Tell TikZ arrow to terminate prematurely

Question

Is it possible to tell arrows in TikZ to ease off a bit so as to not get within a thousandths of an inch of the target node? In my particular case I am using shadows which are interfering with the arrow heads (see image below):

Answer 1

Use the shorten option for those arrows.

\documentclass[border=1cm]{standalone}

\usepackage{tikz}

\begin{document}
\begin{tikzpicture}[thick]
    \draw [help lines] (-1,-2) grid (4,2);
    \draw [blue, ->] (0,1) -- (3,1);
    \draw [->, shorten >=5mm] (0,0) -- (3,0);
    \draw [red, shorten <=7.5mm, shorten >=10mm] (0,-1) -- (3,-1);
\end{tikzpicture}
\end{document}