Draw planes in 3D using tikz

Question

I want to draw a series of planes in 3D, just like a picture in tikz-ducks documentation:

I thought it might be easy but I was stuck at drawing the planes in 3D. My own code:

\documentclass{standalone}
\usepackage{tikz}
\begin{document}
\begin{tikzpicture}
    \filldraw[
        draw=red,%
        fill=red!20,%
    ]          (0,0,0)
            -- (3,1,0)
            -- (3,1,3)
            -- (1,0,3)
            -- cycle;
\end{tikzpicture}
\end{document}

which produces:

I experimented a lot but I couldn't figure out how to set these 3D coordinates. How could I draw a blue rectangle as shown in the example? Additionally how could I rotate a picture in the same way?

https://github.com/samcarter/tikzducks/blob/main/tikzducks-doc.tex#L1061 — samcarter_is_at_topanswers.xyz, Dec 13 '23 at 12:14
You want something like \draw (0,0,0) -- (0,0,1) -- (0,1,1) -- (0,1,0) -- cycle;. In the squares in the picture you show, the x value never changes as the squares are in the yz plane (up-down and front-back). — Jasper Habicht, Dec 13 '23 at 12:15
@samcarter_is_at_topanswers.xyz wow, thanks for the source code! — Tianjian Qin, Dec 13 '23 at 12:17
@JasperHabicht Right, I was confused, but now I somehow get it — Tianjian Qin, Dec 13 '23 at 12:17
@DavidCarlisle this is fun, might also be useful to me in the future — Tianjian Qin, Dec 13 '23 at 13:16

samcarter_is_at_topanswers.xyz · Accepted Answer · 2023-12-13T18:31:17.907

The source code of latex package documentations is normally publicly available:

ctan: http://mirrors.ctan.org/graphics/pgf/contrib/tikzducks/tikzducks-doc.tex
probably even installed on your computer, look into the folder you get from running texdoc -l tikzducks on the command line
in case of the TikZducks package, the source is also available from https://github.com/samcarter/tikzducks/blob/main/tikzducks-doc.tex#L1061-L1108

In short: I used the 3d library for this image:

\documentclass{standalone}
\usepackage{tikzducks}
\usetikzlibrary{3d}
\begin{document}
\begin{tikzpicture}
    \newcommand{\planes}{\fill[gray!20!white,opacity=0.9] (-0.1,-0.1) rectangle (2.4,2.4);}
    \newcommand{\hooks}{\draw[blue, rounded corners=3pt, line width=1pt] (-0.1,-0.1) rectangle (2.4,2.4);}
    \node[font=\footnotesize\ttfamily] at (-0.8,-1.4) {\strut background};
    \begin{scope}[canvas is zy plane at x=0]
      \hooks
    \end{scope}
    \begin{scope}[canvas is zy plane at x=0.8]
      \planes
      \duck
    \end{scope}
    \node[font=\footnotesize\ttfamily] at (0.8,-1.4) {\strut body};
    \begin{scope}[canvas is zy plane at x=1.6]
      \hooks
    \end{scope}
    \begin{scope}[canvas is zy plane at x=2.4]
      \planes
      \duck[invisible,jacket=black!50!gray] 
    \end{scope}
    \node[font=\footnotesize\ttfamily] at (2.4,-1.4) {\strut clothing};
    \begin{scope}[canvas is zy plane at x=3.2]
      \hooks
    \end{scope}
    \begin{scope}[canvas is zy plane at x=4.0]
      \planes
      \duck[invisible,longhair=red!80!black]
    \end{scope}
    \node[font=\footnotesize\ttfamily] at (4.0,-1.4) {\strut hair};
    \begin{scope}[canvas is zy plane at x=4.8]
      \hooks
    \end{scope}
    \begin{scope}[canvas is zy plane at x=5.6]
      \planes
      \duck[invisible,witch=black!50!gray];
    \end{scope}
    \node[font=\footnotesize\ttfamily] at (5.6,-1.4) {\strut hat};
    \begin{scope}[canvas is zy plane at x=6.4]
      \hooks
    \end{scope}
    \begin{scope}[canvas is zy plane at x=7.2]
      \planes
      \duck[invisible,magicwand]
    \end{scope}
    \node[font=\footnotesize\ttfamily] at (7.2,-1.4) {\strut foreground};
    \begin{scope}[canvas is zy plane at x=8.0]
      \hooks
    \end{scope}
  \end{tikzpicture}
\end{document}

Draw planes in 3D using tikz

1 Answers1