[Tex/LaTex] How to draw a traffic light sign

drawtikz-pgf

I'm just going to admit that I'm useless at drawing images in LaTeX and revert to copy and paste and then adapting where possible. I had a look over at http://www.texample.net but couldn't find anything I could adapt. I want to create an image of a set of traffic lights with text to one side, like the image below. I want to use it as part of a score system where each colour means something. I probably looking for two items. The image below and then just the traffic lights where I could possibly put the score in the light it belongs.

PS: Sorry I have no MWE but don't know where to start with this.
PPS: and sorry for putting up a help me draw this attached picture.

Best Answer

\documentclass[border=2mm, tikz]{standalone}

\usetikzlibrary{matrix, positioning}

\tikzset{
    trafficlight/.style = {%
        matrix of nodes,
        nodes in empty cells,
        rounded corners,
        draw = blue!70,
        fill = blue!30,
        nodes = {circle, minimum size=5mm, anchor=center, draw=black},
        row 1/.style={nodes={fill=red}},
        row 2/.style={nodes={fill=yellow}},
        row 3/.style={nodes={fill=green}},
        row sep=3mm,
    }
}

\begin{document}
\begin{tikzpicture}
\matrix[trafficlight] (A) { \\  \\ \\};
\node[right= 2mm of A-1-1] {Score 1};
\node[right= 2mm of A-2-1] {Score 2};
\node[right= 2mm of A-3-1] {Score 3};
\end{tikzpicture}
\end{document}

Related Solutions

[Tex/LaTex] How to make an image for backgrounds with exact A4 dimensions

If you want to use wallpaper and insert the background as an image, you can use this code:

\documentclass[a4paper]{article}
\usepackage{graphicx,lipsum}    % lipsum for the filling text
\usepackage{wallpaper}
\usepackage{filecontents}
%%------------------- The background---------------
\begin{filecontents*}{bg2.tex}
\documentclass[a4paper]{standalone}
\usepackage{tikz}
\begin{document}
    \begin{tikzpicture}[remember picture]
        \draw[magenta,fill=gray!30, line width = 4pt] (current page.south west) rectangle (current page.north east);
    \end{tikzpicture}
\end{document}
\end{filecontents*}
%%-------------------
% compile with bg2.tex pdflatex
\immediate\write18{pdflatex bg2}
\begin{document}
\CenterWallPaper{1}{bg2}
\lipsum[1-5]
\end{document}

You have to compile this with --shell escape. But with tikz, this can be done straight away using remember picture and overlay.

\documentclass[a4paper]{article}
\usepackage{tikz}
\usepackage{lipsum}    % lipsum for the filling text
\begin{document}
%%------------------- The background---------------
    \begin{tikzpicture}[remember picture,overlay]
        \draw[magenta,fill=gray!30, line width = 4pt] (current page.south west) rectangle (current page.north east);
    \end{tikzpicture}
%%-------------------
\lipsum[1-5]
\end{document}

Both the codes will need atleast two compilations to settle down.

enter image description here

[Tex/LaTex] Draw polarized light

To be honest, I don't understand the spiral code to well, at lest not why switching the roles of x and z leads to strange results. So I would recommend using Tikz's plot operation:

Code

\documentclass[a4paper,11pt]{article}

\usepackage{kerkis}
\usepackage{tikz}

\usetikzlibrary{%
    calc,%
    fadings,%
    shadings%
}
\usetikzlibrary{arrows,snakes,shapes}
\usetikzlibrary{backgrounds}
\usetikzlibrary{
    shapes.geometric,
    decorations.pathreplacing
}
\begin{document}

\begin{tikzpicture}[x={(-30:1cm)}, y={(30:1cm)}, z={(90:1cm)}, scale=1.0,
    %Option for nice arrows
    >=stealth, %
    inner sep=0pt, outer sep=2pt,%
    axis/.style={thick,->},
    wave/.style={thick,color=#1,smooth},
    polaroid/.style={fill=black!60!white, opacity=0.3},
]
    % Colors
    \colorlet{darkgreen}{green!50!black}
    \colorlet{lightgreen}{green!80!black}
    \colorlet{darkred}{red!50!black}
    \colorlet{lightred}{red!80!black}

