Sketch sinusoidal wave in Tikz

Question

What is the easiest way to sketch a sinusoidal wave in PGF/Tikz? I have tried this:

\begin{tikzpicture}
  \draw[loosely dotted] (0,0) grid (4,2);
  \draw[x=0.5cm,y=1cm, ultra thick, red]
    (0,1) cos (1,0) sin (2,-1) cos (3,0) sin (4,1) cos (5,0) sin (6,-1);
\end{tikzpicture}

How do I get the grid to cover all the wave? Is there a better way of sketching (not plotting) functions/waves?

If you want the grid to cover the curve, change the coordinates in the grid line to the corners of a rectangle that encloses the curve. Can you explain more what you mean by "sketch" vs. "plot"? Do you want something that looks hand drawn? — Matthew Leingang, Apr 18 '13 at 10:24
If you want more hand drawn, see http://tex.stackexchange.com/questions/74878/create-xkcd-style-diagram-in-tex — Torbjørn T., Apr 18 '13 at 10:28
@MatthewLeingang: I can't get it to work, how would I change the coordinates in this instance? By sketch I mean that I don't get Tikz to plot it for me, I put in the points it should connect and with what shape. — , Apr 18 '13 at 10:43

Matthew Leingang · Accepted Answer · 2013-04-18T11:49:38.247

As I said in my comment, you can adjust the grid by choosing the coordinates on the line with grid in it:

\documentclass{standalone}
\usepackage{tikz}
\begin{document}
\begin{tikzpicture}
  \draw[loosely dotted] (0,-1) grid (3,1);
  \draw[x=0.5cm,y=1cm, ultra thick, red]
    (0,1) cos (1,0) sin (2,-1) cos (3,0) sin (4,1) cos (5,0) sin (6,-1);
\end{tikzpicture}
\end{document}

Your second \draw line changes the scale of the x axis to 0.5cm instead of 1cm as is the default. So (3,1) on the first line is the same point as (6,1) on the second line.

sample code output

If you just want to interpolate points on a curve smoothly, you can use the plot command of tikz like so:

\draw[x=0.5cm,y=1cm, ultra thick, red]
    plot[smooth] coordinates {(0,1) (1,0) (2,-1) (3,0) (4,1) (5,0) (6,-1)};

There is a tension key that adjusts the curviness of the smoothing but frankly I couldn't get anything that looked better to me than the default.

sample code output

Another option would be to use Bézier curves. However, in specifying a Bézier curve between two points, two additional points are needed. These two describe the velocity vector coming out of and into each point.

\draw[x=0.5cm,y=1cm, ultra thick, red]  (0,1) 
  .. controls ([xshift=\dx]0,1)  and ([xshift=-\dx]2,-1)  .. (2,-1) 
  .. controls ([xshift=\dx]2,-1) and ([xshift=-\dx]4,1)   .. (4,1) 
  .. controls ([xshift=\dx]4,1)  and ([xshift=-\dx]6,-1)  .. (6,-1) ;

sample code output

You'll notice I took advantage of the symmetry to eliminate the coordinates along the $x$-axis.

score 3 · Answer 2 · answered Apr 18 '13 at 13:41

enter image description here

The trembling module of the Asymptote offers an object of class tremble to be set up, to apply a trembling transform on an arbitrary curve. sketch.asy:

import graph; // for cos
import trembling;
import math; // for the grid

size(8cm);

real xmin=0, xmax=1.5pi;
real ymin=-1, ymax=1;

tremble tr=tremble(angle=20,frequency=0.6,random=50,fuzz=1);
path sinesketch=tr.deform(graph(cos,xmin,xmax)); 

int rows=2, cols=3;
add(
  shift(xmin,ymin)*scale((xmax-xmin)/cols,(ymax-ymin)/rows)
  *grid(cols,rows, red+dotted+1.2pt)
);
draw(sinesketch,darkblue+1.2pt);

Run asy -f pdf sketch.asy to get a standalone sketch.pdf.

Sketch sinusoidal wave in Tikz

2 Answers2