Btukfyl

You may be interested in pgfornament.

PassOptionsToPackage{svgnames}{xcolor}

documentclass[11pt]{article}

usepackage[object=vectorian]{pgfornament} %%  http://altermundus.com/pages/tkz/ornament/index.html

usepackage{lipsum,tikz}



newcommand{sectionline}{%

  noindent

  begin{center}

  {color{DarkViolet}

    resizebox{0.5linewidth}{1ex}

    {{%

    {begin{tikzpicture}

    node  (C) at (0,0) {};

    node (D) at (9,0) {};

    path (C) to [ornament=85] (D);

    end{tikzpicture}}}}}%

    end{center}

  }

%% A macro with two arguments to change ornaments and colors easily

%% Syntax -- sectionlinetwo{<color>}{<ornament>}

newcommand{sectionlinetwo}[2]{%

  nointerlineskip vspace{.5baselineskip}hspace{fill}

  {color{#1}

    resizebox{0.5linewidth}{2ex}

    {{%

    {begin{tikzpicture}

    node  (C) at (0,0) {};

    node (D) at (9,0) {};

    path (C) to [ornament=#2] (D);

    end{tikzpicture}}}}}%

    hspace{fill}

    parnointerlineskip vspace{.5baselineskip}

  }



begin{document}

lipsum[1]

sectionline

lipsum[2]

sectionlinetwo{magenta}{84}

lipsum[3]

sectionlinetwo{DarkGreen}{88}

end{document}

As pointed by Gonzalo, pgfornaments can be used without tikzpicture environment as

newcommand{sectionlinetwo}[2]{%

  nointerlineskip vspace{.5baselineskip}hspace{fill}

  {resizebox{0.5linewidth}{1.2ex}

    {pgfornament[color = #1]{#2}

    }}%

    hspace{fill}

    parnointerlineskip vspace{.5baselineskip}

  }

hence making code less cluttered.

In general:

rule{width}{height}

macro:

newcommand{sectionline}{%

  nointerlineskip vspace{baselineskip}%

  hspace{fill}rule{0.5linewidth}{.7pt}hspace{fill}%

  parnointerlineskip vspace{baselineskip}

}

The web-O-mints package offers here another option; a little example:

documentclass[12pt]{article}

usepackage[vmargin=2.5cm]{geometry}

usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}

usepackage[T1]{fontenc}

usepackage{graphicx}

usepackage{fourier}

usepackage[nopar]{lipsum}



newcommanddeco[2]{%

  parvspace{1ex}

  begin{center}

  fontsize{#1}{#1}usefont{U}{webo}{xl}{n}#2

  end{center}

  vspace*{1ex}par

}



newcounter{mytimes}

newcommandOPpattern{%

loop

ifnumvalue{mytimes}<7relax

stepcounter{mytimes}%

rotatebox{90}{o}raisebox{8pt}{rotatebox{270}{n}}%

repeat}



begin{document}



lipsum[2] 

deco{10pt}{IJKLIJKL}

lipsum[2] 

deco{16pt}{}

lipsum[2] 

deco{10pt}{pqpqpqpqpqpqpqpqpqpq}

lipsum[2] 

deco{10pt}{444444444}

lipsum[2] 

deco{10pt}{fgfgfgfgfgfgfg}

lipsum[2] 

deco{14pt}{OPpattern}

lipsum[2] 

deco{12pt}{mmmmmmmmmmmmmm}

lipsum[2] 



end{document}

Well, we can always appeal to tikz to make these graphic details.

Below you can see some lines with the tikz own endings.

