Tikz clip shapes with another (built in) shape

Question

I have some geometry that I need to clip. I would like to use the built in node shapes like diamonds, stars, etc...

http://www.texample.net/tikz/examples/node-shapes/

Basically I use standard tikz draw commands to generate the picture I want but then I want to clip them according to some built in shape(or even custom shape).

\documentclass{article}

\usepackage{tikz}
\begin{document}
\scrollmode


\begin{tikzpicture}

  \begin{scope}
    \clip (0,0) diamond (1cm);
    \fill[black] (0cm,1cm) rectangle (-1cm, -1cm);
  \end{scope}

\end{tikzpicture}
\end{document}

I need someway to specify the size of the clip shape also.

percusse · Accepted Answer · 2013-07-23T06:42:47.230

21

Normally \node does not accept the clip option for its path use. Well it does but since the node shape drawing is scoped it doesn't affect the rest of the picture. That's why path picture in Qrrbrbirlbel's answer is possible. But the lower level PGF version survives for the rest of the picture. It's a little bit more laborous but essentially the same idea.

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{tikz}
\usetikzlibrary{shapes.geometric}
\begin{document}
\begin{tikzpicture}

  \begin{scope}
    %\pgfset{shape aspect=0.5} Uncomment this and remove minimum size for this option
    \pgfset{minimum size=3cm,inner sep=2mm}
    \pgfnode{diamond}{center}{}{nodename}{\pgfusepath{stroke,clip}}
    \fill[black] (-1cm,-1cm) rectangle (1cm, 1cm);
  \end{scope}

\end{tikzpicture}
\end{document}

enter image description here

There is a problem here about the bounding box. The actual bounding box is computed by the size of the rectangle if too large even if it is clipped. So one should do another trick after everything is drawn outside the scope, say with an additional node via [use as bounding box].

update (altermundus)

\fbox{\begin{tikzpicture}
    \begin{scope}
        [local bounding box=bb]  \node  [draw,shape=diamond,minimum size=3cm,inner sep=2mm]{};  
    \end{scope}
      \pgfset{minimum size=3cm,inner sep=2mm}
      \pgfnode{diamond}{center}{}{nodename}{\pgfusepath{stroke,clip}}
      \fill[black] (-3cm,-1cm) rectangle (3cm, 1cm);
      \pgfresetboundingbox
       \useasboundingbox (bb.south west) rectangle  (bb.north east);
  \end{tikzpicture}}

enter image description here

EDIT: Regarding the position of the clipping node...

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{tikz}
\usetikzlibrary{shapes.callouts,shapes.geometric}
\begin{document}
\begin{tikzpicture}
\draw[top color= black!50] (-2,-2) rectangle (5,4);
\begin{scope}   
    \pgfset{minimum width=5cm,minimum height=3cm}
    \pgfsetlinewidth{1mm}
    \pgftransformshift{\pgfpoint{1.5cm}{1.5cm}}
    \pgfnode{cloud callout}{center}{}{nodename}{\pgfusepath{stroke,clip}}
    %Cleaning up the mess we caused
    \pgftransformreset
    \pgfsetlinewidth{0.4pt} 
    \pgfset{minimum width=1pt,minimum height=1pt}
    % Back to drawing
    \fill[white] (-2cm,-2cm) rectangle (5cm,4cm);
    \fill[red] (0cm,0cm) rectangle (1.5cm, 1.5cm);
    \fill[yellow] (2cm,2cm) circle (1cm);
    \node[fill=blue,rotate=90,isosceles triangle,draw,minimum height=1.5cm] at (2.5cm,1cm) {};
\end{scope}
\node[align=center,draw,anchor=north west] (a) at (nodename.pointer) {Geometric\\Thinker};
\end{tikzpicture}
\end{document}

