Ref a picture within a node

Question

I would like to know if we can reference a (tikz)picture within a node from another picture. In this way, I could create a PDF with multiple pictures which give details of each node from my first picture. Thanks.

Answer 1

See section 16.13 Referencing Nodes Outside the Current Pictures in the TikZ/PGF-manual. It shows a nice example on how to do this.

I cite the relevant example below.

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Inside the current text we place two pictures, containing nodes named n1 and n2, using

\tikz[remember picture] \node[circle,fill=red!50] (n1) {};

which yields (1), and

\tikz[remember picture] \node[fill=blue!50] (n2) {};

yielding the node (2). To connect these nodes, we create another picture using the overlay option and also the remember picture option.

\begin{tikzpicture}[remember picture,overlay]
\draw[->,very thick] (n1) -- (n2);
\end{tikzpicture}

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In the manual you will see a line drawn from (1) to (2). I think that shows the possibilities and features of [remember picture,overlay] pretty well.