And the picture above was generated from the following code:

documentclass[a4paper, twocolumn]{article}



usepackage{tikz}

usetikzlibrary{arrows}



newcommand{myrule} [3] {

    begin{center}

        begin{tikzpicture}

            draw[#2-#3, ultra thick, #1] (0,0) to (0.5linewidth,0);

        end{tikzpicture}

    end{center}

}



begin{document}



    myrule{}{}

    myrule[double]{}{}

    myrule{to}{to}

    myrule[double]{to}{to}

    myrule{to reversed}{to reversed}

    myrule[double]{to reversed}{to reversed}

    myrule{implies}{implies} 

    myrule[double]{implies}{implies}

    myrule{latex}{latex}

    myrule{latex reversed}{latex reversed}

    myrule{latex'}{latex'}

    myrule{latex' reversed}{latex' reversed}

    myrule{stealth}{stealth}

    myrule{stealth reversed}{stealth reversed}

    myrule{stealth'}{stealth'}

    myrule{stealth' reversed}{stealth' reversed}

    myrule{triangle 90}{triangle 90}

    myrule{triangle 90 reversed}{triangle 90 reversed}

    myrule{triangle 60}{triangle 60}

    myrule{triangle 60 reversed}{triangle 60 reversed}

    myrule{triangle 45}{triangle 45}

myrule{triangle 45 reversed}{triangle 45 reversed}

    myrule{open triangle 90}{open triangle 90}

    myrule{open triangle 90 reversed}{open triangle 90 reversed}

    myrule{open triangle 60}{open triangle 60}

    myrule{open triangle 60 reversed}{open triangle 60 reversed}

    myrule{open triangle 45}{open triangle 45}

    myrule{open triangle 45 reversed}{open triangle 45 reversed}

    myrule{angle 90}{angle 90}

    myrule{angle 90 reversed}{angle 90 reversed}

    myrule{angle 60}{angle 60}

    myrule{angle 60 reversed}{angle 60 reversed}

    myrule{angle 45}{angle 45}

    myrule{angle 45 reversed}{angle 45 reversed}

    myrule{hooks}{hooks}

    myrule{hooks reversed}{hooks reversed}

    myrule{(}{)}

    myrule{)}{(}

    myrule{|}{|}

    myrule{o}{o}

    myrule{*}{*}

    myrule{diamond}{diamond}

    myrule{open diamond}{open diamond}

    myrule{square}{square}

    myrule{open square}{open square}

    myrule{serif cm}{serif cm}

    myrule{left to}{left to}

    myrule{left to reversed}{left to reversed}

    myrule{right to}{right to}

    myrule{right to reversed}{right to reversed}

    myrule{left hook}{left hook}

    myrule{left hook reversed}{left hook reversed}

    myrule{right hook}{right hook}

    myrule{right hook reversed}{right hook reversed}

    myrule[line width = 2mm]{round cap}{round cap}

    myrule[line width = 2mm]{butt cap}{butt cap}

    myrule[line width = 2mm]{triangle 90 cap}{triangle 90 cap}

    myrule[line width = 2mm]{triangle 90 cap reversed}{triangle 90 cap reversed}

    myrule[line width = 2mm]{fast cap}{fast cap}

    myrule[line width = 2mm]{fast cap reversed}{fast cap reversed}



end{document}

But you can also use more powerful features:

And to generate the image above:

documentclass[a4paper, twocolumn]{article}



usepackage{tikz}

usetikzlibrary{decorations.markings}

usetikzlibrary{decorations.shapes}

usetikzlibrary{shapes.geometric}

usetikzlibrary{decorations.fractals}

usetikzlibrary{decorations.footprints}



tikzset {

    , bedknobs one/.style = {

        decorate

        , fill = red!50

        , decoration = {

            shape backgrounds

            , shape = #1

            , shape size = 2mm

        }

    }

    , bedknobs two/.style = {

        decorate

        , decoration = {

            #1

        }

        , fill = blue!50

    }

}



newcommand{bedknobsone}[1]{

    begin{center}

        tikz draw [bedknobs one = {#1}] (0,0) to (0.5linewidth, 0);

    end{center}

}



newcommand{bedknobstwo}[1]{

    begin{center}

        tikz draw [bedknobs two = {#1}] (0,0) to (0.5linewidth, 0);

    end{center}

}



newcommand{bedknobsthree}[1]{

    begin{center}

        tikz [

            decoration = #1

        ] draw decorate{ decorate{ decorate{ (0, 0) -- (0.5linewidth, 0) }}};

    end{center}

}



newcommand{bedknobsfour}{

    begin{center}

        begin{tikzpicture} [thick]

            node[minimum size = 5mm] (first) {};

            node[minimum size = 5mm, anchor = west] (second) at (first.east) {};

            draw plot [smooth] coordinates {

                (first.north) (first.west) (first.south)

