, sorry [grouping levels=255]. The article class + geometry package for custom page size is the correct approach. This was validated through 5 failed compilation attempts with beamer before switching to article.

⚠️ NEVER use adjustbox package. It may not be installed in minimal TeX distributions. Use plain \includegraphics[width=0.96\linewidth]{file} instead. Do NOT use max height option (requires adjustbox).

Template Foundation

\documentclass{article}
% A0 landscape: paperwidth=1189mm,paperheight=841mm
% A0 portrait:  paperwidth=841mm,paperheight=1189mm
\usepackage[paperwidth=1189mm,paperheight=841mm,margin=0mm]{geometry}
\usepackage{tcolorbox}
\tcbuselibrary{poster,skins,fitting}
\usepackage{graphicx}
\usepackage{amsmath,amssymb}
\usepackage{enumitem}
\usepackage[table]{xcolor}  % MUST use [table] option for \rowcolor in tables
\usepackage{lmodern}
\usepackage[T1]{fontenc}
\pagestyle{empty}

⚠️ NEVER use \usepackage[most]{tcolorbox} — it pulls in listingsutf8.sty which may not be installed. Always use \tcbuselibrary{poster,skins,fitting} explicitly.

⚠️ Use [table]{xcolor} not plain {xcolor} — needed for \rowcolor in benchmark tables. The colortbl package is loaded automatically by this option.

tcbposter Layout Rules (Critical)

⚠️ The #1 cause of poster failures is content overflow. tcbposter uses a fixed grid — content that exceeds the box is silently clipped with no compilation error. You will NOT see any warning; the poster will simply be cut off.

⚠️ The #2 cause is large whitespace gaps. Using too few rows (e.g., rows=5) creates ~168mm per row on A0 landscape. If title text only needs 120mm, the remaining 48mm is wasted whitespace. Solution: use rows=20 for fine-grained control (~42mm per row).

Grid System: rows=20 (Critical)

Use rows=20 for A0 landscape. Each row ≈ 42mm, giving precise control over section heights.

Recommended row allocation for 4-column A0 landscape:

Section	Rows	Height	Row range
Title bar	3	~126mm	top to row4
Stat banner	2	~84mm	row4 to row6
Body content	14	~588mm	row6 to bottom

Key principle: Always use between=rowN and rowM syntax (not below=name) for precise vertical placement. The below= syntax lets tcolorbox auto-place, which often leaves unwanted gaps.

Row Count Guidance

Poster Size	Orientation	Recommended rows	Columns	Row height
A0	landscape	20	4	~42mm
A0	portrait	20	3	~59mm
A1	landscape	16	3	~37mm
A1	portrait	20	2	~30mm

Portrait A0 Layout (3 columns, rows=20)

⚠️ Portrait A0 posters use 2-3 columns, NEVER 4. Research consensus: "Two columns is typical for a poster with a portrait orientation" (Colin Purrington, NYU poster guides). At 841mm width, 4 columns give only ~195mm per column — too narrow for readable text at poster-session distance. 3 columns (~260mm each) is the recommended default for content-rich papers. Use 2 columns for simpler posters or when figures need more horizontal space.

For portrait posters (841x1189mm), use a 3-column, 3-row-band layout:

Section	Rows	Row range	Content
Title bar	4	top to row4	Title + authors + venue (span=3)
Stat banner	2	row4 to row6	3 headline stat callouts (span=3)
Row A	5	row6 to row11	Background+Motivation, Method (hero fig), Key Results (fig)
Row B	5	row11 to row16	Contributions, Equations+Ablation, Result 2 (fig+table)
Row C	4	row16 to bottom	References+QR, Setup+Benchmarks, Key Takeaways

3-column portrait layout diagram:

┌─────────────────────────────────────┐
│         TITLE BAR (span=3)          │
├─────────────────────────────────────┤
│   Stat 1   │   Stat 2   │  Stat 3  │
├────────────┼────────────┼──────────┤
│ Background │  Method    │ Result 1 │
│ & Motiv.   │ (hero fig) │ (figure) │
├────────────┼────────────┼──────────┤
│ Contribu-  │ Equations  │ Result 2 │
│ tions      │ & Ablation │ (fig+tbl)│
├────────────┼────────────┼──────────┤
│ References │  Setup &   │   Key    │
│ + QR Code  │ Benchmarks │Takeaways │
└────────────┴────────────┴──────────┘

⚠️ All 3 columns in each row band share the same row boundaries. This ensures cross-column alignment. Never mix row6 to row11 in one column with row6 to row10 in another — it creates visual misalignment.

