How to draw cube chain?

Question

I'm trying to find the easiest way to draw a 3D cube chain in latex. Help me

I know how to draw cube in tikz. For example

\newcommand{\tikzcuboid}[4]{% width, height, depth, scale
\begin{tikzpicture}[scale=#4]
\foreach \x in {0,...,#1}
{   \draw (\x ,0  ,#3 ) -- (\x ,#2 ,#3 );
\draw (\x ,#2 ,#3 ) -- (\x ,#2 ,0  );



}
\foreach \x in {0,...,#2}
{   \draw (#1 ,\x ,#3 ) -- (#1 ,\x ,0  );
    \draw (0  ,\x ,#3 ) -- (#1 ,\x ,#3 );
}
\foreach \x in {0,...,#3}
{   \draw (#1 ,0  ,\x ) -- (#1 ,#2 ,\x );
    \draw (0  ,#2 ,\x ) -- (#1 ,#2 ,\x );
}
\end{tikzpicture}
}
\newcommand{\tikzcube}[2]{% length, scale
\tikzcuboid{#1}{#1}{#1}{#2}
}

I find this code in Need help creating a 3D cube from a 2D set of nodes in TikZ

Welcome to TSE. What did you try? – José Carlos Santos May 14 '22 at 11:42 — José Carlos Santos, May 14 '22 at 11:42
@JoséCarlosSantos I add new info above – gkndy May 14 '22 at 11:48 — gkndy, May 14 '22 at 11:48

Black Mild · Answer 1 · 2022-05-14T14:12:58.810

Update: One can include the asymptote code in a LaTex document. It is something like this

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{asymptote}
\begin{document}
\begin{asy}
// can be directly run on http://asymptote.ualberta.ca/
<asymptote code>        
\end{asy}
\end{document}

My suggestion is using Asymptote, then everything is available, built-in: unitcube is a surface; unitbox is an array of paths/segments in the 3D space. We are free to choose projection/point of view, say (0,-2,1) in this case.

// http://asymptote.ualberta.ca/
import three;
size(5cm);
currentprojection=orthographic(0,-2,1,center=true,zoom=.8);
path3[] p=unitbox;
//surface p=unitcube;
draw(p,red);
draw(shift(1,1,1)*p,blue);
draw(shift(2,2,2)*p,magenta);

With surface p=unitcube;

or this one

// http://asymptote.ualberta.ca/
import three;
size(5cm);
currentprojection=orthographic(0,-2,1,center=true,zoom=.8);
path3[] p=unitbox;
surface q=unitcube;
draw(q,red+opacity(.1));
draw(shift(1,1,1)q,blue+opacity(.1));
draw(shift(2,2,2)q,magenta+opacity(.1));
draw(p,red);
draw(shift(1,1,1)p,blue);
draw(shift(2,2,2)p,magenta);

Can you add some information how one can include the asymptote-Code in a LaTex document. This could help the OP and other users who find this answer. — Unknown, May 14 '22 at 14:04

score 4 · Accepted Answer · answered May 14 '22 at 15:24

Here's a tikz solution. You can change\cubesAmount to draw more or less cubes.

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{tikz}
\begin{document}
\begin{tikzpicture}[z={(0.5,0.5)}]
\def\cubesAmount{3}
\foreach \i in {1,...,\cubesAmount}{
    \draw (\i-1,\i-1,\i-1) rectangle +(1,1,0) -- ++(0,1,0) -- ++(0,0,1) -- ++(1,0,0) edge +(0,0,-1) -- ++(0,-1,0) -- ++(0,0,-1);
    \ifnum\i<\cubesAmount
        \node[anchor=north west] at (\i,\i,\i) {$(\i,\i,\i)$};
    \fi
}
\node[anchor=north east] at (0,0,0){$(0,0,0)$};
\node[anchor=south west] at (\cubesAmount,\cubesAmount,\cubesAmount){$(\cubesAmount,\cubesAmount,\cubesAmount)$};
\end{tikzpicture}
\end{document}

Also, if you want to change the perspective, you can tweak around z={(yaw,pitch)}

How to draw cube chain?

2 Answers2