Putting textboxes with lines over Moebius strip

Question

Using Moebius Strip using TikZ I can draw a perfect Moebius strip.

How can I add a layer of boxes and corresponding lines to achieve the following?

EDIT: I managed to put a box inside and draw a line, but moving the box moves the moebius strip as well. How can I move the boxes to a different layer?

\documentclass{beamer}
\usepackage{graphicx}
\usepackage{tikz}
\usetikzlibrary{positioning}

\usepackage{xcolor}
\definecolor{chamois}{RGB}{255,255,240}
\definecolor{darkbrown}{RGB}{124,79,0}

\newcommand{\strip}[1]{%
\shadedraw[very thick,top color=chamois,bottom color=darkbrown,rotate=#1]
 (0:2.8453) ++ (-30:1.5359) arc (60:0:2)
 -- ++  (90:5) arc (0:60:2) -- ++ (150:3) arc (60:120:2) 
 -- ++ (210:5) arc (120:60:2) -- cycle;}

%: \MoebiusStrip{<text1>}{<text2>}{<text3>}
\newcommand{\MoebiusStrip}[3]{%
\begin{scope} [transform shape]
    \strip{0}
    \strip{120}
    \strip{-120}
    \draw (-60:3.5) node[scale=6,rotate=30] {#1};
    \draw (180:3.5) node[scale=4,rotate=-90]{#3};
    % redraw the first strip after clipping
    \clip (-1.4,2.4)--(-.3,6.1)--(1.3,6.1)--(5.3,3.7)--(5.3,-2.7)--cycle;
    \strip{0}
    \draw (60:3.5) node [gray,xscale=-4,yscale=4,rotate=30]{#2};
\end{scope}}

\begin{document}

\frame{

\begin{center}
\begin{tikzpicture} [scale=0.75, every node/.style={transform shape},
    mybox/.style={rectangle,rounded corners,xshift=1cm,yshift=1cm,minimum width=35mm, minimum height=22.5mm},
    topline/.style={mybox,red,align=center,draw=red,very thick,font=\bfseries},
]
  \MoebiusStrip{~}{~}{~};
  \node (a) at (-9,4) [topline] {X};
  \node (center) at (0,0){};

\draw(a.south east) -- (center.west);
\end{tikzpicture}
\end{center}
}

\end{document}

Answer 1

I think the \matrix is the easiest way to ensure a grid-like placement. Sure, the positioning library and the on grid option would help to, but then the initial placement would be kind of tricky. The center of the Möbius strip lies at the coordinate (0,0) which is also the default location of the center of the matrix (which is a rectangle-like node).

The TikZ picture wide rotate option has been moved to the \MoebiusStrip macro so that the only transformation does not affect anything else. The nodes in the matrix are getting auto-named with (<matrix name>-<row>-<column>) which can be used to reference the node later.

In the \foreach loop I assign each row/column combination an anchor as well as a counter via the count option (which is only used for purposes that probably won’t affect your use-case. You may add another variable for the coordinate that will be connected.

Code

\documentclass{beamer}
\usepackage{graphicx}
\usepackage{tikz}
\usetikzlibrary{matrix}
\usepackage{xcolor}
\definecolor{chamois}{RGB}{255,255,240}
\definecolor{darkbrown}{RGB}{124,79,0}

\newcommand{\strip}[1]{%
\shadedraw[very thick,top color=chamois,bottom color=darkbrown,rotate=#1]
 (0:2.8453) ++ (-30:1.5359) arc (60:0:2)
 -- ++  (90:5) arc (0:60:2) -- ++ (150:3) arc (60:120:2) 
 -- ++ (210:5) arc (120:60:2) -- cycle;}

%: \MoebiusStrip{<text1>}{<text2>}{<text3>}
\newcommand{\MoebiusStrip}[4][]{%
\begin{scope}[transform shape,#1]
    \strip{0}
    \strip{120}
    \strip{-120}
    \draw (-60:3.5) node[scale=6,rotate=30] {#2};
    \draw (180:3.5) node[scale=4,rotate=-90]{#4};
    % redraw the first strip after clipping
    \clip (-1.4,2.4)--(-.3,6.1)--(1.3,6.1)--(5.3,3.7)--(5.3,-2.7)--cycle;
    \strip{0}
    \draw (60:3.5) node [gray,xscale=-4,yscale=4,rotate=30]{#3};
\end{scope}}

\begin{document}

\begin{frame}
\begin{center}
\begin{tikzpicture}[scale=0.4]
  \MoebiusStrip[rotate=30]{~}{~}{~}
  \matrix [
    matrix of nodes,
    ampersand replacement=\&,
    column sep=.25cm,
    row sep=.25cm,
    nodes={
      draw,
      minimum width=1.75cm,
      minimum height=1.5cm
    }
    ] (m) {
    A \& B \& C \& D \& E \\
    F \&   \&   \&   \& G \\
    H \&   \&   \&   \& I \\
    J \&   \&   \&   \& K \\
    L \& M \& N \& O \& P \\  
  };
  \foreach \Node/\Anchor [count=\Angle from 0, evaluate={\AngleC=\Angle/15*100}] in {%
                                    3-5/west,
                                    2-5/west,
                                    1-5/south west,
                                    1-4/south,
                                    1-3/south,
                                    1-2/south,
                                    1-1/south east,
                                    2-1/east,
                                    3-1/east,
                                    4-1/east,
                                    5-1/north east,
                                    5-2/north,
                                    5-3/north,
                                    5-4/north,
                                    5-5/north west,
                                    4-5/west} \path (m-\Node.\Anchor) edge[color=red!\AngleC!blue] (\Angle/16*360:4);
\end{tikzpicture}
\end{center}
\end{frame}
\end{document}

Output

Answer 2

This answer is related to the question, but because the questioner wants lines connecting the boxes to the figure parts, it is not an ideal answer. Nonetheless, it may help others who have a similar problem, without requiring a tikz solution. (Obviously, creating the picture with more border would aid the layout, which I had no control over the original image).

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{stackengine}
\usepackage{graphicx}
\def\stackalignment{l}
\newcommand\insetbox[1]{%
  \fbox{\parbox[t]{1in}{#1\\}}%
}
\begin{document}
\def\stackalignment{l}
{\bottominset{\insetbox{7}}%
{\topinset{\insetbox{5}}%
{\def\stackalignment{r}%
\topinset{\insetbox{6}}%
{\bottominset{\insetbox{8}}%
{\bottominset{\insetbox{11}}%
{\bottominset{\insetbox{12}}%
{\def\stackalignment{l}\bottominset{\insetbox{10}}%
{\bottominset{\insetbox{9}}%
{\def\stackalignment{r}\topinset{\insetbox{3}}%
{\topinset{\insetbox{4}}%
{\def\stackalignment{l}\topinset{\insetbox{2}}%
{\topinset{\insetbox{1}}%
  {\includegraphics{hlCr3}}{1.4\baselineskip}{0pt}}%
{1.4\baselineskip}{90pt}}%
{1.4\baselineskip}{0pt}}%
{1.4\baselineskip}{90pt}}%
{1.4\baselineskip}{0pt}}%
{1.4\baselineskip}{90pt}}%
{1.4\baselineskip}{0pt}}%
{1.4\baselineskip}{90pt}}%
{7\baselineskip}{0pt}}%
{7\baselineskip}{0pt}}%
{7\baselineskip}{0pt}}%
{7\baselineskip}{0pt}}%

\end{document}