[Tex/LaTex] combine arrow tips in TikZ/pgf

arrowstikz-pgf

I'd like to draw an arrow using TikZ where I can specify more than one tip (or tail). This is presumably technically possible since the >> tip is a "doubled" tip: defining >=diamond produces a double diamond tip. Also, quoting from the arrows section of the manual:

The spacing arrow tips are useful for combining them with other arrows to get arrows that do not touch the end of the line.

Which is, admittedly, vague enough that I could be interpreting it incorrectly.

But what is the actual syntax for combining two tips? Just listing them one after another doesn't work.

Best Answer

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{tikz}
\usetikzlibrary{arrows}
\pgfarrowsdeclarecombine{blah}{blah}{diamond}{diamond}{stealth}{stealth}
\begin{document}
  \tikz{\draw[blah-blah] (0,0)--(1,0);}
\end{document}

Related Solutions

[Tex/LaTex] meta arrow tips

The v2.10 pgfmanual discusses these on Page 609. It shows both the meta arrows and the resized arrows.

In the TeX code for the manual the arrow tips were coded using pgfarrowsdeclare. Based on this, I would assume that there is not an existing option to simply have the arrows resized based on the line width. So, if you want to use them you would need to include the code shown below for the bad latex and bad to arrow styles in your document. Then to select them instead of specifying the arrows as [-latex] or [-to] arrows, you would simply use [-bad latex] or [-bad to].

Below is a comparison. The red arrows are resized according to the line size, and the blue ones are the meta arrows that are not simply scaled. From the small and large line widths it is clear that the meta arrows produce better looking results:

enter image description here

Here is the code which is copied almost directly from pgfmanual-en-base-arrows.tex:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{tikz}
\usepackage{soul}% for highlighting output

\begin{document}

\pgfarrowsdeclare{bad latex}{bad latex}
{
  \pgfarrowsleftextend{-1\pgflinewidth}
  \pgfarrowsrightextend{9\pgflinewidth}
}
{
  \pgfpathmoveto{\pgfpoint{9\pgflinewidth}{0pt}}
  \pgfpathcurveto
  {\pgfpoint{6.3333\pgflinewidth}{.5\pgflinewidth}}
  {\pgfpoint{2\pgflinewidth}{2\pgflinewidth}}
  {\pgfpoint{-1\pgflinewidth}{3.75\pgflinewidth}}
  \pgfpathlineto{\pgfpoint{-1\pgflinewidth}{-3.75\pgflinewidth}}
  \pgfpathcurveto
  {\pgfpoint{2\pgflinewidth}{-2\pgflinewidth}}
  {\pgfpoint{6.3333\pgflinewidth}{-.5\pgflinewidth}}
  {\pgfpoint{9\pgflinewidth}{0pt}}
  \pgfusepathqfill
}

\pgfarrowsdeclare{bad to}{bad to}
{
  \pgfarrowsleftextend{-2\pgflinewidth}
  \pgfarrowsrightextend{\pgflinewidth}
}
{
  \pgfsetlinewidth{0.8\pgflinewidth}
  \pgfsetdash{}{0pt}
  \pgfsetroundcap
  \pgfsetroundjoin
  \pgfpathmoveto{\pgfpoint{-3\pgflinewidth}{4\pgflinewidth}}
  \pgfpathcurveto
  {\pgfpoint{-2.75\pgflinewidth}{2.5\pgflinewidth}}
  {\pgfpoint{0pt}{0.25\pgflinewidth}}
  {\pgfpoint{0.75\pgflinewidth}{0pt}}
  \pgfpathcurveto
  {\pgfpoint{0pt}{-0.25\pgflinewidth}}
  {\pgfpoint{-2.75\pgflinewidth}{-2.5\pgflinewidth}}
  {\pgfpoint{-3\pgflinewidth}{-4\pgflinewidth}}
  \pgfusepathqstroke
}

