[Tex/LaTex] tikz arc with arrow

arcarrowstikz-pgf

I am drawing the coordinate system using tikz and I intended to use arrow for the arcs \phi and \theta. But when I use -> in the arc options (resulting a proper arc), inside the graph remains an unwanted ^

How to solve this problem? (see "almost MWE" below)

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{tikz}   %TikZ is required for this to work.  Make sure this exists before the next line
\usepackage{3dplot} %requires 3dplot.sty to be in same directory, or in your LaTeX installation
\usepackage[active,tightpage]{preview}  %generates a tightly fitting border around the work
\PreviewEnvironment{tikzpicture}
\setlength\PreviewBorder{2mm}
\begin{document}
\tdplotsetmaincoords{60}{110}
\pgfmathsetmacro{\rvec}{.8}
\pgfmathsetmacro{\thetavec}{30}
\pgfmathsetmacro{\phivec}{60}
\begin{tikzpicture}[scale=5,tdplot_main_coords]
\coordinate (O) at (0,0,0);
\tdplotsetcoord{P}{\rvec}{\thetavec}{\phivec}
\draw[thick,->] (0,0,0) -- (1,0,0) node[anchor=north east]{$x$};
\draw[thick,->] (0,0,0) -- (0,1,0) node[anchor=north west]{$y$};
\draw[thick,->] (0,0,0) -- (0,0,1) node[anchor=south]{$z$};
\draw[-stealth,color=red] (O) -- (P);
\draw[dashed, color=red] (O) -- (Pxy);
\draw[dashed, color=red] (P) -- (Pxy);
\tdplotdrawarc[->]{(O)}{0.2}{0}{\phivec}{anchor=north}{$\phi$}
\tdplotsetthetaplanecoords{\phivec}
\tdplotdrawarc[->,tdplot_rotated_coords]{(0,0,0)}{0.5}{0}{\thetavec}{anchor=south west}{$\theta$}
\draw[dashed,tdplot_rotated_coords] (\rvec,0,0) arc (0:90:\rvec);
\draw[dashed] (\rvec,0,0) arc (0:90:\rvec);
\end{tikzpicture}
\end{document}

Best Answer

The problem with the code is that you are using an older version of the 3dplotpackage. It has been replaced with tikz-3dplot which has the functionality you are looking for. Hence the fix is very simple.

\documentclass{article}
  \usepackage{tikz}
% \usepackage{3dplot} % old package
  \usepackage{tikz-3dplot} % new package
  \usepackage[active,tightpage]{preview}
  \PreviewEnvironment{tikzpicture}
  \setlength\PreviewBorder{2mm}
  \begin{document}
    \tdplotsetmaincoords{60}{110}
    \pgfmathsetmacro{\rvec}{.8}
    \pgfmathsetmacro{\thetavec}{30}
    \pgfmathsetmacro{\phivec}{60}
    \begin{tikzpicture}[scale=5,tdplot_main_coords]
      \coordinate (O) at (0,0,0);
      \tdplotsetcoord{P}{\rvec}{\thetavec}{\phivec}
      \draw[thick,->] (0,0,0) -- (1,0,0) node[anchor=north east]{$x$};
      \draw[thick,->] (0,0,0) -- (0,1,0) node[anchor=north west]{$y$};
      \draw[thick,->] (0,0,0) -- (0,0,1) node[anchor=south]{$z$};
      \draw[-stealth,color=red] (O) -- (P);
      \draw[dashed, color=red] (O) -- (Pxy);
      \draw[dashed, color=red] (P) -- (Pxy);
      \tdplotdrawarc[->]{(O)}{0.2}{0}{\phivec}{anchor=north}{$\phi$}
      \tdplotsetthetaplanecoords{\phivec}
      \tdplotdrawarc[->,tdplot_rotated_coords]{(0,0,0)}{0.5}{0}{\thetavec}{anchor=south west}{$\theta$}
      \draw[dashed,tdplot_rotated_coords] (\rvec,0,0) arc (0:90:\rvec);
      \draw[dashed] (\rvec,0,0) arc (0:90:\rvec);
    \end{tikzpicture}
  \end{document}

enter image description here

Related Solutions

[Tex/LaTex] Help understanding the coordinate system used in tikz

By default, tikz uses centimeters (cm) as unit. You are using dimensions of the order of 200 (meaning 200cm) resulting in your image going beyond page and part of the image is not seen. Try setting [x=1mm,y=1mm], specifying all dimensions in mm and changing (unrelated) all tikzstyles (deprecated) to tikzset brings the image within the page.

