[Tex/LaTex] 3dplot viewing angle

3dtikz-3dplottikz-pgf

I need to choose my view angle in \tdplotsetmaincoords{ }{ } (elevation and azimuth) so that my plot ends up looking like the one below. I wish to do this entirely via the view angle, not relabelling the x,y,z coordinates.

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{tikz}   %TikZ is required for this to work.  Make sure this exists before the next line

%\usepackage{3dplot} %requires 3dplot.sty to be in same directory, or in your LaTeX installation
\usepackage{tikz-3dplot}
\usepackage[active,tightpage]{preview}  %generates a tightly fitting border around the work
\PreviewEnvironment{tikzpicture}
\setlength\PreviewBorder{2mm}

\begin{document}

%Angle Definitions
%-----------------

\tdplotsetmaincoords{60}{110}

%start tikz picture, and use the tdplot_main_coords style to implement the display 
%coordinate transformation provided by 3dplot
\begin{tikzpicture}[scale=5,tdplot_main_coords]

%draw the main coordinate system axes
\draw[thick,->] (0,0,0) -- (1,0,0) node[anchor=north east]{$x$};
\draw[thick,->] (0,0,0) -- (0,1,0) node[anchor=north west]{$y$};
\draw[thick,->] (0,0,0) -- (0,0,1) node[anchor=south]{$z$};
\end{tikzpicture}

\end{document}

Best Answer

You can specify the actual dimensions (before scaling) for each 3d axis in terms of screen coordinates.

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{tikz}   %TikZ is required for this to work.  Make sure this exists before the next line

%\usepackage{3dplot} %requires 3dplot.sty to be in same directory, or in your LaTeX installation
\usepackage{tikz-3dplot}
\usepackage[active,tightpage]{preview}  %generates a tightly fitting border around the work
\PreviewEnvironment{tikzpicture}
\setlength\PreviewBorder{2mm}

\begin{document}

%Angle Definitions
%-----------------

\tdplotsetmaincoords{60}{110}

%start tikz picture, and use the tdplot_main_coords style to implement the display 
%coordinate transformation provided by 3dplot

\begin{tikzpicture}[scale=5]
\pgfsetxvec{\pgfpoint{.866cm}{.5cm}}
\pgfsetyvec{\pgfpoint{0cm}{1cm}}
\pgfsetzvec{\pgfpoint{.866cm}{-.5cm}}
%draw the main coordinate system axes
\draw[thick,->] (0,0,0) -- (1,0,0) node[anchor=north east]{$x$};
\draw[thick,->] (0,0,0) -- (0,1,0) node[anchor=north west]{$y$};
\draw[thick,->] (0,0,0) -- (0,0,1) node[anchor=south]{$z$};
\end{tikzpicture}

\end{document}

Here is a solution using 3dplot.

\documentclass[border=2pt]{standalone}
\usepackage[svgnames]{xcolor}
\usepackage{tikz}
\usetikzlibrary{arrows.meta}
\usepackage{tikz-3dplot}

\begin{document}
\Large
\tdplotsetmaincoords{60}{45}
\begin{tikzpicture}[scale=1in,tdplot_main_coords]
\tdplotsetrotatedcoords{0}{90}{90}
\begin{scope}[tdplot_rotated_coords]
\draw[thick,-latex] (0,0,0) -- (.1,0,0) node[below] {x};
\draw[thick,-latex] (0,0,0) -- (0,.1,0) node[left] {y};
\draw[thick,-latex] (0,0,0) -- (0,0,.1) node[below] {z};
\end{scope}
\end{tikzpicture}

\end{document}

Related Solutions

[Tex/LaTex] How to draw spherical using 3dplot

One way to do it is to use \pgfdeclareradialshading{sphere}:

\pgfdeclareradialshading{sphere}{\pgfpoint{0.5cm}{0.5cm}}
{   
    rgb(0cm)=(1,1,1);
    rgb(0.7cm)=(0.8,0.8,0.8); 
    rgb(1cm)=(0.6,0.6,0.6); 
    rgb(1.05cm)=(0.6,0.6,0.6)
 }
\pgfuseshading{sphere}

which can create something like this:

enter image description here

To read more, have a look at pgf manual 83.2.2.

Another way to this is to create a second tikzpicture and use some 2d-shadings:

\begin{tikzpicture}
    \begin{scope}
        \fill[black] (0,0) circle (0.5);
        \clip (0,0) circle (0.5);
        \shade[outer color=black, inner color=black!30] (-0.15,0.5) circle (0.7);
    \end{scope}
\end{tikzpicture}

Something like this:

enter image description here

Credits for second suggestion. Useful link.

[Tex/LaTex] TikZ: Drawing an arc from an intersection to an intersection

A solution which allows to draw intersection segments of any two intersections is available as tikz library fillbetween.

This library works as general purpose tikz library, but it is shipped with pgfplots and you need to load pgfplots in order to make it work:

\documentclass{standalone}

\usepackage{tikz}
\usepackage{pgfplots}
\usetikzlibrary{fillbetween}

\begin{document}

\begin{tikzpicture}

\draw [name path=red,red] (120:1.06) circle (1.9);
%\draw [name path=yellow,yellow] (0:1.06) circle (2.12);
\draw [name path=green,green!50!black] (0:0.77) circle (2.41);
\draw [name path=blue,blue] (0:0) circle (1.06);

% substitute this temp path by `\path` to make it invisible:
\draw[name path=temp1, intersection segments={of=red and blue,sequence=L1}];
\draw[red,-stealth,ultra thick, intersection segments={of=temp1 and green,sequence=L3}];

\end{tikzpicture}

\end{document}

enter image description here

The key intersection segments is described in all detail in the pgfplots reference manual section "5.6.6 Intersection Segment Recombination"; the key idea in this case is to

create a temporary path temp1 which is the first intersection segment of red and blue, more precisely, it is the first intersection segment in the Left argument in red and blue : red. This path is drawn as thin black path. Substitute its \draw statement by \path to make it invisible.
Compute the desired intersection segment by intersecting temp1 and green and use the correct intersection segment. By trial and error I figured that it is the third segment of path temp1 which is written as L3 (L = left argument in temp1 and green and 3 means third segment of that path).

The argument involves some trial and error because fillbetween is unaware of the fact that end and startpoint are connected -- and we as end users do not see start and end point.

Note that you can connect these path segments with other paths. If such an intersection segment should be the continuation of another path, use -- as before the first argument in sequence. This allows to fill paths segments:

\documentclass{standalone}

\usepackage{tikz}
\usepackage{pgfplots}
\usetikzlibrary{fillbetween}

\begin{document}

\begin{tikzpicture}

\draw [name path=red,red] (120:1.06) circle (1.9);
%\draw [name path=yellow,yellow] (0:1.06) circle (2.12);
\draw [name path=green,green!50!black] (0:0.77) circle (2.41);
\draw [name path=blue,blue] (0:0) circle (1.06);

% substitute this temp path by `\path` to make it invisible:
\draw[name path=temp1, intersection segments={of=red and blue,sequence=L1}];
\draw[red,fill=blue,-stealth,ultra thick, intersection segments={of=temp1 and green,sequence=L3}]  
    [intersection segments={of=temp1 and green, sequence={--R2}}]
;

\end{tikzpicture}

\end{document}

enter image description here

Best Answer

Related Solutions

[Tex/LaTex] How to draw spherical using 3dplot

[Tex/LaTex] TikZ: Drawing an arc from an intersection to an intersection

Related Question