    % Frame
    \coordinate (O) at (0, 0, 0);
    \draw[axis] (O) -- +(14, 0,   0) node [right] {x};
    \draw[axis] (O) -- +(0,  2.5, 0) node [right] {y};
    \draw[axis] (O) -- +(0,  0,   2) node [above] {z};

    \draw[thick,dashed] (-2,0,0) -- (O);

    % monochromatic incident light with electric field
    \draw[wave=blue, opacity=0.7, variable=\x, samples at={-2,-1.75,...,0}]
        plot (\x, { cos(1.0*\x r)*sin(2.0*\x r)}, { sin(1.0*\x r)*sin(2.0*\x r)})
        plot (\x, {-cos(1.0*\x r)*sin(2.0*\x r)}, {-sin(1.0*\x r)*sin(2.0*\x r)});

    \foreach \x in{-2,-1.75,...,0}{
        \draw[color=blue, opacity=0.7,->]
            (\x,0,0) -- (\x, { cos(1.0*\x r)*sin(2.0*\x r)}, { sin(1.0*\x r)*sin(2.0*\x r)})
            (\x,0,0) -- (\x, {-cos(1.0*\x r)*sin(2.0*\x r)}, {-sin(1.0*\x r)*sin(2.0*\x r)});
    }

    \filldraw[polaroid] (0,-2,-1.5) -- (0,-2,1.5) -- (0,2,1.5) -- (0,2,-1.5) -- (0,-2,-1.5)
        node[below, sloped, near end]{Polaroid};%

    %Direction of polarization
    \draw[thick,<->] (0,-1.75,-1) -- (0,-0.75,-1);

    % Electric field vectors
    \draw[wave=blue, variable=\x,samples at={0,0.25,...,6}]
        plot (\x,{sin(2*\x r)},0)node[anchor=north]{$\vec{E}$};

    %Polarized light between polaroid and thin section
    \foreach \x in{0, 0.25,...,6}
        \draw[color=blue,->] (\x,0,0) -- (\x,{sin(2*\x r)},0);

    \draw (3,1,1) node [text width=2.5cm, text centered]{Polarized light};

    %Crystal thin section
    \begin{scope}[thick]
        \draw (6,-2,-1.5) -- (6,-2,1.5) node [above, sloped, midway]{Crystal section}
                -- (6, 2, 1.5) -- (6, 2, -1.5) -- cycle % First face
            (6,  -2, -1.5) -- (6.2, -2,-1.5)
            (6,   2, -1.5) -- (6.2,  2,-1.5)
            (6,  -2,  1.5) -- (6.2, -2, 1.5)
            (6,   2,  1.5) -- (6.2,  2, 1.5)
            (6.2,-2, -1.5) -- (6.2, -2, 1.5) -- (6.2, 2, 1.5) 
                -- (6.2, 2, -1.5) -- cycle; % Second face

        %Optical indices
        \draw[darkred, ->]       (6.1, 0, 0) -- (6.1, 0.26,  0.966) node [right] {$n_{g}'$}; % index 1
        \draw[darkred, dashed]   (6.1, 0, 0) -- (6.1,-0.26, -0.966); % index 1
        \draw[darkgreen, ->]     (6.1, 0, 0) -- (6.1, 0.644,-0.173) node [right] {$n_{p}'$}; % index 2
        \draw[darkgreen, dashed] (6.1, 0, 0) -- (6.1,-0.644, 0.173); % index 2
    \end{scope}

    %Second polarization
    \draw[polaroid]   (12, -2,  -1.5) -- (12, -2,   1.5)  %Polarizing filter
        node [above, sloped,midway] {Polaroid} -- (12, 2, 1.5) -- (12, 2, -1.5) -- cycle;
    \draw[thick, <->] (12, -1.5,-0.5) -- (12, -1.5, 0.5); %Polarization direction

\draw[thick,blue] plot[domain=0:1080,smooth,samples=540] ({6+\x/180},{-1*cos(\x)},{1*sin(\x)});
\foreach \x in {0,45,...,1080}
{   \draw[blue,->] ({6+\x/180},{0},{0}) -- ({6+\x/180},{-1*cos(\x)},{1*sin(\x)});
}

\end{tikzpicture}
\end{document}

Output