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{tikz}
\usetikzlibrary{shapes}
\usetikzlibrary{backgrounds,fit,shapes}
\usetikzlibrary{positioning}
\tikzset{X/.style = {rectangle, fill=orange!30!white},
         Y/.style = {rectangle, fill=green!30!white},
         Other/.style = {rectangle, fill=blue!30!white}
}

\begin{document}



\begin{tikzpicture}[x=1mm,y=1mm]
\draw [thin,dashed][help lines,step=5mm] (0,0) grid (125,20);
\draw [help lines,step=10mm] (0,0) grid (125,20);

  \node [Y, anchor=south west, minimum width=100mm,minimum height=10mm] (Response) at (0,0) {};
  \node [below=of Response] {\small Variation in response};

  \node [X, anchor=south west, minimum width=75mm,minimum height=5mm] (Explanatory) at (0,0) {};
  \node [above=of Explanatory] {\small Explanatory};

  \node [Other, anchor=south west, minimum width=50mm,minimum height=5mm] (Other) at (75mm,1mm) {};
  \node [above=of Other] {\small Other};

\end{tikzpicture}

\end{document}

enter image description here

The dashed lines are 5mm apart from 0 to 125mm and the solid ones are 10mm apart. Hope this is helpful.

[Tex/LaTex] TikZ: Drawing an arc from an intersection to an intersection

A solution which allows to draw intersection segments of any two intersections is available as tikz library fillbetween.

This library works as general purpose tikz library, but it is shipped with pgfplots and you need to load pgfplots in order to make it work:

\documentclass{standalone}

\usepackage{tikz}
\usepackage{pgfplots}
\usetikzlibrary{fillbetween}

\begin{document}

\begin{tikzpicture}

\draw [name path=red,red] (120:1.06) circle (1.9);
%\draw [name path=yellow,yellow] (0:1.06) circle (2.12);
\draw [name path=green,green!50!black] (0:0.77) circle (2.41);
\draw [name path=blue,blue] (0:0) circle (1.06);

% substitute this temp path by `\path` to make it invisible:
\draw[name path=temp1, intersection segments={of=red and blue,sequence=L1}];
\draw[red,-stealth,ultra thick, intersection segments={of=temp1 and green,sequence=L3}];

\end{tikzpicture}

\end{document}

enter image description here

The key intersection segments is described in all detail in the pgfplots reference manual section "5.6.6 Intersection Segment Recombination"; the key idea in this case is to

create a temporary path temp1 which is the first intersection segment of red and blue, more precisely, it is the first intersection segment in the Left argument in red and blue : red. This path is drawn as thin black path. Substitute its \draw statement by \path to make it invisible.
Compute the desired intersection segment by intersecting temp1 and green and use the correct intersection segment. By trial and error I figured that it is the third segment of path temp1 which is written as L3 (L = left argument in temp1 and green and 3 means third segment of that path).

The argument involves some trial and error because fillbetween is unaware of the fact that end and startpoint are connected -- and we as end users do not see start and end point.

Note that you can connect these path segments with other paths. If such an intersection segment should be the continuation of another path, use -- as before the first argument in sequence. This allows to fill paths segments:

\documentclass{standalone}

\usepackage{tikz}
\usepackage{pgfplots}
\usetikzlibrary{fillbetween}

\begin{document}

\begin{tikzpicture}

\draw [name path=red,red] (120:1.06) circle (1.9);
%\draw [name path=yellow,yellow] (0:1.06) circle (2.12);
\draw [name path=green,green!50!black] (0:0.77) circle (2.41);
\draw [name path=blue,blue] (0:0) circle (1.06);

% substitute this temp path by `\path` to make it invisible:
\draw[name path=temp1, intersection segments={of=red and blue,sequence=L1}];
\draw[red,fill=blue,-stealth,ultra thick, intersection segments={of=temp1 and green,sequence=L3}]  
    [intersection segments={of=temp1 and green, sequence={--R2}}]
;

\end{tikzpicture}

\end{document}

enter image description here

Best Answer

Related Solutions

[Tex/LaTex] Help understanding the coordinate system used in tikz

[Tex/LaTex] TikZ: Drawing an arc from an intersection to an intersection

Related Question