                (second.north) (second.east) (second.south)

            };

        end{tikzpicture}

    end{center}

}



newcommand{bedknobsfive}{

    begin{center}

        begin{tikzpicture} [thick]

            node[minimum size = 5mm] (first) {};

            node[minimum size = 5mm, anchor = west] (second) at (first.east) {};

            node[minimum size = 5mm, anchor = west] (space) at (second.east) {};

            node[minimum size = 5mm, anchor = west] (third) at (space.east) {};

            node[minimum size = 5mm, anchor = west] (fourth) at (third.east) {};

            draw plot [smooth] coordinates {

                (first.north) (first.west) (first.south)

                (second.north) (second.east) (second.south)

            };

            draw plot [smooth] coordinates {

                (fourth.north) (fourth.east) (fourth.south)

                (third.north) (third.west) (third.south)

        };

        end{tikzpicture}        

    end{center}

}



begin{document}



    section {basic}



        bedknobstwo{crosses}            

        bedknobstwo{triangles}





    section {shapes}



        bedknobsone{dart}

        bedknobsone{diamond}

        bedknobsone{isosceles triangle}

        bedknobsone{star}

        bedknobstwo{shape backgrounds, shape scaled, shape start size=2.5mm,shape end size=1mm}





    section {footprints}



        bedknobstwo{footprints}

        bedknobstwo{footprints, foot of = gnome}

        bedknobstwo{footprints, foot of = bird}     

        bedknobstwo{footprints, foot of = felis silvestri}





    section {fractals}



        bedknobsthree {Koch curve type 1}

        bedknobsthree {Koch curve type 2}

        bedknobsthree {Koch snowflake}

        bedknobsthree {Cantor set}





    section {Others}



        bedknobsfour

        bedknobsfive



end{document}

memoir document class has facilities to draw these "totally sweet" anonymous breaks. See section 6.7 Fancy anonymous breaks (page 109-111) of the manual for details.

I used this image and then this code:

In header:

newcommand{parasep}{

begin{center} 

   includegraphics[scale=.5]{hrule.png} 

end{center}}

In body where you want the image:

parasep

Oh and remember to:

usepackage{graphicx}

The xhfill package provides an array of leaders and colours to create straight-forward, sweet rules. The following is taken mostly from the xhfill documentation:

