Drawing a diagram in latex.

Question

I am trying to draw a ripple pendulum similar to the below diagram but have absolutely no idea how to start, or even if it can be done in LaTeX? Another complication is I need it to have a purple background

backgroundcolor=blue!20

Here is the diagram I am trying to draw. Thank you for any help or guidance :)

Without any source code we can use for testing we cannot help. — daleif, Aug 19 '15 at 10:01
Why don't you ask the author of this pic for the code? It looks like TeX to me. — LaRiFaRi, Aug 19 '15 at 10:06
Ah okay, I am completely new to drawing so was looking for any advice really i.e what package to use etc? I am a bit lost looking at the different ones and thought someone with experience would know which to use! :) — Janet the Physicist, Aug 19 '15 at 10:07
It is possible. You can try to use TikZ To draw it. But should not expect someone to do it for you if you don't give a try. — mvienney, Aug 19 '15 at 10:07
You can start with: http://tex.stackexchange.com/questions/219038/tikz-draw-angle-with-label-between-lines — Ignasi, Aug 19 '15 at 10:07
blue!20 will give some pale blue background, not a purple one. — Bernard, Aug 19 '15 at 11:48

score 10 · Accepted Answer · edited Apr 13 '17 at 12:34

One LaTeX-friendly tool for doing this type of drawing is MetaPost. Getting started details are in the linked answer.

One technique for filling the background of an image, is to save the whole drawing in a picture variable, and then fill the bbox of the picture with the background colour, and then draw the picture on top.

Here's an example using a version of the OP image.

prologues := 3;
outputtemplate := "%j%c.eps";

beginfig(1);

u = 1.4cm;

numeric theta[];
theta1 = 12;
theta2 = 24;
theta3 = 36;

path segment[];
segment1 = (origin -- down) scaled 1.2u rotated theta1;
segment2 = (origin -- down) scaled 1.2u rotated theta2 shifted point 1 of segment1;
segment3 = (origin -- down) scaled 1.2u rotated theta3 shifted point 1 of segment2;

picture pendulum;
pendulum = image(
    draw (left--right) scaled 2u;
    for i=1 upto 3:
      draw segment[i];
      draw (origin--down) scaled 1u
                          shifted point 0 of segment[i] 
                          dashed withdots scaled 1/3;
      label.urt(btex $\ell$ etex, point 1/2 of segment[i]);
      label.urt(btex $m$    etex, point   1 of segment[i]);
      draw subpath(0, 1/45 (theta[i]-8)) of fullcircle 
           rotated 274 scaled .6u shifted point 0 of segment[i]
           withpen pencircle scaled .3;  
    endfor
    for i=1 upto 3:
      fill fullcircle scaled 4 shifted point 1 of segment[i] withcolor .87 blue;
    endfor
    label(btex $\theta_1$ etex scaled 0.8, point 0 of segment1 shifted (-6,-12));
    label(btex $\theta_2$ etex scaled 0.8, point 0 of segment2 shifted ( 6,-25));
    label(btex $\theta_3$ etex scaled 0.8, point 0 of segment3 shifted ( 8,-20));
);

bboxmargin := 10;
fill bbox pendulum withcolor .2[white,blue];
draw pendulum;

endfig;
end.

A more friendly version of MetaPost-like drawing is asymptote (C-like syntax, OOP; handles LaTeX labels (even random math) cleanly). — vonbrand, Aug 24 '15 at 19:16
@vonbrand, ha ha! those are the reasons I don't like Asymptote... but let's not start another my tool is better than your tool discussion. Why not provide an Asy version of the OP diagram as another answer? — Thruston, Aug 24 '15 at 22:37

score 6 · Answer 2 · answered Aug 19 '15 at 13:02

This a TiKZ solution

\documentclass[tikz,border=2mm]{standalone}
\usetikzlibrary{backgrounds,angles,quotes}
\begin{document}

\begin{tikzpicture}[%
angle eccentricity=1.2,
ball/.style={circle, inner sep=0pt, minimum size=2mm, fill=blue, draw=blue, label=right:$m$},
background rectangle/.style={fill=purple!20},
show background rectangle]

\draw[thick] (-2,0) --(2,0);
\draw (0,0) coordinate (b0) foreach \i [count=\ni] in {-70,-55,-30} {--++(\i:2cm) node[midway,auto]{$l$} node[ball] (b\ni) {}};

\foreach \i [count=\auxi] in {b0,b1,b2}{
    \draw[dashed] (\i)--++(-90:1.8cm) coordinate[pos=.75] (aux\auxi);
} 

\draw pic["$\theta_1$", draw, angle radius=1.2cm] {angle=aux1--b0--b1};
\draw pic["$\theta_2$",draw, angle radius=1.2cm] {angle=aux2--b1--b2};
\draw pic["$\theta_3$",draw, angle radius=1.2cm] {angle=aux3--b2--b3};

\end{tikzpicture}

\end{document}

score 4 · Answer 3 · answered Aug 24 '15 at 16:51

Here is a pstricks solution:

\documentclass{standalone}

\usepackage[x11names]{pstricks}%
\usepackage{pstricks-add}
\usepackage{multido}
\usepackage{auto-pst-pdf}

\begin{document}

\begin{pspicture}
    \psset{unit = 1.25, dotsize=5pt, dash=2pt 1.5pt, shortput=nab, linewidth=1pt}
    \psline(-2.5,0)(3,0)%
    \pnodes(0,0){O}(1.5;-70){P1}(1.5;-55){Q2}(1.5;-35){Q3}
    \uput [20](P1){$m$}
    \AplusB(P1)(Q2){P2}\uput [20](P2){$m$}
    \AplusB(P2)(1.5; -35){P3}\uput [20](P3){$m$}
    \psset{labelsep=2pt, linecolor=LightSteelBlue3}
    \ncline{O}{P1}^{$\ell$}
    \ncline{P1}{P2}^{$\ell$}
    \ncline{P2}{P3}^{$\ell$}
    \psset{linewidth=0.4pt, linecolor=black}
    \psarc(O){0.5}{-90}{-70}\uput[l](0,-0.5){$\theta_1$}
    \psarc(P1){0.5}{-90}{-55}\uput{0.55}[-70](P1){$\theta_2$}
    \psarc(P2){0.5}{-90}{-35}\uput{0.55}[-60](P2){$\theta_3$}
    \psset{linestyle=dashed}
    \psline(O)(0,-1.3)
    \psrline(P1)(0,-1.1)
    \psrline(P2)(0,-0.8)
    \psdots[linecolor=RoyalBlue4](P1)(P2)(P3)
\end{pspicture}

\end{document}

+1 Because of the color choice. I always like your colors :) — Manuel, Aug 24 '15 at 17:30

Drawing a diagram in latex.

3 Answers3

Linked