I have a custom TikZ arrow head called myarrow. How can I turn it into a shape? I want to be able place it wherever I want without needing an edge underneath, with a command like this:
\node [myarrowshape] at (0,0) {};
asked Jan 12, 2015 at 16:48
-
Do you want realy a shape with text inside the arrow, or you want just to be able to drop your arrow at some place ?– KpymJan 12, 2015 at 21:08
-
Just drop the arrow, no text.– Jamie VicaryJan 12, 2015 at 23:16
-
Some code, please? Such as the definition of said arrow head? (Or are you concerned about ceding intellectual property rights in it?) It is much easier to work on a concrete example than to first construct one which you hope is relevantly similar, but may not be, and then work on that. Also, you limit helpers needlessly. I've never defined my own arrow head. So I don't know how to and can't work on the question without first learning that. But I've defined lots of pics, so if I didn't have the defining-head obstacle, the question might be tempting. But I do, so it is rather less so.– cfrJan 13, 2015 at 2:13
-
Tl;dr: never make the mistake of assuming that only those who know at least what you know can possibly help you.– cfrJan 13, 2015 at 2:18
-
Probably a better title for your question in this case will be "How to drop a tikz arrow at given coordinates ?".– KpymJan 13, 2015 at 8:07
Add a comment
|
1 Answer
If what you want is just to be able to drop arrow somewhere, here is one possibility (with two versions). Both versions use the same method :decorations.markings with \arrow.
UPDATE : As the first version has some drawbacks, here is a modification using pic in place of path picture.
- You can set the arrow like this
pic{arrow=latex}or by changing the default one. - To scale the arrow you can change the line width, for exemple like
pic[line width=3pt]{arrow}. - The arrow is not centered at the coordinate. If you want to make it centered you can look at this question.
Here is the code producing the same (up to random choice) image as the first method.
\documentclass[tikz,border=7pt,convert={density=1400}]{standalone}
\usetikzlibrary{decorations.markings}
%\usetikzlibrary{arrows.meta}
\tikzset{
markarrow/.style={
decoration={ markings,
mark=at position .5 with {\arrow{#1}}
},
postaction={decorate}
},
arrow/.pic = {
\path[pic actions, markarrow={#1}] (-1pt,0) -- (1pt,0);
},
pics/arrow/.default={stealth}
}
\begin{document}
\begin{tikzpicture}
\foreach \i in {1,...,100}
\pic[rotate={random(0,360)}, opacity={rnd}, blue]
at ({2*rnd},{2*rnd}) {arrow};
\pic[red] at (1,1) {arrow};
\end{tikzpicture}
\end{document}
First version: Using the syntax asked in the question.
\documentclass[tikz,border=7pt,convert={density=1400}]{standalone}
\usetikzlibrary{decorations.markings}
\usetikzlibrary{arrows.meta}
\tikzset{
markarrow/.style={
decoration={ markings,
mark=at position .5 with {\arrow[#1]{stealth}}
},
postaction={decorate}
},
myarrow/.style={ inner sep = 7pt,
path picture={
\path[markarrow={#1}] ([xshift=-1pt]path picture bounding box.center) --++(2pt,0);
}
}
}
\begin{document}
\begin{tikzpicture}
\foreach \i in {1,...,100}
\node[rotate={random(0,360)}, opacity={rnd}, myarrow=blue]
at ({2*rnd},{2*rnd}) {};
\node[myarrow=red] at (1,1) {};
\end{tikzpicture}
\end{document}
This version hase some drawbacks:
path pictureis not designed for this, but for fill with picture;- by design it is clipped inside the node, so if we want to scale the arrow, we have to scale the containing node too. As a consequence scaling with this method is tricky.
-
1
-