⚠️ Use spacing=0mm for tight layouts. Card separation is handled by card styles (left accent stripe, drop shadow), not grid spacing. Grid spacing > 2mm creates visible gaps between rows.

Modern Card Design System (Left Accent Stripe)

Instead of rounded boxes with colored headers, use a left accent stripe design. This is cleaner, more modern, and avoids the "PowerPoint box" look.

Define 4 card styles using the venue's 3-color system:

% Tinted card backgrounds (NOT pure white — adds warmth)
\definecolor{redbg}{HTML}{FFF5F3}     % warm pink tint for redcard
\definecolor{bluebg}{HTML}{F0F4FF}    % cool blue tint for bluecard
\definecolor{darkbg}{HTML}{FDF6F3}    % warm cream tint for darkcard
\definecolor{redtitlebg}{HTML}{FDEAE8}   % title bar tint
\definecolor{bluetitlebg}{HTML}{E4ECFF}
\definecolor{darktitlebg}{HTML}{F5E8E2}

\tcbset{
  redcard/.style={
    enhanced, arc=0pt, boxrule=0pt, colback=redbg,
    borderline west={5pt}{0pt}{secondary},
    left=16pt, right=14pt, top=4pt, bottom=4pt,
    fonttitle=\fontsize{40}{48}\selectfont\bfseries\color{secondary},
    coltitle=secondary, colbacktitle=redtitlebg,
    toptitle=6pt, bottomtitle=6pt,
    titlerule=2pt, titlerule style={secondary!50},
    valign=top, drop shadow={opacity=0.18},
  },
  bluecard/.style={...same pattern with accent color and bluebg...},
  darkcard/.style={...same pattern with primary color and darkbg...},
  highlightcard/.style={
    enhanced, arc=0pt, boxrule=0pt, colback=primary!18!white,
    borderline west={6pt}{0pt}{primary},
    fonttitle=...\color{white}, colbacktitle=primary,
    ...
  },
}

Card assignment pattern (creates visual rhythm):

• redcard (secondary stripe): Background, Key Idea, Ablation, References, Setup
• bluecard (accent stripe): Result 1, Result 2, Benchmarks, Analysis
• darkcard (primary stripe): Contributions, Method
• highlightcard (primary fill): Key Takeaways / Conclusion

⚠️ Card backgrounds must NOT be pure white (#FFFFFF). Use subtle tints matching the card's color family. Pure white cards on a tinted poster background look disconnected. The tint should be barely visible but adds cohesion.

Figure + Caption Macro

Define a consistent macro for all figures to ensure uniform spacing:

\newcommand{\posterfig}[3]{%
  \centering\includegraphics[width=#1\linewidth]{#2}\\[3mm]
  {\fontsize{26}{32}\selectfont\color{textgray}\textit{#3}}\vspace{2mm}%
}
% Usage: \posterfig{0.96}{figures/results.png}{Caption text here.}

⚠️ Inconsistent figure-text spacing is the #1 visual flaw in generated posters. The \posterfig macro enforces uniform 3mm gap + 2mm bottom padding across all figures.

Content Colorbox Intensity

Inside cards, use \colorbox{color!N} for highlighted blocks. The intensity N must be 18-25% (not 8-12% which is too faint):

% TOO FAINT (invisible on print):
\colorbox{primary!8}{\parbox{...}{...}}

% CORRECT (visible, distinct):
\colorbox{primary!20}{\parbox{0.94\linewidth}{...}}
\colorbox{accent!20}{\parbox{0.94\linewidth}{...}}
\colorbox{secondary!20}{\parbox{0.94\linewidth}{...}}

Similarly, \rowcolor in tables should use 15% intensity: \rowcolor{primary!15}.