documentclass{article}

usepackage{listings}% http://ctan.org/pkg/listings

lstset{language=[LaTeX]TeX,

  basicstyle=smallttfamily}

%usepackage{xcolor}% http://ctan.org/pkg/xcolor | Loaded by listings

usepackage{xhfill}% http://ctan.org/pkg/xhfill



setlength{parindent}{0pt}% Just for this example

newcommand{xfill}[2][1ex]{{%

  dimen0=#2advancedimen0 by #1

  leadershrule height dimen0 depth -#1hfill%

}}

newcommand{xfilll}[2][1ex]{%

  dimen0=#2advancedimen0 by #1%

  leadershrule height dimen0 depth -#1hfill%

}



begin{document}

blahxfilll{1pt}blub

begin{lstlisting}

blahxfilll{1pt}blub

end{lstlisting}

bigskip



blahxfilll[0pt]{4pt}blub

begin{lstlisting}

blahxfilll[0pt]{4pt}blub

end{lstlisting}

bigskip



blahxfilll[-12pt]{12pt}blub

begin{lstlisting}

blahxfilll[-12pt]{12pt}blub

end{lstlisting}

bigskip



blahxrfill{1pt}[blue]blub blahxrfill{2pt}[cyan]blub

begin{lstlisting}

blahxrfill{1pt}[blue]blub blahxrfill{2pt}[cyan]blub

end{lstlisting}

bigskip



laberxrfill[0pt]{4pt}[green]blub blub

begin{lstlisting}

laberxrfill[0pt]{4pt}[green]blub blub

end{lstlisting}

bigskip



blahxrfill[-1ex]{1pt}[red]blub

begin{lstlisting}

blahxrfill[-1ex]{1pt}[red]blub

end{lstlisting}

bigskip



blah xhrulefill{cyan}{1cm} blub

begin{lstlisting}

blah xhrulefill{cyan}{1cm} blub

end{lstlisting}

bigskip



blah xhrectanglefill{0.5cm}{1pt} blubber

begin{lstlisting}

blah xhrectanglefill{0.5cm}{1pt} blubber

end{lstlisting}

bigskip



blahxdotfill{1pt}[blue]blahxdotfill{2pt}[red]blub

begin{lstlisting}

blahxdotfill{1pt}[blue]blahxdotfill{2pt}[red]blub

end{lstlisting}

end{document}

You might want to install the webomint fonsts from CTAN. There are a lot of ornaments in this font. Then one possibility would be:

documentclass[11pt]{article}

usepackage{graphicx}

usepackage{lipsum}



makeatletter

newcommand{EnglischeLinie}{%

  @afterindentfalse

  {begin{center}

    resizebox{0.8linewidth}{0.4ex}{{%

        fontsize{20}{24}usefont{U}{webo}{xl}{n}{4}}}%

  end{center}}@afterheading}

makeatother



begin{document}

lipsum[1]

EnglischeLinie

lipsum[1]

end{document}

This will look like this:

You may play around with this.

In TeX, there is a primitive command leaders which is able to take an hbox and replicate it as many times as necessary to fill a specific amount of glue (which can be the entire with of the page if necessary). Each box that it lays down will stick to a vertical grid, so that boxes laid directly below will be in-line with the ones above (so they don't appear out of sync). This technique is commonly used for tables of contents.

You can supply your own custom graphic and box to have a repeating pattern used as a line.

usepackage{graphicx}



newcommand{nicehline}{%

    parnoindent

    leadershbox to 1in{includegraphics{somethingnice.png}}hfill

    par

}



Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet.



nicehline



Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet.

Of course, you'll need to supply your own somethingnice.png, or alternatively use a dingbat. Perhaps it may be better to save the graphic into its own box register if it will mean the graphics are only included once and referenced thereafter (as opposed to included each time it is to be displayed).

Everything I've ever read defines a custom command for fancy graphical paragraph separators. Nothing in latex adds bedknobs or any fancy decorations, and I can't find any packages which add such functionality.

The example I've seen is typically:

newcommand{parasep}{begin{center}*hspace{6em}*hspace{6em}*end{center}}

Obviously from here you could replace the asterisks with something more visually appealing.

Just to reiterate: you can get better results with fonts than embedded images, and better results with TeX-native font representations (e.g., MetaFont), than with TrueType fonts.

Noah, above, linked to typoasis, which has some mouthwateringly beautiful fonts, but they are alien to TeX, so you might not get ideal results with them.

Zapfino, Hermann Zapf's calligraphic font, is worth a look: Zapf worked with Knuth on this, and some other, fonts, so it is all done The Right Way.

If you do make use of TeX-alien fonts, it is best to import tham as MetaType1 fonts using, say, the pf2mt1 utility; cf. the CTAN metatype1 package's README for some info.

Just to chime in with a font suggestion: if you do go down that path, the fourier-orns package loads a lot of nice ornaments that, as the name suggests, are designed to go with Fourier. See the fourier documentation for details.

I use the dingbats that come with Minion like so:

newcommandanonbreak{fancybreak{reflectbox{char"E0B6} quad char"E0BE quad char"E0B6}vspace{baselineskip}}

You might try perusing some font collections. Here are some free examples; if you're willing to pay a little money or do some work on your own, you can get some really nice ones.