Creating vector graphics with LaTeX and TikZ

Down to the Millimeter

LaTeX also provides a command to create a grid. You can thereby create a coordinate system or even generate graph paper.

The command in line 2 of Listing 3 causes LaTeX to draw a grid with 1-mm increments. The help lines option renders the lines thin and gray. The coordinates in the first parentheses indicate the lower left corner of the graphic, whereas the coordinates in the second set indicate the upper right corner.

01 \begin{tikzpicture}
02 \draw[step=1mm,help lines] (0,0) grid (50mm,50mm);
03 \draw[step=10mm] (0,0) grid (50mm,50mm);
04 \end{tikzpicture}

With line 3, you superimpose a second set of thicker lines in 10-mm intervals, thus creating graph paper (see Figure 2).

Figure 2: It takes two lines of LaTeX code to create simple graph paper.

Line Styles

Table 2 shows a summary of the commands that you can use as options for setting line thicknesses. Listing 4 shows an example.

01 \begin{tikzpicture}
02 \draw[ultra thin] (0,0) -- (6,0);
03 \draw[very thin] (0,0.5) -- (6,0.5);
04 \draw[thin] (0,1) -- (6,1);
05 \draw[semithick] (0,1.5) -- (6,1.5);
06 \draw[thick] (0,2) -- (6,2);
07 \draw[very thick] (0,2.5) -- (6,2.5);
08 \draw[ultra thick] (0,3) -- (6,3);
09 \draw[line width=2pt] (0,3.5) -- (6,3.5);
10 \end{tikzpicture}

Apart from line thickness, you can also determine the line style. Table 3 shows a summary of possible commands. Listing 5 shows an example, with the result in Figure 3.

Figure 3: LaTeX provides commands for different line patterns.

01 \begin{tikzpicture}
02 \draw[solid] (0,0) -- (6,0);
03 \draw[dash pattern=on 5mm off 2mm] (0,1) -- (6,1);
04 \draw[dotted] (0,2) -- (6,2);
05 \draw[densely dotted] (0,3) -- (6,3);
06 \draw[loosely dotted] (0,4) -- (6,4);
07 \draw[dashed] (0,5) -- (6,5);
08 \draw[densely dashed] (0,6) -- (6,6);
09 \draw[loosely dashed] (0,7) -- (6,7);
10 \draw[dashdotted] (0,8) -- (6,8);
11 \draw[densely dashdotted] (0,9) -- (6,9);
12 \draw[loosely dashdotted] (0,10) -- (6,10);
13 \draw[dashdotdotted] (0,11) -- (6,11);
14 \draw[densely dashdotdotted] (0,12) -- (6,12);
15 \draw[loosely dashdotdotted] (0,13) -- (6,13);
16 \end{tikzpicture}

You can create lines as arrows. Listing 6 provides two examples. You specify an option to determine the arrow's appearance. In the middle is always a double hyphen. The left-hand parameter sets the start of the arrow, and the right-hand parameter sets its ending. You use a greater-than symbol for the arrowhead, two greater-than symbols for a double arrowhead, and a vertical bar for a simple line ending.

01 \tikz{\draw [|->] (0,0) -- (2,2);}
02 \tikz{\draw [->>] (0,0) arc (15:60:3cm);}

You can also specify how the line ends should look by using the line cap=<style> option. The styles include butt (default), rect , and round . Listing 7 shows an example and Figure 4 shows the result.

Figure 4: Various line endings: butt (bottom), rect (middle), and round (top).

01 \begin{tikzpicture}[line width=12pt]
02 \draw[line cap=butt] (0,0) -- (6,0);
03 \draw[line cap=rect] (0,1) -- (6,1);
04 \draw[line cap=round] (0,2) -- (6,2);
05 \end{tikzpicture}

With the line join=<style> option you can determine how corners should look. Styles include miter (default), bevel , and round . Listing 8 gives an example and Figure 5 shows the output.

Figure 5: Corners can look different: miter (bottom), bevel (middle), and round (top).

01 \begin{tikzpicture}[line width=12pt]
02 \draw[line join=miter] (0,0) -- (1,1) -- (0,2);
03 \draw[line join=bevel] (2,0) -- (3,1) -- (2,2);
04 \draw[line join=round] (4,0) -- (5,1) -- (4,2);
05 \end{tikzpicture}

You can change the line color by specifying an option. The tikz package automatically loads the xcolor package so that you can have extensive color application possibilities.