[Tex/LaTex] Painting an ellipse that fits a row of node but is not narrow and long

fittikz-pgf

I want to draw a Tikz diagram, in which an ellipse contains a row of smaller ellipses. I tried doing so using the fitting library:

\begin{tikzpicture}[
  every node/.style={inner sep=1pt},
  proc/.style={shape=ellipse, draw}
]
\path node[proc] (q) {q} -- ++(2cm,0) 
      node[proc] (p1) {p$_1$} -- ++(1.5cm,0)
      node (d) {\ldots} -- ++(1.5cm,0)
      node[proc] (pn) {p$_n$};
\node[fit=(q)(p1)(d)(pn), proc] {};
\end{tikzpicture}

The result is a long and narrow ellipse:

bad ellipse

I would prefer the surrounding ellipse to be shorter and taller, i.e., end closer to the q and pn nodes, and also have slightly more height. What is the right configuration for this?

Best Answer

My original answer is below the line. Here's a slightly improved version, which uses two "strategically-placed" pegs to distort the ellipse. I think this approach will need less manual fine tuning (of envel/inner sep and peg/node distance).

\begin{tikzpicture}[
  every node/.style={inner sep=1pt},
  proc/.style={shape=ellipse, draw},
  peg/.style={draw=none,color=black!0,node distance=1cm},
  envel/.style={shape=ellipse, draw, inner sep=-0.5cm}
]
\path node[proc] (q) {q} -- ++(2cm,0) 
      node[proc] (p1) {p$_1$} -- ++(1.5cm,0)
      node (d) {\ldots} -- ++(1.5cm,0)
      node[proc] (pn) {p$_n$};
\node  [peg,above of=p1] (c1) {+}; 
\node  [peg,below of=d] (c2) {+};
\node[fit=(q)(p1)(d)(pn)(c1)(c2), envel] {};
\end{tikzpicture}

Here's a slightly exaggerated answer. I suggest you play with the envel construction's inner sep and minimum height parameters to find what suits you best.

\begin{tikzpicture}[
  every node/.style={inner sep=1pt},
  proc/.style={shape=ellipse, draw},
  envel/.style={shape=ellipse, draw, inner sep=-0.5cm, minimum height=4.5cm}
]
\path node[proc] (q) {q} -- ++(2cm,0) 
      node[proc] (p1) {p$_1$} -- ++(1.5cm,0)
      node (d) {\ldots} -- ++(1.5cm,0)
      node[proc] (pn) {p$_n$};
\node[fit=(q)(p1)(d)(pn), envel] {};
\end{tikzpicture}

Related Solutions

[Tex/LaTex] Rotate a node but not its content: the case of the ellipse decoration

The source of the difficulty is that ellipses are constructed in a particular way in TikZ. They are paths that start from the x-axis and proceed counter-clockwise around their centre. The vast majority of the time, the exact parametrisation doesn't matter. You appear to have found the one situation where it does!

In the actual question, you only want to be able to mirror the ellipse, and so draw it starting from the negative x-axis (the title of the question suggests a more flexible approach). That's actually not too hard since we can exploit the symmetry of the ellipse. The key is to provide it with a negative x-radius, since then it will start from the negative x-axis (and proceed clockwise, but we could correct for that by negating the y-radius as well). To do this, we interrupt the call from the node shape to the drawing command and flip the sign of the x-radius. The simplest way to do this is to redefine the \pgfpathellipse macro to do the negation and then call the original macro. The following code does this.

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{tikz}
\usetikzlibrary{decorations,shapes,decorations.markings}
\makeatletter
\let\origpgfpathellipse=\pgfpathellipse
\def\revpgfpathellipse#1#2#3{%
  #2%
  \pgf@xa=-\pgf@x
  \origpgfpathellipse{#1}{\pgfqpoint{\pgf@xa}{0pt}}{#3}}
\makeatother

\tikzset{
  reversed ellipse/.style={
    ellipse,
    reverse the ellipse%
  },
  reverse the ellipse/.code={
    \let\pgfpathellipse=\revpgfpathellipse
  }
}
\begin{document}
\begin{tikzpicture}
\node[ellipse,
  draw,
  postaction={
    decorate,
    decoration={
      markings,
      mark=at position 1 with {
        \arrow[line width=5pt,blue]{>}
      }
    }
  }
] at (0,0) {hello world};

\node[reversed ellipse,
  draw,
  postaction={
    decorate,
    decoration={
      markings,
      mark=at position 1 with {
        \arrow[line width=5pt,blue]{>}
      }
    }
  }
] at (0,-2) {hello world};
\end{tikzpicture}

\end{document}

Here's the result:

rotated ellipse

(the arrow got clipped, but you can see where it lies)

[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

[Tex/LaTex] Rotate a node but not its content: the case of the ellipse decoration

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

Related Question