How to emulate some options of \node from TikZ

Question

Code

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{tikz} 
\begin{document}
\begin{tikzpicture} 
  \foreach \a in {0,45,...,315}%
   {\node[line width = 0pt,
          rotate     = \a,
          anchor     = west,
          inner sep  = 0pt,
          opacity    = .5]{\rule{.5cm}{.1cm}};}%      
\end{tikzpicture}    
\end{document}

I would to get the same result with \rotatebox and \put but other interesting methods are allowed without TikZ.

Some explanations of the first code :

1. anchor = west is the most important if we want to place the rules at the same point
2. inner sep = 0pt to remove white space around the rule (> 0pt -> pretty pictures)
3. line width = 0p subtlety! without this a small white point appears at the center
4. opacity = .5 only to watch how the rules are placed.

First try

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{tikz} % I keep TikZ because `foreach` is useful  
 \begin{document}

 \begin{picture}(0,0)
       \foreach \a in {0,45,...,315}%
      {\put(0,0){\rotatebox[origin=l]{\a}{\mbox{\rule{.5cm}{.1cm}}}}}%    
 \end{picture}
\end{document} 

It's normal because the boxes are misplaced, we can see why if we remove put:

I'm a serious guy so I found this question and some good and useful answers so ...

Second try

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{tikz} 
\makeatletter
\newcommand{\somespecialrotate}[3][]{%
    \begingroup
    \sbox\@tempboxa{\rotatebox[#1]{#2}{#3}}%
    \@tempdima=-\wd\@tempboxa 
    \advance\@tempdima by 0.09cm  % this is one of the problem
    \mbox{\hskip\@tempdima\usebox\@tempboxa}%
    \endgroup}%
\makeatother    
\begin{document}      
\begin{picture}(0,0)
       \foreach \a in {-90,-45,...,90}%
      {\put(0,0){\rotatebox[origin=l]{\a}{\mbox{\rule{.5cm}{.1cm}}}}}%  
       \put(0,0){\somespecialrotate[origin=l]{180}{\mbox{\rule{.5cm}{.1cm}}}}% 
       \put(0,0){\somespecialrotate[origin=l]{135}{\mbox{\rule{.5cm}{.1cm}}}}%
       \put(0,0){\somespecialrotate[origin=l]{225}{\mbox{\rule{.5cm}{.1cm}}}}%     
 \end{picture}
\end{document} 

This looks fine but \advance\@tempdima by 0.09cm is not serious and if I compare with the first code

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{tikz} 
\makeatletter
\newcommand{\somespecialrotate}[3][]{%
    \begingroup
    \sbox\@tempboxa{\rotatebox[#1]{#2}{#3}}%
    \@tempdima=-\wd\@tempboxa 
    \advance\@tempdima by 0.09cm  % this is one of the problem
    \mbox{\hskip\@tempdima\usebox\@tempboxa}%
    \endgroup}%
\makeatother    
\begin{document}  
\begin{picture}(0,0)
       \foreach \a in {-90,-45,...,90}%
      {\put(0,0){\rotatebox[origin=l]{\a}{\mbox{\rule{.5cm}{.1cm}}}}}%  
       \put(0,0){\somespecialrotate[origin=l]{180}{\mbox{\rule{.5cm}{.1cm}}}}% 
       \put(0,0){\somespecialrotate[origin=l]{135}{\mbox{\rule{.5cm}{.1cm}}}}%
       \put(0,0){\somespecialrotate[origin=l]{225}{\mbox{\rule{.5cm}{.1cm}}}}%     
 \end{picture}%
\color{red}%
\begin{tikzpicture} [overlay]
\foreach \a in {0,45,...,315}%
   {\node[rotate=\a,anchor=west,inner sep=0pt,opacity=.5]{\rule{.5cm}{.1cm}};}%      
\end{tikzpicture} 
\end{document} 

My question How to get the same picture with putand rotatebox?

Answer 1

Non-tikz attempt to a solution (but keeping the \foreach for convenience).

First of all it is better to utilize an empty framed box, as is easier to visualize.

For this I would use an \fbox with the fboxsep, providing some empty padding. We will also use the rotating package.

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{pgffor} % I keep TikZ because `foreach` is useful  
\usepackage{rotating}
\fboxsep10pt
\def\transparentbox{\fbox{\hbox to 3cm{}}}
\parindent0pt
\begin{document}
\foreach \a in {0,45,...,315}{%
\turnbox{\a}{\transparentbox}}%
\end{document} 

Answer 2

Partial answer because I get some other problems. I try this code proposed by Martin \mbox{\hskip\dimexpr -.5\wd\bxb+.5\bxc\relax\usebox\bxc} but I get two problems. The first I introduce something wrong because the result is very bad but if I use the classical method

\@tempdima=\wd\bxb 
\advance\@tempdima by -\wd\bxc  % this is one of the problem 
\@tempdima=-0.5\@tempdima 
\mbox{\hskip\@tempdima\usebox\bxc}%  

Update with the help of Werner to use Martin's suggestion. `dimexpr' is very useful. Now I need to reduce this code (three loops with three different macros.

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{picture}
\usepackage{tikz} 
\makeatletter 
\newbox\bxb
\newbox\bxc
\newcommand{\somespecialrotate}[3][]{%
\begingroup
    \sbox\bxb{#3}
    \sbox\bxc{\rotatebox[#1]{#2}{#3}}%
    \mbox{\hskip\dimexpr -.5\wd\bxb+.5\wd\bxc\relax\usebox\bxc}
\endgroup}% 
\newcommand{\somespecialrotatei}[3][]{%
\begingroup
    \sbox\bxb{#3}
    \sbox\bxc{\rotatebox[#1]{#2}{#3}}%
    \mbox{\hskip\dimexpr 0.5\wd\bxb-1.5\wd\bxc\relax\usebox\bxc}
\endgroup}%
\newcommand{\somespecialrotateii}[3][]{%
\begingroup
    \sbox\bxb{#3}
    \sbox\bxc{\rotatebox[#1]{#2}{#3}}%
    \mbox{\hskip\dimexpr -0.5\wd\bxc\relax\usebox\bxc}  
\endgroup}%   
\makeatother    
\begin{document} 

 \setlength{\fboxsep}{0pt}  
\begin{picture}(0,0)
       \foreach \a in {-45,0,45}%
      {\put(0,0){%
      \somespecialrotate[origin=l]{\a}{%
             \tikz \node[minimum width =2cm,%
                         minimum height=4mm,%
                         inner sep =0pt,draw,%
                         line width=.4pt]{};%
}}}%      
       \foreach \a in {135,180,225}%
      {\put(0,0){%
      \somespecialrotatei[origin=l]{\a}{%
             \tikz \node[minimum width =2cm,%
                         minimum height=4mm,%
                         inner sep =0pt,draw,%
                         line width=.4pt]{};%
}}}%
       \foreach \a in {90,-90}%
      {\put(0,0){%
      \somespecialrotateii[origin=l]{\a}{%
             \tikz \node[minimum width =2cm,%
                         minimum height=4mm,%
                         inner sep =0pt,draw,%
                         line width=.4pt]{};%
}}}%     
 \end{picture}%
\end{document}