Cube in TikZ not drawn correctly - possibly a bug in TikZ?

Question

I have a simple cube in 3-space, 4 faces drawn in red and top and bottom in green.

 \documentclass[border=5,tikz]{standalone}

 \usepackage{tikz-3dplot}

 \begin{document}
 \foreach\s in{2,4,...,360}{
     \tdplotsetmaincoords{2.71828+\s}{2.71828+\s*2}
     \tikz[tdplot_main_coords,scale=.1]{
         \path(-15cm,-15cm)(15cm,15cm);
         \draw[ultra thick, color=black, fill=green!80!black]
             (0,0,0)--(20,0,0)--(20,20,0)--(0,20,0)--cycle        % bottom
             (0,0,20)--(20,0,20)--(20,20,20)--(0,20,20)--cycle;   % top
         \draw[ultra thick, color=black, fill=red!80!black]
             (0,0,0)--(20,0,0)--(20,0,20)--(0,0,20)--cycle
             (0,20,0)--(20,20,0)--(20,20,20)--(0,20,20)--cycle
             (0,0,0)--(0,20,0)--(0,20,20)--(0,0,20)--cycle
             (20,0,0)--(20,20,0)--(20,20,20)--(20,0,20)--cycle;
     }
 }

 \end{document}

that when seen from certain angles in TikZ, show an unexpected projection. It seems that when certain faces go on top of each other -- they become transparent!

Is this a bug, or there is something wrong with way the cube is built?

Answer 1

Because each rectangle is filled independently, none are treated as holes. For a solid, one needs to draw the faces from the far to near, or assign a normal vector and only draw faces pointing in this direction.

\documentclass[border=5,tikz]{standalone}

% Uses \nearx, \neary and \nearz
% #1=x, #2=y, #3=z, #4={code to be executed}
\def\ifnear(#1,#2,#3)#4 
  {\pgfmathparse{#1*\nearx+#2*\neary+#3*\nearz}%
  \ifdim\pgfmathresult pt>0pt\relax #4\fi}

 \usepackage{tikz-3dplot}

 \begin{document}
 \foreach\s in{2,4,...,360}{
   \pgfmathsetmacro{\aTheta}{2.71828+\s}
   \pgfmathsetmacro{\aPhi}{2.71828+\s*2}
   \pgfmathsetmacro{\nearx}{sin(\aPhi)*sin(\aTheta)}
   \pgfmathsetmacro{\neary}{-cos(\aPhi)*sin(\aTheta)}
   \pgfmathsetmacro{\nearz}{cos(\aTheta)}
   \begin{tikzpicture}[scale=.1]
     \path(-15cm,-15cm)(15cm,15cm);
     \tdplotsetmaincoords{\aTheta}{\aPhi}
     \begin{scope}[tdplot_main_coords]
       \ifnear(0,0,-1){\draw[fill=green!80!black]
             (0,0,0)--(20,0,0)--(20,20,0)--(0,20,0)--cycle;}       % bottom
       \ifnear(0,0,1){\draw[fill=green!80!black]
             (0,0,20)--(20,0,20)--(20,20,20)--(0,20,20)--cycle;}   % top
       \ifnear(0,-1,0){\draw[fill=red!80!black]
             (0,0,0)--(20,0,0)--(20,0,20)--(0,0,20)--cycle;}
       \ifnear(0,1,0){\draw[fill=red!80!black]
             (0,20,0)--(20,20,0)--(20,20,20)--(0,20,20)--cycle;}
       \ifnear(-1,0,0){\draw[fill=red!80!black]
             (0,0,0)--(0,20,0)--(0,20,20)--(0,0,20)--cycle;}
       \ifnear(1,0,0){\draw[fill=red!80!black]
             (20,0,0)--(20,20,0)--(20,20,20)--(20,0,20)--cycle;}
     \end{scope}
   \end{tikzpicture}
 }

 \end{document}

If you reverse the signs on \nearx, \neary and \nearz it will show the other side of the cube.

The normal vector is a line perpendicular to the face and (for our purposes) pointing away from the center. For regular polyhedrals one can use the vector from the center of the object to the center of the face.

The center of the cube is at (10,10,10). Since the center of the bottom face was at (10,10,0), the (normalized) normal vector for that face was (0,0,-1).