Adding dimensions to TikZ pictures

Question

How do you add dimension labels to TikZ pictures? Ideally, it would look something like this:

|<----- dimension ----->|

I would like to do this to show the measurement of both straight lines (i.e. sides of a polygon) and curved lines (i.e. circumference/arc length on a circle). Thanks in advance for your help!

Do you want the actual dimensions to be taken from the picture, or the "dimension" text is provided by you? — JLDiaz, Jul 13 '13 at 19:27
Please see Dimensioning of a technical drawing in TikZ, which should cover your question. — Martin Scharrer, Jul 13 '13 at 19:35

score 13 · Accepted Answer · answered Jul 13 '13 at 20:02

13

For educational and show-off purposes only!

\documentclass[tikz]{standalone}
\usetikzlibrary{decorations.markings}

\tikzset{measure length/.style={
              decoration={markings,
              mark connection node=a,
              mark =at position 0.5 with {
                 \node[transform shape,fill=white,scale=0.5,#1] (a) 
                        {\pgfmathparse{\pgfdecoratedpathlength/2.845274}%
                        \pgfmathprintnumber[fixed,precision=1]\pgfmathresult mm};},
             },
             postaction=decorate
       }
}
\begin{document}

\begin{tikzpicture}
\draw[measure length] (-2,-2cm) -- (2cm,-2cm);
\draw[measure length={rotate=180}] (0,0) arc (0:270:1cm) ;
\draw[measure length={rotate=180}] (0,3) arc (0:270:1cm) -- ++(10mm,0);

\foreach \x in {0,...,5}{
\draw[measure length] (2,2) +(\x*60:1cm) -- +({(\x+1)*60)}:1cm);
}

\end{tikzpicture}

\end{document}

enter image description here

answered Jul 13 '13 at 20:02

percusse

157,807

This is really nice, if this continues further we will replace 2D CAD with TikZ. – Alexander Jul 13 '13 at 20:05
@Alexander I wish :-) But this is just showing off, under some pressure, it will disappoint you rather quickly. – percusse Jul 13 '13 at 20:09
Thanks for the detailed response! One more thing though: is it possible to add arrows to the end of the lines? – Randy Randerson Jul 13 '13 at 20:23
1

@fctaylor25 Add <-> in the \draw options. – percusse Jul 13 '13 at 20:38
Is there any way to make the measurement a variable (e.g. C for circumference, h for height, etc.)? – Randy Randerson Jul 14 '13 at 00:41
@fctaylor25 Not that I know of. – percusse Jul 14 '13 at 08:31
I ended up just doing the variable measurements "manually," using lines and arcs to draw the measurement lines. – Randy Randerson Jul 14 '13 at 18:04

Adding dimensions to TikZ pictures

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