[Tex/LaTex] Flow chart with tikz and boxes with bullet points and fading color

tikz-arrowstikz-pgfxetex

How do I create with tikz (using xelatex) a flow chart containing boxes, which have a title and up to four bullet points in it (except for the red box in the middle)? I have managed to get a simple flow chart with my humble tikz knowledge, see below, but would like to have the boxes fading out their background color towards the bottom end, where they shall also have no border (in the bottom end). How can I make this happen?

Bonus: how do I manage to get the lower overbrace to peak towards the box in the middle?

\documentclass[oneside,a4paper]{article}

\usepackage{tikz, tikzscale} % to use flowchart + to scale
\usetikzlibrary{shapes.geometric,arrows,calc,positioning,decorations.pathreplacing,bending}
\tikzstyle{startstop} = [rectangle, rounded corners, minimum width=3cm, minimum height=1cm, text centered, draw=black, fill=red!20]
\tikzstyle{process} = [rectangle, minimum width=3cm, minimum height=1cm, text centered, draw=black, fill=blue!30]
\tikzstyle{process2} = [rectangle, minimum width=3cm, minimum height=1cm, text centered, draw=black, fill=orange!30]
\tikzstyle{process3} = [rectangle, minimum width=3cm, minimum height=1cm, text centered, draw=black, fill=green!30]
\tikzstyle{arrow} = [thick,->,>=stealth]

\begin{document}
\begin{tikzpicture}[transform shape, node distance=2cm] % mock flow chart

\node (start) [process, align=center] {Title Bla Bla};
\node (pro1) [process, right of=start, align=center, xshift=2cm] {Title Bla Bla};
\node (pro2) [process, right of=pro1, align=center, xshift=2cm] {Title Bla Bla};
\node (pro3) [process2, below of=start, align=center, yshift=-.5cm] {Title Bla Bla};
\node (pro4) [process2, below of=pro1, align=center, yshift=-.5cm] {Title Bla Bla};
\node (pro5) [process2, below of=pro2, yshift=-.5cm] {Title Bla Bla};
\node (main) [startstop, below of=pro4, yshift=-.5cm] {Title Bla Bla};
\node (pro6) [process3, below left=1cm and 1cm of main, align=center] {Title Bla Bla};
\node (pro7) [process3, below of=main, align=center] {Title Bla Bla};
\node (pro8) [process3, below right=1cm and 1cm of main, align=center] {Title Bla Bla};
\node (pro9) [process3, right of=pro8, align=center, xshift=2cm] {Title Bla Bla};

\draw [arrow] (start) -- (pro3);
\draw [arrow] (pro1.south) -- (pro3.north);
\draw [arrow] (pro1.south) -- (pro5.north);
\draw [arrow] (pro2.south) -- (pro5.north);
\draw [arrow] (pro2.south) -- (pro4.north);

\draw[decorate, decoration={brace, mirror, amplitude=10pt, raise=4pt}, yshift=-2cm] (pro3.south west) -- (pro5.south east);
\draw[decorate, decoration={brace, amplitude=10pt, raise=4pt}, yshift=4cm] (pro6.north west) -- (pro9.north east);

\end{tikzpicture}
\end{document}

Thank you very much in advance!

Best Answer

See, it the following MWE offer what you like to obtain:

\documentclass[tikz,
               border=3mm,
               ]{standalone}
\usetikzlibrary{arrows.meta,
                decorations.pathreplacing,
                calligraphy,%had to be after lib. decorations.pathreplacing
                positioning,
                shadows
                }
\usepackage{enumitem}
\setlist{nosep,leftmargin=*}

\begin{document}
    \begin{tikzpicture}[
node distance = 22mm and 11mm,
   box/.style = {shape=rectangle, draw, thin, 
                 minimum height=10mm, text width=32mm, align=center,
                 top color=#1!20, bottom color=#1!80,
                 anchor=south west
                 },
BC/.style args = {#1/#2/#3}{% Braces Calligraphic
        decorate,
        decoration={calligraphic brace, amplitude=6pt,
        raise=#1,
              #2,% for mirroring of brace
        aspect=#3},
        very thick,
        pen colour={gray}
        },
                        ] % mock flow chart
 nodes, first row
\node (start) [box=blue] {\parbox{\hsize}{Title Bla Bla,
                            \begin{itemize}
                        \item   item 1
                        \item   item 2
                        \item   item 3
                            \end{itemize}}};
\node (pro1)  [right=of start.south east,box=blue] {Title Bla Bla,
                            \begin{itemize}
                        \item   item 1
                        \item   item 2
                            \end{itemize}};
\node (pro2)  [right=of pro1.south east,box=blue] {Title Bla Bla,
                            \begin{itemize}
                        \item   item 1
                            \end{itemize}};
% nodes, second row
\node (pro3)  [below=of start.south west,box=orange]    {Title Bla Bla};
\node (pro4)  [right=of pro3.south east,box=orange]     {Title Bla Bla};
\node (pro5)  [right=of pro4.south east,box=orange]     {Title Bla Bla};
% nodes, third row
\node (pro6)  [below=of pro4.south west,box=red,rounded corners] {Title Bla Bla};
% nodes, forth row
\node (pro7)  [below=of pro3.west |- pro6.south,
               box=green]                               {Title Bla Bla};
\node (pro8)  [right=of pro7.south east,box=green]      {Title Bla Bla};
\node (pro9)  [right=of pro8.south east,box=green]      {Title Bla Bla};
\node (pro10) [right=of pro9.south east,box=green]      {Title Bla Bla};
% connections
\draw[-Stealth] (start) edge (pro3)
                (pro1.south)  edge (pro3) (pro1.south)  edge (pro5)
                (pro2.south)  edge (pro4) (pro2.south)  edge (pro5);                
% braces
\draw[BC=2mm/mirror/0.500] (pro3.south west) -- (pro5.south east);
\draw[BC=2mm/      /0.375] (pro7.north west) -- (pro10.north east);
\end{tikzpicture}
\end{document}

