How to draw a cube with coordinate system(s) in tikz?

Question

I'd like to draw a cube in perspective with coordinate system and arrows for the definition of the Cauchy stress tensor in continuum mechanics. It's supposed to look like this:

The example is drawn isometrically. I'd rather have it drawn in perspective.

Hope you guys can help me. Thanks!

Sincerely, Chris

I tried the following example from another discussion here, but I didn't manage to get the arrows and the coordinate system. link — Chris M H, Jul 17 '20 at 09:25
If you like an answer and it was helpful, please consider upvoting (by clicking on the arrows next to the score) and marking it as accepted answer (by clicking on the checkmark ✓). — , Jul 22 '20 at 10:51

KersouMan · Answer 1 · 2020-07-17T09:38:28.843

Here is an example of what you can achieve with the perspective and the 3d libraries. To change the perspective, just change the angles in the 3d view key.

\documentclass{standalone}
\usepackage{tikz}
    \usetikzlibrary{perspective}
    \usetikzlibrary{3d}
    \usetikzlibrary{arrows.meta}
\begin{document}
\begin{tikzpicture}[%
    3d view = {15}{15}
]

    \draw[-{Latex[scale = 0.7]}] (-4, -4, 0) -- (-3, -4, 0)
        node[below] {\footnotesize$x$};
    \draw[-{Latex[scale = 0.7]}] (-4, -4, 0) -- (-4, -3, 0)
        node[right] {\footnotesize$y$};
    \draw[-{Latex[scale = 0.7]}] (-4, -4, 0) -- (-4, -4, 1)
        node[above] {\footnotesize$z$};

    \begin{scope}[canvas is xz plane at y = -2]

        \draw[
            fill = lightgray
        ] (-2, -2) rectangle (2, 2);

        \draw[-Latex] (-1.75, 0) -- (1.75, 0)
            node[below left] {$\sigma_{xy}$};
        \draw[-Latex] (0, -1.75) -- (0, 1.75)
            node[below left] {$\sigma_{zy}$};

    \end{scope}     

    \draw[Latex-] (0, -2, 0) -- (0, -3.5, 0)
        node[left] {$\sigma_{yy}$};

    \begin{scope}[canvas is yz plane at x = 2]

        \draw[
            fill = lightgray
        ] (-2, -2) rectangle (2, 2);

        \draw[-Latex] (1.75, 0) -- (-1.75, 0)
            node[below right] {$\sigma_{yx}$};
        \draw[-Latex] (0, -1.75) -- (0, 1.75)
            node[below right] {$\sigma_{zx}$};

    \end{scope} 

    \draw[Latex-] (2, 0, 0) -- (3.5, 0, 0)
        node[right] {$\sigma_{xx}$};

    \begin{scope}[canvas is xy plane at z = 2]

        \draw[
            fill = lightgray
        ] (-2, -2) rectangle (2, 2);

        \draw[-Latex] (-1.75, 0) -- (1.75, 0)
            node[above]{$\sigma_{xz}$};
        \draw[-Latex] (0, 1.75) -- (0, -1.75)
            node[above left]{$\sigma_{yz}$};

    \end{scope} 

    \draw[Latex-] (0, 0, 2) -- (0, 0, 3.5)
        node[above] {$\sigma_{zz}$};

\end{tikzpicture}


\end{document}

which yields:

Then, you can look at the TikZ documentation to adapt it to specific needs.

Thank you very much! One more problem: Can you tell me how to install the library "perspective"? It seems I have not installed it, as it can't be found. — Chris M H, Jul 17 '20 at 09:58
@ChrisMH It's one of the standard libraries of TikZ, so you probably need to update Pgf/TikZ. (It was added March 2019.) — Torbjørn T., Jul 17 '20 at 10:55

How to draw a cube with coordinate system(s) in tikz?

1 Answers1