What's wrong with the fading of this TikZ node's shadow?

Question

I'm trying to add a shadow with a faded edge to nodes. With the following document I only get a grey circle, with a hard edge, slightly below right of the node. This is a snippet form my code. What am I doing wrong?

\documentclass[a4paper,10pt]{article}

\usepackage{tikz}
\usetikzlibrary{shapes,fadings}

\begin{document}
\maketitle

\begin{center}
    \begin{tikzpicture}[scale=4, transform shape]
         \node[circle,fill=white,draw=black,thick,preaction={fill=black,opacity=.3,transform canvas={xshift=1mm,yshift=-1mm,path fading=circle with fuzzy edge 20 percent}}] (1) at (0,0) {1};
    \end{tikzpicture}
\end{center}
\end{document}

Please always provide full minimal documents not just snippets. Especially with TikZ/PGF which has many extra libraries. This way all what we have to do is Copy&Paste to run the example. Also you should state what exactly doesn't work. — Martin Scharrer, Feb 05 '11 at 15:57
@MartinScharrer thanks for the advice, I updated the question. — Zoran Zaric, Feb 05 '11 at 16:22
Thanks, but keep in mind that it is supposed to be a minimal example. Avoid all non-essential code, like title and author as well as unrated packages. — Martin Scharrer, Feb 05 '11 at 16:44

Martin Scharrer · Accepted Answer · 2011-02-05T16:05:10.710

4

The path fading=circle with fuzzy edge 20 percent must be in the argument preaction but outside of the there included transform canvas:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{tikz}
\usetikzlibrary{fadings}
\begin{document}
\begin{tikzpicture}[scale=4]
 \node[circle,fill=white,draw=black,thick,
       preaction={
         fill=black,opacity=.3,
         path fading=circle with fuzzy edge 20 percent,
         transform canvas={xshift=1mm,yshift=-1mm}
       }] (1) at (0,0) {1};
\end{tikzpicture}
\end{document}

Result:

(The fading isn't fully preserved by PDF->PNG and downscaling)

Result

edited Feb 05 '11 at 16:05

answered Feb 05 '11 at 15:45

Martin Scharrer

262,582

@MartinScharrer If I compile your code I only get the node without a shadow. – Zoran Zaric Feb 05 '11 at 16:12
1

@Zoran: That's funny, it works on my PC. I just tested it again. However it only works with pdflatex, with DVI/PS output I get no shading but the shadow is black. Could you post your flavor and version of latex and tikz please. – Martin Scharrer Feb 05 '11 at 16:43
@MartinScharrer the output of pdflatex --verison is pdfTeX 3.1415926-1.40.11-2.2 (TeX Live 2010/Arch Linux) I don't really know how to get the version of latex and tikz, though. – Zoran Zaric Feb 05 '11 at 16:51
1

@Zoran: Thats the latex version I was talking about (the executable, not the format which is LaTeX2e). The TikZ version can be printed by adding \listfiles just above \begin{document}. – Martin Scharrer Feb 05 '11 at 16:53
@MartinScharrer: There is no version in the tikz.code.tex line. pgfsys.sty's version is 2010/06/30 v2.10 (rcs-revision 1.37). I hope this helps. – Zoran Zaric Feb 05 '11 at 16:58
3

@Zoran: Which pdf viewer are you using? – Caramdir Feb 05 '11 at 17:05
1

@MartinScharrer: I'm using Evince. – Zoran Zaric Feb 05 '11 at 17:05
@MartinScharrer: I opened the pdf in Adobe Reader on a Windows box and there it is ok. Seems to be a bug in Evince. – Zoran Zaric Feb 05 '11 at 17:07
@Zoran: Yes evince seems to be unable to render shadings. – Martin Scharrer Feb 05 '11 at 17:12
@MartinScharrer: Yes found that one, too. Thanks for your help! – Zoran Zaric Feb 05 '11 at 17:16
This technique doesn't really work for rectangular nodes. Any hints on that? We don't have a "rectangle with fuzzy edge 20 percent" path fading. – recluze Nov 25 '11 at 10:06
@recluze: Sorry, I can't help you with this. I don't do much with fadings myself. – Martin Scharrer Nov 25 '11 at 12:23

What's wrong with the fading of this TikZ node's shadow?

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