enter image description here

edited Jul 23 '13 at 06:42

answered Apr 24 '12 at 21:29

percusse

157,807

How do you change the position? I've tried using \pgfxy and \pgfpoint for center but I get errors. – Uiy Apr 26 '12 at 07:29
I think I didn't understand. You only need \pgf... commands to build the node but the rest can keep TikZ syntax. Is it the rectangle's position relative to the diamond that you want to change or you want to shift the scope ? – percusse Apr 26 '12 at 08:00
When I try it in my own code a diamond is formed at the origin but the part I want to clip is no where near the origin. It looks more like it just puts a diamond at the origin rather than clip anything but I basically cut and pasted your code. All I did was wrap my plotting code(which just plots some circle) with the scope env. and put the pgf set amd node of your code right below the begin. – Uiy Apr 26 '12 at 08:17
For example, change your code's rectangle position and you'll end up with an empty region if it is outside the clip region. (e.g., change the (-1cm, -1cm) to (2cm,2cm) and you'll not end up with anything visible) – Uiy Apr 26 '12 at 08:19
@Uiy I've added an example where the clip node is moved to (1.5,1.5). But the content of the clip is still on the original coordinate system. – percusse Apr 26 '12 at 11:04
In my code there is a big issue mixing pgf and tikz. It seems they are using different coordinate systems and scalings. When I use your transformshift method to shift the clip there is very little resemblance. This maybe something to do with my code but I was hoping for a simple way to add the clipping ability to it. Could you possibly come up with a tikz like command similar to drawing a circle that will instead "draw" a clip but accepting one of the geometry shape names? – Uiy Apr 26 '12 at 20:16
That is, it will function identically to draw(scale and position) but set the clip instead? e.g. \drawclip (x,y) diamond (r) (if you used \drawclip (3,5) diamond (3) and \drawclip (3,5) circle (3) you would get a diamond shape(the diamond clip will clip the circle making a diamond)) The drawclip radius would be the maximum radius of the shape or just some scale parameter. – Uiy Apr 26 '12 at 20:17
Ok, I guess for some reason it has to do with my code: I parred down your example into just a circle and diamond: \documentclass{article} \usepackage{tikz} \usetikzlibrary{shapes.callouts,shapes.geometric} \begin{document} \begin{tikzpicture} \draw[top color= black!50] (-2,-2) rectangle (5,4); \begin{scope} \pgfset{minimum width=1.5cm,minimum height=1.5cm} \pgftransformshift{\pgfpoint{2cm}{2cm}} \pgfnode{diamond}{center}{}{}{\pgfusepath{clip}} \pgftransformreset % Back to drawing \fill[yellow] (2cm,2cm) circle (0.65cm); \end{scope} \end{tikzpicture} \end{document} – Uiy Apr 26 '12 at 20:50
@Uiy If you want, we can have a look at your problematic code together. Can you take out piece by piece the irrelevant parts while still keeping the problem and post in the chat room that I created? – percusse Apr 27 '12 at 09:30
let us continue this discussion in chat – percusse Apr 27 '12 at 09:30

score 8 · Answer 2 · edited Jun 05 '17 at 19:21

A \node does understand a kind of a clip of its path, the path picture (which actually exists for every path).

This is great if you want to create a node shape without defining a new shape.

The path picture key provides a path picture bounding box pseudo-node that is installed only for the path picture and has the properties of a rectangular node (it is a node of the shape rectangle).

Both a blessing and a curse, it inherits every property of the parental node.

It is a blessing for defining variations of the diamond shape that simply inherits the color information of its parent.

It is a curse for such complexity that you would have with the last example of percusse’s answer. The line width as well as the minimum width and height do need to be reset. The additional \pgftransformreset is needed as the local coordinate system has its center in the center of the path picture/node.

Code

\documentclass[tikz,convert=false]{standalone}
\usetikzlibrary{shapes.callouts,shapes.geometric}
\tikzset{
  left diamond/.style={shape=diamond,
    path picture={\fill[#1] (path picture bounding box.south west) rectangle
                            (path picture bounding box.north);}},
  right diamond/.style={shape=diamond,
    path picture={\fill[#1] (path picture bounding box.south east) rectangle
                            (path picture bounding box.north);}},
  square diamond/.style={shape=diamond,
    path picture={
      \path (path picture bounding box.south west) --
            (path picture bounding box.north east) coordinate[pos=.15] (@aux1)
                                                   coordinate[pos=.85] (@aux2);
      \fill[#1] (@aux1) rectangle (@aux2);}},
  stripe diamond/.style={shape=diamond,
    path picture={
      \path (path picture bounding box.south west) --
            (path picture bounding box.north west) coordinate[near start] (@aux1)
                                                   coordinate[near end]   (@aux2);
      \fill[#1] (@aux1) rectangle (path picture bounding box.north east |- @aux2);}}}
\begin{document}
\begin{tikzpicture}[every diamond node/.append style={draw,minimum size=+1cm}]
\matrix[row sep=.5cm,column sep=.5cm] {
  \node[diamond]             {}; & \node[left diamond]            {}; \\
  \node[left diamond, green] {}; & \node[right diamond=red, blue] {}; \\
  \node[square diamond] {};      & \node[stripe diamond] {}; \\
};
\end{tikzpicture}

\begin{tikzpicture}
\draw[top color= black!50] (-2,-2) rectangle (5,4);
\node[
  shape=cloud callout,
  draw,
  fill=white,
  minimum width=5cm,
  minimum height=3cm,
  line width=1mm,
  anchor=center,
  path picture={
    \pgftransformreset
    \fill[red] (0cm,0cm) rectangle (1.5cm, 1.5cm);
    \fill[yellow] (2cm,2cm) circle (1cm);
    \node[fill=blue,rotate=90,isosceles triangle,draw,
                           thin,minimum width=0pt,minimum height=1.5cm] at (2.5cm,1cm) {};
  }
] (nodename) at (1.5cm, 1.5cm) {};
\node[align=center,draw,anchor=north west] (a) at (nodename.pointer) {Geometric\\Thinker};
\end{tikzpicture}
\end{document}

Output

enter image description here

Tikz clip shapes with another (built in) shape

2 Answers2

Code

Output

Linked