# tikz pattern north west lines dashed

Hello I am trying to create a figure with tikz. Im using patterns to define a few different regions. zone 0 is gray zone 1 is north east lines z2 is north west lines

For some reason the diagonal patterns are coming out dashed. And Im not sure why. Does anyone know how to fix this?

Below is my code and a screen shot:

\documentclass{standalone}
\usepackage{tikz}
\usetikzlibrary{patterns}
\usepackage{tkz-euclide}
\usetikzlibrary{calc}
\begin{document}
\begin{tikzpicture}
\tkzInit[xmax=5,ymax=5]
%\tkzAxeXY
%zone 2 (rectangle, negative)
\fill[pattern=north west lines] (0,5) rectangle (5.5,0);
\fill[white] (4,1.5) circle (1.35);
%zone 1
\node[minimum width=2.7cm,
circle,inner sep=0pt,fill opacity=1,
line width=2.5mm,pattern=north east lines,opacity=1] at (4,1.5){};
%zone 0 (positive)
\node[minimum width=2cm,
circle,inner sep=0pt,fill opacity=1,
line width=2.5mm,draw=gray,opacity=1] at (4,1.5){};
%wall (dashed line)
\node[minimum width=2cm,
circle,inner sep=0pt,fill opacity=0,
line width=.5mm,dashed,draw=black,opacity=1] at (4,1.5){};
\end{tikzpicture}
\end{document}


• Welcome to TexSE! I wonder what version of TikZ you are using? On my plain TexLive 2014 system (Mac OSX) the diagonal lines come out solid. Dec 13, 2014 at 23:08
• Is there a way to check? I am using MacTex 2014 and using latexmk to build Dec 13, 2014 at 23:36
• add \listfiles say before \begin{document}, you will get list of files with version in the log.
– user11232
Dec 14, 2014 at 0:10
• tikz.sty 2013/12/13 v3.0.0 (rcs-revision 1.142) Dec 14, 2014 at 0:18
• I think this is a renderer-side problem. I tried exporting PDF to PNG and the latter looks good. (By the way, so are they dashed in tikz manual.) Dec 29, 2014 at 1:26

I think this is a renderer-side problem. For the code at the end, the left one is the screenshot and the right one is the exported PNG.

Here are some code/comment from pgfcorepatterns.code.tex;

% Creates a new colored pattern
%
% [#1] = optional list of variables.
% #2   = pattern name
% #3   = lower left of bounding box
% #4   = upper right of bounding box
% #5   = step vector
% #6   = pattern code
%
% Description:
%
% Declares a new colored pattern. Such patterns have a one or more
% fixed inherent colors. See the pdf-manual for more details on
% uncolored patterns.
%
% The parameters have the same effect as for uncolored patterns.


and code from pgflibrarypatterns.code.tex.

\pgfdeclarepatternformonly{north east lines}{\pgfqpoint{-1pt}{-1pt}}{\pgfqpoint{4pt}{4pt}}{\pgfqpoint{3pt}{3pt}}%
{
\pgfsetlinewidth{0.4pt}
\pgfpathmoveto{\pgfqpoint{0pt}{0pt}}
\pgfpathlineto{\pgfqpoint{3.1pt}{3.1pt}}
\pgfusepath{stroke}
}


So I think this is what happened

and what I did

\documentclass[tikz]{standalone}
\usepackage{tikz}\usetikzlibrary{patterns}

\pgfdeclarepatternformonly{south west lines}{\pgfqpoint{-0pt}{-0pt}}{\pgfqpoint{3pt}{3pt}}{\pgfqpoint{3pt}{3pt}}{
\pgfsetlinewidth{0.4pt}
\pgfpathmoveto{\pgfqpoint{0pt}{0pt}}
\pgfpathlineto{\pgfqpoint{3pt}{3pt}}
\pgfpathmoveto{\pgfqpoint{2.8pt}{-.2pt}}
\pgfpathlineto{\pgfqpoint{3.2pt}{.2pt}}
\pgfpathmoveto{\pgfqpoint{-.2pt}{2.8pt}}
\pgfpathlineto{\pgfqpoint{.2pt}{3.2pt}}
\pgfusepath{stroke}}

\begin{document}
\begin{tikzpicture}
\fill[pattern=north east lines](0,1)rectangle(1,0);
\fill[pattern=south west lines](0,1)rectangle(-1,0);
\end{tikzpicture}
\begin{tikzpicture}[line width=.4cm]
\begin{scope}[opacity=.25]
\draw[thin](1,2)rectangle(2,1)(1.5,1)node[below]{de facto bounding box};
\draw[thin](0,3)rectangle(3,0)(1.5,0)node[below]{tessellating box};
\draw[thin](-1,4)rectangle(4,-1)(1.5,-1)node[below]{bounding box};
\draw[opacity=0](-1,4)rectangle(4,-1);
\draw(0,0)--(3.1,3.1);
\end{scope}
\clip(1,2)rectangle(2,1);
\draw(0,0)--(3,3);
\end{tikzpicture}
\begin{tikzpicture}[line width=.4cm]
\begin{scope}[opacity=.25]
\draw[thin](0,3)rectangle(3,0)(1.5,0)node[below]{bounding box = tessellating box};
\draw(0,0)--(3,3)(-.2,2.8)--(.2,3.2)(2.8,-.2)--(3.2,.2);
\end{scope}
\clip(0,3)rectangle(3,0);
\draw(0,0)--(3,3)(-.2,2.8)--(.2,3.2)(2.8,-.2)--(3.2,.2);
\end{tikzpicture}
\end{document}


# south east version

For your convenience, here is a south east version

\pgfdeclarepatternformonly{south east lines}{\pgfqpoint{-0pt}{-0pt}}{\pgfqpoint{3pt}{3pt}}{\pgfqpoint{3pt}{3pt}}{
\pgfsetlinewidth{0.4pt}
\pgfpathmoveto{\pgfqpoint{0pt}{3pt}}
\pgfpathlineto{\pgfqpoint{3pt}{0pt}}
\pgfpathmoveto{\pgfqpoint{.2pt}{-.2pt}}
\pgfpathlineto{\pgfqpoint{-.2pt}{.2pt}}
\pgfpathmoveto{\pgfqpoint{3.2pt}{2.8pt}}
\pgfpathlineto{\pgfqpoint{2.8pt}{3.2pt}}
\pgfusepath{stroke}}

• When you say "the screen shot", what viewer are you using ? When you say "exported PNG", how you export it ?
– Kpym
Dec 29, 2014 at 9:05
• @Kpym I am using Preview on OS X. The screenshot is what I saw when I opened the PDF file. And then from menubar File->Export...-> PNG Dec 29, 2014 at 9:43
• This looks like an OS X previewer problam, and not a TikZ one for me. You can check your PDF in another viewer (Acrobat/Chrome/...) .
– Kpym
Dec 29, 2014 at 11:17
• @Kpym I believe it is. On Chrome it looks all right. By the way, it looks good in Finder's quick view. Dec 29, 2014 at 11:26
• Similar question to: tex.stackexchange.com/questions/212551/… Mar 28, 2015 at 21:59