Pictures from Inkscapes pdf+LaTeX export positioned wrong in nodes

Question

Sometimes I use Inkscape to add some graphical elements and text to my pictures. Inkscape allows to export this as pdf+LaTeX, where the pdf contains the picture and all graphical elements and the LaTeX file contains the text.

One can then \input{latex-file-from-inkscape} and the picture appears with superimposed text in the document font.

Internally this uses a picture-environment.

I now tried to put the picture in a tikz node and added a drop shadow. The result is wrong as the picture appears to get indented somehow. I found out that this also happens if a simple \fbox is added.

\documentclass{scrartcl}
\usepackage{tikz}
\usetikzlibrary{shadows}

\begin{document}

\def\svgwidth{.5\textwidth}
\input{drawing.pdf_tex}

\def\svgwidth{.5\textwidth}
\setlength{\fboxsep}{0pt}
\fbox{\input{drawing.pdf_tex}}

\begin{tikzpicture}
\def\svgwidth{.5\textwidth}
  \node[drop shadow={shadow xshift=.8ex,shadow yshift=-.8ex,opacity=0.5},
inner sep=0,
] at (0,0) {\input{drawing.pdf_tex}};
\end{tikzpicture}

\end{document}

the picture below shows the result 1) just input the file 2) with \fbox 3) with tikz drop shadow

The files are available here: Picture tex file

Answer 1

I'm not sure exactly what effect you want but the generated tex file has several missing % at ends of line which cause white space in the output in some circumstances.

This

\noindent\begin{tikzpicture}
\def\svgwidth{.5\textwidth}
  \node[drop shadow={shadow xshift=.8ex,shadow yshift=-.8ex,opacity=0.5},
inner sep=0,
] at (0,0) {{\let\zzz\begin\def\begin{\unskip\let\begin\zzz\begin}\input{drawing.pdf_tex}}};
\end{tikzpicture}

certainly shifts the picture within the shadow, hope it's closer to what you intend.

---

Actually there is additional white space you probably need more \unskip but rather than obscure the tex more it seems simpler just to fix the included file. If I restore your MWE to how it was but fix the _tex file I get the image as shown with a shadow just on the right and bottom.

the changes all involve putting % at ends of lines as shown by this diff < lines the original > lines the corrected version.

$ diff  drawing.pdf_tex1 drawing.pdf_tex2
30c30
<     \errmessage{(Inkscape) Color is used for the text in Inkscape, but the package 'color.sty' is not loaded}
---
>     \errmessage{(Inkscape) Color is used for the text in Inkscape, but the package 'color.sty' is not loaded}%
32c32
<   }
---
>   }%
34c34
<     \errmessage{(Inkscape) Transparency is used (non-zero) for the text in Inkscape, but the package 'transparent.sty' is not loaded}
---
>     \errmessage{(Inkscape) Transparency is used (non-zero) for the text in Inkscape, but the package 'transparent.sty' is not loaded}%
36,37c36,37
<   }
<   \providecommand\rotatebox[2]{#2}
---
>   }%
>   \providecommand\rotatebox[2]{#2}%
39c39
<     \setlength{\unitlength}{360pt}
---
>     \setlength{\unitlength}{360pt}%
41c41
<     \setlength{\unitlength}{\svgwidth}
---
>     \setlength{\unitlength}{\svgwidth}%