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I have some trouble drawing a control system block diagram using TikZ. I want a certain node to be shown as a dot, indicating a connection. However, the dot is not positioned at the center of the node but above it. How can I fix this?

The problem is obvious from a PS or PDF generated from this LaTeX document:

\documentclass{article}

\usepackage{tikz}
\usetikzlibrary{shapes,arrows}
\begin{document}

\pagestyle{empty}

\tikzstyle{block} = [draw, rectangle, minimum width = 0.75cm, minimum height = 0.75cm]
\tikzstyle{sum} = [draw, circle, minimum size=.5cm, node distance=1.75cm]
\tikzstyle{input} = [coordinate]
\tikzstyle{output} = [coordinate]

\begin{tikzpicture}[node distance=2cm,auto,>=latex']
    \node [input, name=input] {};
    \node [sum, right of=input] (sum) {};
    \node [block, right of=sum] (a1) {$A_1(s)$};
    \node [block, right of=a1] (a2) {$A_2(s)$};
    \node [block, right of=a2] (k) {$K$};
    \node [output, right of=k] (output) {}; 

    \draw [->] (a1) -- (a2);
    \draw [->] (a2) -- node [name=vout] {$V_o$} (k);

   \node [block, below of=a2] (a3) {$A_1(s)$};

   \draw [draw,->, node] (input) -- node {$V_\mathrm{ref}$} node[pos=0.95] {{\tiny $+$}} (sum);
   \draw [->] (sum) -- (a1);
   \draw [->] (k) -- node[name=vl]  {$V_L$} (output);
   \draw [->] (vl) |- (a3);
   \draw [->] (a3) -| node[pos=0.99, right] {{\tiny $-$}} (sum);

   \fill (vl) circle [radius=2pt];
\end{tikzpicture}
\end{document}
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3 Answers

up vote 5 down vote

You can use

   \fill (vl.south) circle [radius=2pt];

or even better,

   \fill (vl|-k) circle [radius=2pt];

A complete example:

\documentclass{article}

\usepackage{tikz}
\usetikzlibrary{shapes,arrows}
\begin{document}

\pagestyle{empty}

\tikzstyle{block} = [draw, rectangle, minimum width = 0.75cm, minimum height = 0.75cm]
\tikzstyle{sum} = [draw, circle, minimum size=.5cm, node distance=1.75cm]
\tikzstyle{input} = [coordinate]
\tikzstyle{output} = [coordinate]

\begin{tikzpicture}[node distance=2cm,auto,>=latex']
    \node [input, name=input] {};
    \node [sum, right of=input] (sum) {};
    \node [block, right of=sum] (a1) {$A_1(s)$};
    \node [block, right of=a1] (a2) {$A_2(s)$};
    \node [block, right of=a2] (k) {$K$};
    \node [output, right of=k] (output) {}; 

    \draw [->] (a1) -- (a2);
    \draw [->] (a2) -- node [name=vout] {$V_o$} (k);

   \node [block, below of=a2] (a3) {$A_1(s)$};

   \draw [draw,->] (input) -- node {$V_\mathrm{ref}$} node[pos=0.95] {{\tiny $+$}} (sum);
   \draw [->] (sum) -- (a1);
   \draw [->] (k) -- node[name=vl]  {$V_L$} (output);
   \draw [->] (vl) |- (a3);
   \draw [->] (a3) -| node[pos=0.99, right] {{\tiny $-$}} (sum);

   %\fill (vl.south) circle [radius=2pt];
   \fill (vl|-k) circle [radius=2pt];
\end{tikzpicture}
\end{document}

enter image description here

Another option would be to first set a coordinate for V_L at the appropriate location, and then use this coordinate to place the circle:

\documentclass{article}

\usepackage{tikz}
\usetikzlibrary{shapes,arrows}
\begin{document}

\pagestyle{empty}

\tikzstyle{block} = [draw, rectangle, minimum width = 0.75cm, minimum height = 0.75cm]
\tikzstyle{sum} = [draw, circle, minimum size=.5cm, node distance=1.75cm]
\tikzstyle{input} = [coordinate]
\tikzstyle{output} = [coordinate]

\begin{tikzpicture}[node distance=2cm,auto,>=latex']
    \node [input, name=input] {};
    \node [sum, right of=input] (sum) {};
    \node [block, right of=sum] (a1) {$A_1(s)$};
    \node [block, right of=a1] (a2) {$A_2(s)$};
    \node [block, right of=a2] (k) {$K$};
    \node [output, right of=k] (output) {}; 

    \draw [->] (a1) -- (a2);
    \draw [->] (a2) -- node [name=vout] {$V_o$} (k);

   \node [block, below of=a2] (a3) {$A_1(s)$};