Font Size Rules (A0 at article class — NO scale factor)

⚠️ Critical: When using article class (not beamerposter), there is NO automatic scale factor. All font sizes are literal. A poster viewed from 1.5m needs much larger fonts than you think.

Element	Font size	Leading	Example
Title	90pt	108pt	\fontsize{90}{108}\selectfont
Author line	42pt	50pt	\fontsize{42}{50}\selectfont
Section headers	42pt	50pt	via fonttitle=\fontsize{42}{50}...
Sub-headers	38pt	46pt	\subheader{}{} command
Body text	34pt	44pt	\fontsize{34}{44}\selectfont
Stat callout numbers	72pt	86pt	\fontsize{72}{86}\selectfont
Stat callout labels	30pt	36pt	\fontsize{30}{36}\selectfont
Equations	32pt	40pt	\fontsize{32}{40}\selectfont
Table cells	30pt	38pt	\fontsize{30}{38}\selectfont
Figure captions	28pt	34pt	\fontsize{28}{34}\selectfont
References	30pt	40pt	\fontsize{30}{40}\selectfont

⚠️ Lesson learned from testing: Body text at 20pt on A0 is unreadable from more than 0.5m. 34pt is the minimum for comfortable reading at poster-session distance.

Content Budget

Total target: 300-500 words (excluding figure captions and stat callout numbers).

⚠️ The #1 content mistake is too much text. A poster is NOT a paper summary — it's a visual guide. Each bullet should be a key phrase (5-8 words), not a sentence. If you find yourself writing full sentences, you're putting too much text.

⚠️ Content density calibration: When in doubt, use LESS text. It's much easier to add a few words than to trim dense paragraphs. Target ~70% fill per card (some breathing room), NOT 100%.

Box type	Max bullets	Max words	Figure?	Style
Background	3	40-60	No	Short bullets + 1 key insight colorbox
Key Idea / Architecture	0-1	20-30	Yes (hero fig)	Figure dominant + 2 one-liner colorboxes
Contributions	3-4	60-80	No	Numbered, 1 line each
Method	2-3	40-60	No	2 equation colorboxes + 3 short bullets
Results (each)	2-3	30-50	Yes (figure)	Figure + 2-3 one-line colorboxes
Ablation	3	30-40	No	3 colorboxes, 2 lines each max
Analysis	3	30-50	Yes (figure)	Figure + 3 one-line colorboxes
References	4-5	30-40	No	Author (year). Short title. Venue
Setup	4-5	30-40	No	5 one-liner colorboxes
Benchmarks	0	20	No	Table + 1-line caption
Key Takeaways	3	30-40	No	3 short items + code link

Bullet point rules:

• Maximum 8 words per bullet when possible
• Use $\Rightarrow$ and $\to$ for causal arrows instead of words
• Numbers > words: "42% less memory" not "reduces memory usage by 42 percent"
• Colorbox labels: "vs. Depth: 4L CoE ≈ 12L MoE, 42% less memory" (one line)

Recommended 4-Column IMRAD Layout

┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                    TITLE BAR (span=4)                     │
│     Title (90pt) + Authors (42pt) + Venue + GitHub        │
├──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│  Stat 1  │  Stat 2  │  Stat 3  │  Stat 4  │  STAT BANNER│
├──────────┼──────────┼──────────┼──────────┤             │
│Background│ Dataset  │Architectu│ Result 2 │             │
│    &     │    &     │   re     │  + Table │             │
│Motivation│Paradigms │ Overview │  + Stats │             │
│    +     │  + Fig   │  + Fig   │  + Fig   │             │
│Contributi│          │──────────│──────────│             │
│   ons    │──────────│ Result 1 │ Ablation │             │
│──────────│Computat. │  + Fig   │──────────│             │
│References│ Models   │  + Table │Conclusion│             │
│ + QR Code│+ Equations│ + Bullets│ + Future │             │
└──────────┴──────────┴──────────┴──────────┘

Workflow

Phase 0: Input Validation & Setup

1. Check prerequisites:

   which pdflatex && which latexmk
   

   If LaTeX is NOT installed, try in order:

   # Option 1: brew cask (requires sudo — may fail in non-interactive shells)
   brew install --cask mactex-no-gui
   
   # Option 2: BasicTeX (smaller, may still need sudo)
   brew install --cask basictex
   
   # Option 3: User-directory install (NO sudo needed — always works)
   curl -L https://mirror.ctan.org/systems/texlive/tlnet/install-tl-unx.tar.gz | tar xz
   cd install-tl-*
   cat > texlive.profile << 'PROF'
   selected_scheme scheme-basic
   TEXDIR ~/texlive/YYYY
   TEXMFLOCAL ~/texlive/texmf-local
   TEXMFSYSCONFIG ~/texlive/YYYY/texmf-config
   TEXMFSYSVAR ~/texlive/YYYY/texmf-var
   TEXMFHOME ~/texmf
   binary_x86_64-darwin 1
   instopt_adjustpath 0
   instopt_adjustrepo 1
   instopt_write18_restricted 1
   tlpdbopt_autobackup 1
   tlpdbopt_install_docfiles 0
   tlpdbopt_install_srcfiles 0
   PROF
   ./install-tl --profile=texlive.profile
   export PATH="$HOME/texlive/YYYY/bin/universal-darwin:$PATH"
   

   After installation, install required packages:

   tlmgr install tcolorbox pgf etoolbox environ trimspaces \
     type1cm pdfcol tikzfill latexmk lm enumitem geometry
   

   ⚠️ Lesson learned: brew install --cask mactex-no-gui often fails in non-interactive shells because the macOS installer requires sudo password. The user-directory TeX Live install (Option 3) always works without sudo.

   ⚠️ Do NOT install or use beamerposter. The article class approach does not need it.

2. Verify paper exists:

   ls $PAPER_DIR/main.tex || ls $PAPER_DIR/main.pdf
   ls $PAPER_DIR/sections/*.tex
   ls $PAPER_DIR/figures/
   

3. Backup existing poster: if poster/ exists, copy to poster-backup-{timestamp}/

4. Create output directory: mkdir -p poster/figures

5. Copy figures to poster directory:

   # IMPORTANT: Use cp, NOT ln -sf (symlinks)
   # pdflatex often fails to resolve symlinks across directories
   cp paper/figures/selected_figure.pdf poster/figures/
   

   ⚠️ Never use symlinks for poster figures. pdflatex cannot reliably follow symlinks across directories. Always cp the actual files.

6. Convert PDF figures to PNG for PPTX embedding:

   python3 -c "import pdf2image" 2>/dev/null || pip install pdf2image
   # For each figure:
   python3 -c "
   from pdf2image import convert_from_path
   for name in ['paradigm', 'architecture', 'results', 'hallucination']:
       imgs = convert_from_path(f'poster/figures/{name}.pdf', dpi=300)
       imgs[0].save(f'poster/figures/{name}.png', 'PNG')
   "
   

   ⚠️ python-pptx CANNOT embed PDF images. You MUST convert to PNG first. This is a hard limitation of the OOXML format. Always generate PNG copies at 300 DPI during setup.

7. Detect CJK: if paper contains Chinese/Japanese/Korean text, set ENGINE to xelatex

8. Check for resume: read poster/POSTER_STATE.json if it exists

Phase 1: Content Extraction

Read each section from paper/sections/*.tex and extract poster-appropriate content:

Extraction rules — a poster shows ~30-40% of the paper's content:

Paper Section	Poster Extraction	Target Length
Abstract	Skip — replace with 2-4 big-number stat callout boxes spanning all columns	0 words (numbers only)
Introduction	Motivation: 2-3 bullet points + numbered contribution list (4 items)	120-160 words
Method	1 hero architecture figure + key equations + 3-5 bullet points	80-120 words
Experiments	Dataset details + main result figures + numeric stat tables + ablation	150-200 words
Conclusion	3-4 key findings + 2-3 next steps	60-80 words
Related Work	Skip entirely — no space on poster	0

Total target: 400-700 words (excluding figure captions and stat callout numbers).

