# Placing nodes along an ellipse in TikZ

Is anybody aware of a simple way to place nodes at arbitrary positions along an ellipse? Ideally I would want to mimic notation like

\draw (0,0) ellipse [ x radius=2, y radius = 1] node[pos=.3] {Hi, I am a node.};


But this does not work. It is possible to splice together four curves that will do a good approximation, for instance

\node[coordinate,name=top] at (0,3) {};
\node[coordinate,name=bottom] at (0,-3) {};
\node[coordinate,name=left] at (-5,0) {};
\node[coordinate,name=right] at (5,0) {};

\draw (left) .. controls ($(left)+(0,2)$) and ($(top)-(2,0)$) .. (top);
\draw (left) .. controls ($(left)-(0,2)$) and ($(bottom)-(2,0)$) .. (bottom);
\draw (right) .. controls ($(right)+(0,2)$) and ($(top)+(2,0)$) .. (top);
\draw (right) .. controls ($(right)-(0,2)$) and ($(bottom)+(2,0)$) .. (bottom);


will give a decent approximation to

\draw (0,0) ellipse [ x radius=5, y radius = 3];


Using this method I can then use the notation I wanted to use. But if I want to make several pictures with this method or make adjustments, then it can become a lot of work. Also, the control points I picked were from guess and check as opposed to some other knowledge (this is a fault I know) so for varying sizes I will need to guess and check each time. So I am hoping for something a little more compact.

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With the arc operation (Section 13.8 of the version 2.00 TikZ manual) you can easily draw parts of an ellipse. –  Caramdir Aug 16 '10 at 8:00

You can let TikZ calculate the position of the node for you:

\usetikzlibrary{calc}

\begin{tikzpicture}
\draw (2,0) ellipse (2 and 1);
\node at ($(2,0)+(75:2 and 1)$) {a node};
\end{tikzpicture}


The key here is that (75:2 and 1) is the position at 75 degrees on an ellipse with axis lengths 2 and 1 centered at (0,0). The (2,0) is just an example how you get an off-center position.

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Awesome. I did not realize that you could put an ellipse inside of the angular coordinates. This fits perfectly for what I was thinking. –  TheAxeR Aug 17 '10 at 15:01

One thing you could do is create an elliptical node and then use the anchor points of that node. So for example,

\node[draw,ellipse,minimum height=2cm,minimum width=4cm] (a) at (0,0) {};
\node[above right] at (a.75) {Hi I am a node};


Here 75 is the angle around the ellipse where you want the text node to be placed.

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With pgf 2.10 CVS !! You need to use arc operation because you need to know the path wih a point for the beginning and a point final. Idem for the circle.

\documentclass[11pt]{scrartcl}
\usepackage{tikz}
\usetikzlibrary{%
arrows,
calc
}

\begin{document}
\begin{tikzpicture}

\draw (8,0) arc [start angle=0,
end angle=360,

I don't know if it is ever needed but adding -- cycle might be an option just to be on the safe side. –  percusse May 3 '12 at 8:01