   \draw [draw,->] (input) -- node {$V_\mathrm{ref}$} node[pos=0.95] {{\tiny $+$}} (sum);
   \draw [->] (sum) -- (a1);
   \draw [->] (k) -- coordinate[label=above:$V_L$] (vl)  (output);
   \draw [->] (vl) |- (a3);
   \draw [->] (a3) -| node[pos=0.99, right] {{\tiny $-$}} (sum);

   \fill (vl) circle [radius=2pt];
\end{tikzpicture}
\end{document}

Yet another option is to use a coordinate (as in the last example above) and then use the *-> arrow type, with a convenient value for shorten, as in

\draw [->] (k) -- coordinate[label=above:$V_L$] (vl)  (output);
\draw [*->,shorten <= -2pt] (vl) |- (a3);

A complete example:

\documentclass{article}

\usepackage{tikz}
\usetikzlibrary{shapes,arrows}
\begin{document}

\pagestyle{empty}

\tikzstyle{block} = [draw, rectangle, minimum width = 0.75cm, minimum height = 0.75cm]
\tikzstyle{sum} = [draw, circle, minimum size=.5cm, node distance=1.75cm]
\tikzstyle{input} = [coordinate]
\tikzstyle{output} = [coordinate]

\begin{tikzpicture}[node distance=2cm,auto,>=latex']
    \node [input, name=input] {};
    \node [sum, right of=input] (sum) {};
    \node [block, right of=sum] (a1) {$A_1(s)$};
    \node [block, right of=a1] (a2) {$A_2(s)$};
    \node [block, right of=a2] (k) {$K$};
    \node [output, right of=k] (output) {}; 

    \draw [->] (a1) -- (a2);
    \draw [->] (a2) -- node [name=vout] {$V_o$} (k);

   \node [block, below of=a2] (a3) {$A_1(s)$};

   \draw [draw,->] (input) -- node {$V_\mathrm{ref}$} node[pos=0.95] {{\tiny $+$}} (sum);
   \draw [->] (sum) -- (a1);
   \draw [->] (k) -- coordinate[label=above:$V_L$] (vl)  (output);
   \draw [*->,shorten <= -2pt] (vl) |- (a3);
   \draw [->] (a3) -| node[pos=0.99, right] {{\tiny $-$}} (sum);

\end{tikzpicture}
\end{document}
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Another option would be to place $V_L$ as vl's coordinate label: coordinate[label=above:{$V_l$}] (vl). – Ignasi Nov 5 '12 at 17:15
@Ignasi you're right. I'll add this to my answer. Thank you. – Gonzalo Medina Nov 5 '12 at 17:18
up vote 3 down vote

It is better here to separate the node and the intersection using coordinate

   \draw [draw,->, node] (input) -- node {$V_\mathrm{ref}$} node[pos=0.95] {{\tiny $+$}} (sum);
   \draw [->] (sum) -- (a1);
   \draw [->] (k) -- node[name=vl]  {$V_L$} (output);
   \draw [->] (vl) |- (a3);
   \draw [->] (a3) -| node[pos=0.99, right] {{\tiny $-$}} (sum);

   \fill (vl) circle [radius=2pt];
share|improve this answer
up vote 2 down vote

Here something different with coordinate and node. I modified the code. I used /.styleand I placed {\tiny $+$} with a different method. I think the symbols are better placed.

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{tikz}
\usetikzlibrary{shapes,arrows}
\begin{document}

\pagestyle{empty}

\begin{tikzpicture}[%
    node distance = 2 cm,auto,>=latex',
    block/.style  = {draw, rectangle, minimum width = 0.75cm, minimum height = 0.75cm},
    sum/.style    = {draw, circle, minimum size=.5cm, node distance=1.75cm},
    input/.style  = {coordinate},
    output/.style = {coordinate},
    dot/.style    = {anchor=base,fill,circle,inner sep=1pt}]

    \node [input, name=input] {};
    \node [sum, right of=input] (sum) {};
    \node [block, right of=sum] (a1) {$A_1(s)$};
    \node [block, right of=a1] (a2) {$A_2(s)$};
    \node [block, right of=a2] (k) {$K$};
    \node [output, right of=k] (output) {}; 
    \node [block, below of=a2] (a3) {$A_1(s)$};

    \draw [->] (a1) -- (a2);
    \draw [->] (a2) -- node [name=vout] {$V_o$} (k);
    \draw [draw,->] (input) -- node {$V_\mathrm{ref}$} (sum); 
    \draw [->] (sum) -- (a1);
    \draw [->] (k) -- coordinate[dot](vl) node  {$V_L$} (output); 
    \draw [->] (vl) |- (a3);
    \draw [->] (a3) -| (sum);

    \node [shift=({145:12pt})] at (sum.center)  {\tiny $+$}; % I removed {}
    \node [shift=({-45:12pt})] at (sum.center)  {\tiny $-$}; 
\end{tikzpicture} 

\end{document}
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