⚠️ No abstract paragraph on poster. Replace with a stat banner: 3-4 large-number callout boxes showing headline results. This is the single highest-impact change for 60-second comprehension.

Output: poster/POSTER_CONTENT_PLAN.md — structured markdown showing exactly what goes where, with word counts per box.

🚦 Checkpoint:

📋 Poster content plan ready:
- Title: [paper title]
- Venue: [VENUE] ([POSTER_SIZE] [ORIENTATION])
- Layout: [COLUMNS] columns, rows=20
- Figures selected: [N] figures
- Boxes per column: Col1=[N], Col2=[N], Col3=[N], Col4=[N]
- Estimated word count: [N] words

Proceed with this layout? Or adjust content selection?

⛔ STOP HERE and wait for user response.

State: Write POSTER_STATE.json with phase: 1.

Phase 2: Figure Selection & Layout

1. Inventory all figures in paper/figures/:

   ls -la paper/figures/*.{pdf,png,jpg,svg} 2>/dev/null
   

2. Rank by poster importance:

   • Tier 1 (must include): Architecture/method overview diagram, main results plot
   • Tier 2 (include if space): Ablation bar chart, qualitative examples, experimental paradigm
   • Tier 3 (skip): Appendix figures, supplementary plots, tables-as-figures

3. Select top 3-5 figures that fit the 4-column layout

4. Copy figures to poster directory (NOT symlinks) + convert PDF→PNG for PPTX

5. Design column layout — 4-column IMRAD:

   • Col 1: Background & Motivation + Contributions + References & QR
   • Col 2: Dataset & Paradigms (fig) + Computational Models (equations)
   • Col 3: Architecture (fig) + Result 1 (fig + stat table)
   • Col 4: Result 2 (fig + stat table) + Ablation + Conclusion

Phase 3: Generate Poster LaTeX

Create poster/main.tex using article class + geometry + tcbposter.

Template structure (validated through testing):

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage[paperwidth=1189mm,paperheight=841mm,margin=0mm]{geometry}
\usepackage{tcolorbox}
\tcbuselibrary{poster,skins,fitting}
\usepackage{graphicx}
\usepackage{amsmath,amssymb}
\usepackage{enumitem}
\usepackage[table]{xcolor}
\usepackage{lmodern}
\usepackage[T1]{fontenc}
\pagestyle{empty}

% ── Venue Color Theme ──
\definecolor{primary}{HTML}{VENUE_PRIMARY}     % deep, saturated
\definecolor{secondary}{HTML}{VENUE_SECONDARY} % medium
\definecolor{accent}{HTML}{VENUE_ACCENT}       % contrast
\definecolor{bgposter}{HTML}{VENUE_BG_DEEP}    % poster background (NOT white, use tinted)
\definecolor{redbg}{HTML}{FFF5F3}              % card backgrounds (tinted, NOT white)
\definecolor{bluebg}{HTML}{F0F4FF}
\definecolor{darkbg}{HTML}{FDF6F3}
\definecolor{redtitlebg}{HTML}{FDEAE8}         % card title bar backgrounds
\definecolor{bluetitlebg}{HTML}{E4ECFF}
\definecolor{darktitlebg}{HTML}{F5E8E2}
\definecolor{textdark}{HTML}{111827}
\definecolor{textgray}{HTML}{4B5563}
\definecolor{stathighlight}{HTML}{FEE8E8}

\pagecolor{bgposter}
\color{textdark}

% ── List styling ──
\setlist[itemize]{leftmargin=24pt, itemsep=6pt, parsep=2pt, topsep=2pt,
  label={\color{secondary}$\blacktriangleright$}}
\setlist[enumerate]{leftmargin=24pt, itemsep=6pt, parsep=2pt, topsep=2pt,
  label={\color{primary}\bfseries\arabic*.}}

% ── Figure+caption macro (ensures uniform spacing) ──
\newcommand{\posterfig}[3]{%
  \centering\includegraphics[width=#1\linewidth]{#2}\\[3mm]
  {\fontsize{26}{32}\selectfont\color{textgray}\textit{#3}}\vspace{2mm}%
}