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This is a semi-duplicate of this question I think, but the answers provided there don't seem to work for me with 3D pictures.

I'm inputting a tikz picture into a beamer poster, but I think that part of the process is irrelevant, although I can include it if it's not.

My tikz picture looks like this: (spiral.tex)

\documentclass{standalone}
\usepackage{tikz}
\usepackage{tikz-3dplot}
\usetikzlibrary{decorations.pathmorphing}
\usetikzlibrary{arrows}
\usetikzlibrary{3d}
\tikzset{>=latex}

\begin{document}

\tdplotsetmaincoords{60}{60}
\tdplotsetrotatedcoords{0}{20}{70}

\begin{tikzpicture}[tdplot_rotated_coords,scale=0.5, decoration={coil}]

\draw [decorate, decoration={aspect=0.3, segment length=3.1mm,      amplitude=3mm}, color = red] (0,0) --(2.6,0);
\draw [->, red] (2.6,0)--(2.6,-0.5);

\draw [decorate, decoration={aspect=-0.3, segment length=3.1mm, amplitude=-3mm}, color = blue] (-0.4,-3) -- (2.2,-3);
\draw [->, blue] (2.2, -3)--(2.3, -2.5);

\draw [->] (-0.25, -1.5)--(2.75, -1.5) node[right] {$\bf k$};

\draw[->, ultra thick, red] (4.5, 0.75)--(4.32, -0.5);
\draw[->, ultra thick, blue] (3.75, -3.75)--(3.91, -2.5);

\end{tikzpicture}
\end{document}

If you were to compile that you'd find a large area of whitespace extending off to the edge of the picture. This causes problems when I use 

\begin{figure}
\centering
\begin{subfigure}[c]{0.3\textwidth}
\input{Figures/Tikz/spiral.tex}
\end{subfigure}
~
\begin{subfigure}[c]{0.3\textwidth}
\input{Figures/Tikz/another3dtikzpicture.tex} %just an example of what I want to do with the tikz picture
\end{subfigure}
\end{figure}

in my beamer poster.

I tried some of the suggestions in that other question that I linked to but they don't seem to work. I can insert \useasboundingbox (-1, -4) rectangle (5, 1); at the beginning of the picture but it doesn't do anything. I've checked that the box is in the right place by drawing it first.

Also using the command \draw [blue] (current bounding box.south west) rectangle (current bounding box.north east); to find my current bounding box gives me an error: ! Dimension too large.

Are these problems particular to drawing in 3D or particular to my code? Is there anything I can do about it?

Previously I've just compiled my tikz picture as an article and used \includegraphics[clip, trim = l b r t]{spiral.pdf} but that's not very satisfactory.

Thanks.

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  • Thank you for your question! However, please bear in mind that we don't possess your additional TeX or PDF files. Please include them in the post, use graphics from the mwe package or comment out those lines, I guess. – Malipivo Apr 16 '14 at 11:22
  • @Malipivo I've added a comment for clarification. You shouldn't need the .pdf file, that's just for illustrative purposes – thosphor Apr 16 '14 at 13:05
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    Superb! I understand, but the codes aren't fully compilable, yet, and it adds additional tasks to be solved by solvers. Please try to manage that somehow on your account not on solvers' part. – Malipivo Apr 16 '14 at 13:11
  • For solvers: I replicated the problem from the first TeX file (TikZ v3). – Malipivo Apr 16 '14 at 13:15
  • @Malipivo I haven't made them compatible at the moment because I think the problem is with the TikZ file itself and not the use of \input in the beamer poster (especially since you've replicated the problem). I put in the stuff about beamer just for some context and to illustrate why the tikz problem is a problem. Cheers. – thosphor Apr 16 '14 at 13:21
  • I have commented out \tdplotset* (twice) and tdplot_rotated_coords and I have got no white space around the figure but I probably got 2D graph. – Malipivo Apr 16 '14 at 13:26
  • That's worked for me too, although I'd need to reset the spirals. Although it would work in this instance (I didn't realise you could draw spirals in 2D) I have other 3D pictures that I definitely can't draw in 2D that have this same problem. I guess I need a way of setting a bounding cuboid instead of bounding rectangle. – thosphor Apr 16 '14 at 13:30
  • Yes, I started from fresh and commented out \usetikzlibrary{3d} (no need for it in this example), so it looks that tikz-3dplot is the key. – Malipivo Apr 16 '14 at 13:33

1 Answers1

3

You can add varwidth option to the standalone class. Add some border if you like.

\documentclass[varwidth,border=5pt]{standalone}
\usepackage{tikz}
\usepackage{tikz-3dplot}
\usetikzlibrary{decorations.pathmorphing}
\usetikzlibrary{arrows}
\usetikzlibrary{3d}
\tikzset{>=latex}

\begin{document}

\tdplotsetmaincoords{60}{60}
\tdplotsetrotatedcoords{0}{20}{70}

\begin{tikzpicture}[tdplot_rotated_coords,scale=0.5, decoration={coil}]

\draw [decorate, decoration={aspect=0.3, segment length=3.1mm,      amplitude=3mm}, color = red] (0,0) --(2.6,0);
\draw [->, red] (2.6,0)--(2.6,-0.5);

\draw [decorate, decoration={aspect=-0.3, segment length=3.1mm, amplitude=-3mm}, color = blue] (-0.4,-3) -- (2.2,-3);
\draw [->, blue] (2.2, -3)--(2.3, -2.5);

\draw [->] (-0.25, -1.5)--(2.75, -1.5) node[right] {$\bf k$};

\draw[->, ultra thick, red] (4.5, 0.75)--(4.32, -0.5);
\draw[->, ultra thick, blue] (3.75, -3.75)--(3.91, -2.5);

\end{tikzpicture}
\end{document}

enter image description here

As noted by Malipivo, tikz option also works → \documentclass[tikz]{standalone} and remove \usepackage{tikz}.