Related Solutions

TikZ Node Placement and Arrow Drawing Guide

There's a good chance some more elegant solution will appear soon, but here goes:

By using the calc library you can add node halfway between sensors and resources, and position information with relation to this. I actually used the corners of these, resources.south west and sensors.north west, and put the new node midway between these.
One way is to use relative coordinates to first go a little right of processing, then up, left to planning. By using |-/-| you can access coordinates that lie on the intersection of the horizontal line from one node and vertical line from another. That way you can end the arrow directly above sensors.north east, for example.

I first add a new node, lowerright while drawing the line from resources to planning. (lowerright |- container.east) is the point that lies on the vertical line from lowerright and the horizontal line from container.east. Similar for (container.east -| resources.south east).
You can add a node above the top left corner of container.
Add inner sep=<dimension> to the container node, instead of defining width and height. This sets the distance from the contents of the node to the edge of the node.

enter image description here

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{tikz}
\usetikzlibrary{fit,arrows,calc,positioning}

\begin{document}
\tikzstyle{b} = [rectangle, draw, fill=blue!20, node distance=3cm, text width=6em, text centered, rounded corners, minimum height=4em, thick]
\tikzstyle{c} = [rectangle, draw, inner sep=0.5cm, dashed]
\tikzstyle{l} = [draw, -latex',thick]

\begin{tikzpicture}[auto]
    \node [b] (planning) {Planning};
    \node [b, below=of planning] (resources) {Resources};
    \node [b, below=of resources] (sensors) {Sensors};
    \coordinate (RSmid) at ($(resources.south west)!0.5!(sensors.north west)$);
    \node [b, left=of RSmid, node distance=4cm] (information) {Information system};
    \node [b, below=of sensors] (processing) {Processing};

    \node [c,fit=(resources) (sensors)] (container) {};

    \path [l] (planning) -- (resources);
    \path [l] (resources) -- (sensors);
    \path [l] (sensors) -- (processing);

    \path [l] (information) |- (planning);
    \path [l] (information) |- (processing);
    
    \node at (container.north west) [above right] {Desc};
    
    \draw [l] (processing.east) -- ++(2,0) node(lowerright){} |- (planning.east);
    \draw [l] (lowerright |- container.east) -- (container.east -| resources.south east);
\end{tikzpicture}
\end{document}

[Tex/LaTex] How to define the default vertical distance between nodes

I don't really get the question so I hope this is what you wanted. If you include a full document (such that we copy paste and see the problem on our systems) things are much more easier.

Here, you can change the default setting within a scope but your block style had a node distance which was resetting every time it is issued. I've made it 2mm such that we can see the difference easier.

\documentclass[tikz]{standalone}
\usetikzlibrary{arrows,shapes.geometric,positioning}

\begin{document}
\begin{tikzpicture}[decision/.style={diamond, draw, text width=4.5em, text badly centered, node distance=3.5cm, inner sep=0pt},
                    block/.style   ={rectangle, draw, text width=6em, text centered, rounded corners, minimum height=4em, minimum height=2em},
                    cloud/.style   ={draw, ellipse, minimum height=2em},
                    line/.style    ={draw,-latex'},
                    node distance = 1cm, 
                    auto]
    \node [block] (1st) {1st};
    \node [block, right= of 1st]  (2nd1) {2nd1};
\begin{scope}[node distance=2mm and 10mm]%Here we change it for everything inside this scope
    \node [block, above= of 2nd1] (2nd2) {2nd2};
    \node [block, below= of 2nd1] (2nd3) {2nd3};
    \node [block, right= of 2nd1] (3rd1) {3rd1};
    \node [block, above= of 3rd1] (3rd2) {3rd2};
    \node [block, above= of 3rd2] (3rd3) {3rd3};
\end{scope}
    \node [block, below= of 3rd1] (3rd4) {3rd4};
    \node [block, below= of 3rd4] (3rd5) {3rd5};

    \path [line] (1st) -- (2nd1);
    \path [line] (2nd1) -- (2nd2);
    \path [line] (2nd1) -- (2nd3);
    \path [line] (2nd2) -- (3rd3);
    \path [line] (2nd1) -- (3rd1);
    \path [line] (1st) -- (2nd1);
\end{tikzpicture}
\end{document}

enter image description here

Best Answer

Related Solutions

TikZ Node Placement and Arrow Drawing Guide

[Tex/LaTex] How to define the default vertical distance between nodes

Related Question