# How to draw a much more dense grid or lattice?

My inquiries:

1) How to draw a much more dense grid in 2-dim?

2) How to draw a much more dense grid in 3-dim?

Let us say it is still 4 x 4 in 2d or 4 x 4 x 4 in 3D in size, but I want to have each side has 16 or 17 lattice point on unit 4 on the grid? (so 16 x 16 in 2D or 16 x 16 x 16 in 3D.)

Here is what I have:

\begin{figure}[h!]
\centering
\begin{tikzpicture}
\draw [very thin, lightgray] (0,0) grid (4,4);
\end{tikzpicture}
\label{fig:lattice}
\caption{}
\end{figure}


Here is a 3D grid.

\documentclass[tikz,border=3.14mm]{standalone}
\usepackage{tikz-3dplot}
\tdplotsetmaincoords{70}{110}
\begin{document}
\begin{tikzpicture}[tdplot_main_coords]
\foreach \X in {0,1,...,16}
{\foreach \Y in {0,1,...,16}
{\draw (\X/4,\Y/4,0) -- (\X/4,\Y/4,16/4);
\draw (\X/4,0,\Y/4) -- (\X/4,16/4,\Y/4);
\draw (0,\X/4,\Y/4) -- (16/4,\X/4,\Y/4);}}
\end{tikzpicture}
\end{document}


And here is an illustration that shows what the view does.

\documentclass[tikz,border=3.14mm]{standalone}
\usepackage{tikz-3dplot}
\begin{document}
\foreach \Rot in {0,10,...,360}
{\tdplotsetmaincoords{70+15*sin(\Rot)}{\Rot}
\begin{tikzpicture}[tdplot_main_coords]
\path[use as bounding box,tdplot_screen_coords] (-6,-2) rectangle (6,7);
\foreach \X in {0,1,...,16}
{\foreach \Y in {0,1,...,16}
{\draw (\X/4,\Y/4,0) -- (\X/4,\Y/4,16/4);
\draw (\X/4,0,\Y/4) -- (\X/4,16/4,\Y/4);
\draw (0,\X/4,\Y/4) -- (16/4,\X/4,\Y/4);}}
\end{tikzpicture} }
\end{document}


You can, of course, use very thin gray lines. And yes, you can scale the grid by saying scale=<factor>.

\documentclass[tikz,border=3.14mm]{standalone}
\usepackage{tikz-3dplot}
\tdplotsetmaincoords{70}{110}
\begin{document}
\begin{tikzpicture}[tdplot_main_coords]
\begin{scope}[ultra thin,lightgray]
\foreach \X in {0,1,...,16}
{\foreach \Y in {0,1,...,16}
{\draw (\X/4,\Y/4,0) -- (\X/4,\Y/4,16/4);
\draw (\X/4,0,\Y/4) -- (\X/4,16/4,\Y/4);
\draw (0,\X/4,\Y/4) -- (16/4,\X/4,\Y/4);}}
\end{scope}

\begin{scope}[line width=0.01pt,lightgray,xshift=5cm,scale=0.4]
\foreach \X in {0,1,...,16}
{\foreach \Y in {0,1,...,16}
{\draw (\X/4,\Y/4,0) -- (\X/4,\Y/4,16/4);
\draw (\X/4,0,\Y/4) -- (\X/4,16/4,\Y/4);
\draw (0,\X/4,\Y/4) -- (16/4,\X/4,\Y/4);}}
\end{scope}

\end{tikzpicture}
\end{document}


• Thanks, this is useful +1, but can I make the lines more transparent? – wonderich Dec 11 '18 at 16:25
• @wonderich I think so, yes. Do you want to fade the distance lines away? Or just make all lines transparent, regardless of the distance to the front? Here is a proposal for the first option. – user121799 Dec 11 '18 at 16:27
• I dont need faded away -- this is too advanced for me. Just as transparent, for example, as the original my post OP or other posts! (The lines can be tuned to that gray scale). Thank you! – wonderich Dec 11 '18 at 16:30
• I also how can I make the whole figure size tunable? [scale=...]? – wonderich Dec 11 '18 at 16:31
• Or [size=4cm] something like this? – wonderich Dec 11 '18 at 16:32

The step key is used to indicate this.

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{tikz}
\begin{document}

\begin{tikzpicture}
\draw [very thin, lightgray] (0,0) grid (4,4);

\begin{scope}[xshift=5cm]
\draw [very thin, lightgray,step=.1] (0,0) grid (4,4);
\end{scope}
\end{tikzpicture}
\end{document}

• Thanks +1, very useful! – wonderich Dec 11 '18 at 16:21

A PSTricks solution only for comparison purposes.

\documentclass[pstricks,border=12pt,12pt]{standalone}
\newpsstyle{gridstyle}
{
gridlabels=8pt,
gridfont=Arial,
%
gridcolor=red,
subgridcolor=gray,
%
subgriddiv=5,
%
gridwidth=.8pt,
subgridwidth=.4pt,
%
griddots=10,
subgriddots=5,
}
\begin{document}
\begin{pspicture}[showgrid](5,5)

\end{pspicture}
\end{document}