A general list for discussions about pgf and TikZ (Graphic systems for TeX). ()

Hans Meine | 5 Mar 10:24

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Re: Overview of new TikZ and PGF features

Am Dienstag, 04. März 2008 20:18:19 schrieb Kjell Magne Fauske:
> I have added an overview of some of the new 2.00 features to the PGF
> and TikZ examples gallery that I maintain:
> http://www.fauskes.net/pgftikzexamples/pgf-version-2/

Great - I am just reading it; some questions/comments:

1)  You use:
>    \draw [<->] (some node) -- (other node)
>    node [midway,right,draw=none] {1cm};
Is there an advantage of "node[midway]" (which I have not used before) 
compared with (some node) -- node[..] {...} (other node)?  I have gotten 
accustomed to the latter, but I admit that it sometimes moves the start/end 
of the -- very far apart.  (I guess that's the main advantage of the former?)

2) The fitting library does not seem to shrink the circle to just encompass 
the given nodes, but their bounding box?  (I.e. in your example, the circle 
could be made smaller at the bottom.)

3) "TikZ now support fadings and transparency groups:" -> the second smoking 
sign does not appear transparent?!

4) The smaller figures at the bottom show some other errors w.r.t. 
transparency/shadows.

Thanks a lot for the write-up! 

Ciao, /  /
     /--/
    /  / ANS

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Kjell Magne Fauske | 5 Mar 12:55

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Re: Overview of new TikZ and PGF features

On Wed, Mar 5, 2008 at 10:24 AM, Hans Meine
<meine <at> informatik.uni-hamburg.de> wrote:
> Am Dienstag, 04. März 2008 20:18:19 schrieb Kjell Magne Fauske:
>
> > I have added an overview of some of the new 2.00 features to the PGF
>  > and TikZ examples gallery that I maintain:
>  > http://www.fauskes.net/pgftikzexamples/pgf-version-2/
>
>  Great - I am just reading it; some questions/comments:
>

I forgot to mention that nearly all of the code is copied directly
from the manual. All the credits should therefore go to Till and Mark.

>
>  3) "TikZ now support fadings and transparency groups:" -> the second smoking
>  sign does not appear transparent?!
>

As Till pointed out, a background would have made this clearer.

>  4) The smaller figures at the bottom show some other errors w.r.t.
>  transparency/shadows.
>

I know. I use Ghostscript to generate the pngs. Unfortunately it has
problems generating decent looking images from pdfs containing
transparency. I had to cheat and use a screenshot from Adobe to create
the larger version :)

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Till Tantau | 5 Mar 11:35

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Re: Overview of new TikZ and PGF features


Am 05.03.2008 um 10:24 schrieb Hans Meine:

> Am Dienstag, 04. März 2008 20:18:19 schrieb Kjell Magne Fauske:
>> I have added an overview of some of the new 2.00 features to the PGF
>> and TikZ examples gallery that I maintain:
>> http://www.fauskes.net/pgftikzexamples/pgf-version-2/
>
> Great - I am just reading it; some questions/comments:
>
> 1)  You use:
>>    \draw [<->] (some node) -- (other node)
>>    node [midway,right,draw=none] {1cm};
> Is there an advantage of "node[midway]" (which I have not used before)
> compared with (some node) -- node[..] {...} (other node)?  I have  
> gotten
> accustomed to the latter, but I admit that it sometimes moves the  
> start/end
> of the -- very far apart.  (I guess that's the main advantage of  
> the former?)
>

Indeed. Actually, I was simply undecided which syntax was better,  
they both appear to have advantages and disadvantages. Just use  
whatever you feel more comfortable with.

> 2) The fitting library does not seem to shrink the circle to just  
> encompass
> the given nodes, but their bounding box?  (I.e. in your example,  
> the circle

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Hans Meine | 5 Mar 11:41

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Re: Overview of new TikZ and PGF features

Am Mittwoch, 05. März 2008 11:35:03 schrieb Till Tantau:
> > 2) The fitting library does not seem to shrink the circle to just
> > encompass the given nodes, but their bounding box?  (I.e. in your example,
> > the circle could be made smaller at the bottom.)
>
> The fitting library will fit the *text* box part of a node so that it
> exactly encompasses the given points.

Ah - thanks for clearing this up.  Makes sense.

> For creating circles shapes that go through a given point you can try
> the "through" library. However, there is no lib for computing a
> minimal circle that exactly encompasses a given set of points (sound
> tricky, now that I come to think of it; more like a computational
> geometry problem...).

Yes - I already thought that computing minimal shapes for all available shapes 
would be far out of TikZ's scope.. 

> > 3) "TikZ now support fadings and transparency groups:" -> the
> > second smoking sign does not appear transparent?!
>
> Well, without the transparency it would be "bright red" instead of
> faded. However, a background might help to show what's bogin on.

Right.  I see.  If I might say so - Kjell's example is a little bit 
misleading, because one subconciously expects the text to shine through the 
red bar.  It's one of those cases where I see a bug at the wrong place, 
simply because my mind does not allow me to become aware of all possible 
sides of the problem.  Tricky.

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