[Tex/LaTex] Change TikZ’s default coordinate system

tikz-pgf

In the TikZ manual I read that the default coordinate system's spacing is 1cm, so that (1,1) would be a vector going 1cm in x-direction and 1cm in y. In a diagram with a lot of nodes, that I am placing using the options such as above =of ..., this spacing is too much.

In order to change that, how can I change the coordinate system's default spacing?

Best Answer

You can change the coordinate system with x=<length> and y=<length> as options to a tikzpicture, e.g.

\begin{tikzpicture}[x=0.5cm,y=0.5cm]

however in your case you would probably rather change the node distance, as this defines the distance between nodes when using the above=of syntax:

\begin{tikzpicture}[node distance=0.5cm]

\begin{tikzpicture}[node distance=0.5cm and 0.5cm]

The difference between these two cases is illustrated in the TikZ/PGF manual (§16.5.3 Advanced Placement Options, pages 187-188, for v. 2.10).

You could also set this globally, by using \tikzset, i.e. add

\tikzset{node distance=0.5cm and 0.5cm}

to your preamble.

Related Solutions

[Tex/LaTex] Accessing the logic values of a TikZ coordinate

PGF has the \pgfmathprintnumber macro that allows you to print and format numbers, including rounding. To round to two decimal digits, you would use \pgfmathprintnumber[precision=2]{\pgfmathresult}, for example.

The unit vectors are stored in \pgf@xx (for the x-component of the x unit vector) and \pgf@yy (the y-component of the y unit vector). So your function could be shortened to

\makeatletter
\newcommand\xcoord[2][center]{{%
    \pgfpointanchor{#2}{#1}%
    \pgfmathparse{\pgf@x/\pgf@xx}%
    \pgfmathprintnumber{\pgfmathresult}%
}}
\newcommand\ycoord[2][center]{{%
    \pgfpointanchor{#2}{#1}%
    \pgfmathparse{\pgf@y/\pgf@yy}%
    \pgfmathprintnumber{\pgfmathresult}%
}}
\makeatother

[Tex/LaTex] padded boundary of convex hull

In case anyone is interested, this is a small modification to Jake's answer: it simplifies a few of the calculations, and now works for a single node (in which case it draws a circle):

\newcommand{\convexpath}[2]{
  [   
  create hullcoords/.code={
    \global\edef\namelist{#1}
    \foreach [count=\counter] \nodename in \namelist {
      \global\edef\numberofnodes{\counter}
      \coordinate (hullcoord\counter) at (\nodename);
    }
    \coordinate (hullcoord0) at (hullcoord\numberofnodes);
    \pgfmathtruncatemacro\lastnumber{\numberofnodes+1}
    \coordinate (hullcoord\lastnumber) at (hullcoord1);
  },
  create hullcoords
  ]
  ($(hullcoord1)!#2!-90:(hullcoord0)$)
  \foreach [
  evaluate=\currentnode as \previousnode using \currentnode-1,
  evaluate=\currentnode as \nextnode using \currentnode+1
  ] \currentnode in {1,...,\numberofnodes} {
    let \p1 = ($(hullcoord\currentnode) - (hullcoord\previousnode)$),
    \n1 = {atan2(\x1,\y1) + 90},
    \p2 = ($(hullcoord\nextnode) - (hullcoord\currentnode)$),
    \n2 = {atan2(\x2,\y2) + 90},
    \n{delta} = {Mod(\n2-\n1,360) - 360}
    in 
    {arc [start angle=\n1, delta angle=\n{delta}, radius=#2]}
    -- ($(hullcoord\nextnode)!#2!-90:(hullcoord\currentnode)$) 
  }
}

Note if using the pgf/tikz >=3.0, you need to switch the arguments of atan2 (so atan2(\x1,\y1) becomes atan2(\y1,\x1). If you need to support multiple versions (for working with collaborators, uploading to arxiv, etc.) you can use \@ifpackagelater, e.g.

\@ifpackagelater{tikz}{2013/12/01}{...}{...}

Best Answer

Related Solutions

[Tex/LaTex] Accessing the logic values of a TikZ coordinate

[Tex/LaTex] padded boundary of convex hull

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