\newcommand*{\ArrowType}[1]{\hl{\textbf{-#1}}}%

\sethlcolor{lightgray}
These are the \emph{resized} \ArrowType{bad latex} and \ArrowType{bad to} arrows:

\medskip
\begin{tikzpicture}[draw=red,fill=red]
  \draw[-bad latex,line width=0.1pt] (0pt,0ex) -- +(3,0)  node[thin,right] {line width is 0.1pt};
  \draw[-bad latex,line width=0.4pt] (0pt,-2em) -- +(3,0) node[thin,right] {line width is 0.4pt};
  \draw[-bad latex,line width=1.2pt] (0pt,-4em) -- +(3,0) node[thin,right] {line width is 1.2pt};
  \draw[-bad latex,line width=5pt]   (0pt,-6em) -- +(3,0) node[thin,right] {line width is 5pt};

  \draw[-bad to,line width=0.1pt] (6cm,0ex) -- +(3,0)  node[thin,right] {line width is 0.1pt};
  \draw[-bad to,line width=0.4pt] (6cm,-2em) -- +(3,0) node[thin,right] {line width is 0.4pt};
  \draw[-bad to,line width=1.2pt] (6cm,-4em) -- +(3,0) node[thin,right] {line width is 1.2pt};
  \draw[-bad to,line width=5pt]   (6cm,-6em) -- +(3,0) node[thin,right] {line width is 5pt};
\end{tikzpicture}

\bigskip\bigskip
And the standard meta \ArrowType{latex} and \ArrowType{to} arrows:

\medskip
\begin{tikzpicture}[draw=blue,fill=blue]
  \draw[-latex,line width=0.1pt] (0pt,0ex) -- +(3,0)  node[thin,right] {line width is 0.1pt};
  \draw[-latex,line width=0.4pt] (0pt,-2em) -- +(3,0) node[thin,right] {line width is 0.4pt};
  \draw[-latex,line width=1.2pt] (0pt,-4em) -- +(3,0) node[thin,right] {line width is 1.2pt};
  \draw[-latex,line width=5pt]   (0pt,-6em) -- +(3,0) node[thin,right] {line width is 5pt};

  \draw[-to,line width=0.1pt] (6cm,0ex) -- +(3,0)  node[thin,right] {line width is 0.1pt};
  \draw[-to,line width=0.4pt] (6cm,-2em) -- +(3,0) node[thin,right] {line width is 0.4pt};
  \draw[-to,line width=1.2pt] (6cm,-4em) -- +(3,0) node[thin,right] {line width is 1.2pt};
  \draw[-to,line width=5pt]   (6cm,-6em) -- +(3,0) node[thin,right] {line width is 5pt};
\end{tikzpicture}

\end{document}

[Tex/LaTex] Absolutely position arrow head

I'm not sure to answer the question! you can try specifying the attachment point on the node, but in any case, if you are using the option shorten the points can not be identical

\documentclass[12pt]{standalone}
\usepackage{tikz}
\begin{document}
\begin{tikzpicture}
\node[draw](source) at (0,0){};

\node[draw](destination) at (2,5){};
\draw[-stealth,shorten <=0.2cm,shorten >=0.2cm,thick,red](source.180)to[out=180, in=30](destination.60);
\draw[-stealth,shorten <=0.2cm,shorten >=0.2cm,thick,blue](source.180)to[out=180, in=60](destination.60);
\end{tikzpicture}
\begin{tikzpicture}
\node[draw](source) at (0,0){};

\node[draw](destination) at (2,5){};
\draw[-stealth,shorten <=0.2cm,thick,red](source.180)to[out=180, in=30](destination.60);
\draw[-stealth,shorten <=0.2cm,thick,blue](source.180)to[out=180, in=60](destination.60);

\end{tikzpicture}
\end{document}

enter image description here

Best Answer

Related Solutions

[Tex/LaTex] meta arrow tips

[Tex/LaTex] Absolutely position arrow head

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