TikZ: How to make a simple system diagram?

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up vote
2
down vote

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I often get into the situation where I have to create something like this:

I managed to get this with this hacky (at least it seems hacky to me) code:

documentclassstandalone

usepackagetikz
usetikzlibraryshapes,arrows,positioning

begindocument

begintikzpicture[block/.style=draw, rectangle, minimum height=1cm]
 node (box) [block] System;

 node (in1) [above left=-.5cm and 1.5cm of box] $vecu_1$;
 node (in2) [below left=-.5cm and 1.5cm of box] $vecu_2$;
 node (out1) [above right=-.5cm and 1.5cm of box] $vecv_1$;
 node (out2) [below right=-.5cm and 1.5cm of box] $vecv_2$;

 draw [->] (in1) -- (box.west |- in1);
 draw [->] (in2) -- (box.west |- in2);

 draw [->] (box.east |- out1) -- (out1);
 draw [->] (box.east |- out2) -- (out2);
endtikzpicture

enddocument

My question is: how could I do this better? What is the preferred way to create diagrams such as this? Can I do it without defining nodes for the input and output vectors separately and just doing something like

draw [->] [above left=of box] $vecu_1$ -- (box);

Thank you for your help in advance!

tikz-pgf diagrams

share|improve this question

asked 1 hour ago

bertalanp99

1355

add a comment | 

up vote
2
down vote

favorite

I often get into the situation where I have to create something like this:

I managed to get this with this hacky (at least it seems hacky to me) code:

documentclassstandalone

usepackagetikz
usetikzlibraryshapes,arrows,positioning

begindocument

begintikzpicture[block/.style=draw, rectangle, minimum height=1cm]
 node (box) [block] System;

 node (in1) [above left=-.5cm and 1.5cm of box] $vecu_1$;
 node (in2) [below left=-.5cm and 1.5cm of box] $vecu_2$;
 node (out1) [above right=-.5cm and 1.5cm of box] $vecv_1$;
 node (out2) [below right=-.5cm and 1.5cm of box] $vecv_2$;

 draw [->] (in1) -- (box.west |- in1);
 draw [->] (in2) -- (box.west |- in2);

 draw [->] (box.east |- out1) -- (out1);
 draw [->] (box.east |- out2) -- (out2);
endtikzpicture

enddocument

My question is: how could I do this better? What is the preferred way to create diagrams such as this? Can I do it without defining nodes for the input and output vectors separately and just doing something like

draw [->] [above left=of box] $vecu_1$ -- (box);

Thank you for your help in advance!

tikz-pgf diagrams

share|improve this question

asked 1 hour ago

bertalanp99

1355

add a comment | 

up vote
2
down vote

favorite

up vote
2
down vote

favorite

I often get into the situation where I have to create something like this:

I managed to get this with this hacky (at least it seems hacky to me) code:

documentclassstandalone

usepackagetikz
usetikzlibraryshapes,arrows,positioning

begindocument

begintikzpicture[block/.style=draw, rectangle, minimum height=1cm]
 node (box) [block] System;

 node (in1) [above left=-.5cm and 1.5cm of box] $vecu_1$;
 node (in2) [below left=-.5cm and 1.5cm of box] $vecu_2$;
 node (out1) [above right=-.5cm and 1.5cm of box] $vecv_1$;
 node (out2) [below right=-.5cm and 1.5cm of box] $vecv_2$;

 draw [->] (in1) -- (box.west |- in1);
 draw [->] (in2) -- (box.west |- in2);

 draw [->] (box.east |- out1) -- (out1);
 draw [->] (box.east |- out2) -- (out2);
endtikzpicture

enddocument

My question is: how could I do this better? What is the preferred way to create diagrams such as this? Can I do it without defining nodes for the input and output vectors separately and just doing something like

draw [->] [above left=of box] $vecu_1$ -- (box);

Thank you for your help in advance!

tikz-pgf diagrams

share|improve this question

asked 1 hour ago

bertalanp99

1355

I often get into the situation where I have to create something like this:

I managed to get this with this hacky (at least it seems hacky to me) code:

documentclassstandalone

usepackagetikz
usetikzlibraryshapes,arrows,positioning

begindocument

begintikzpicture[block/.style=draw, rectangle, minimum height=1cm]
 node (box) [block] System;

 node (in1) [above left=-.5cm and 1.5cm of box] $vecu_1$;
 node (in2) [below left=-.5cm and 1.5cm of box] $vecu_2$;
 node (out1) [above right=-.5cm and 1.5cm of box] $vecv_1$;
 node (out2) [below right=-.5cm and 1.5cm of box] $vecv_2$;

 draw [->] (in1) -- (box.west |- in1);
 draw [->] (in2) -- (box.west |- in2);

 draw [->] (box.east |- out1) -- (out1);
 draw [->] (box.east |- out2) -- (out2);
endtikzpicture

enddocument

My question is: how could I do this better? What is the preferred way to create diagrams such as this? Can I do it without defining nodes for the input and output vectors separately and just doing something like

draw [->] [above left=of box] $vecu_1$ -- (box);

Thank you for your help in advance!

tikz-pgf diagrams

tikz-pgf diagrams

share|improve this question

asked 1 hour ago

bertalanp99

1355

share|improve this question

asked 1 hour ago

bertalanp99

1355

share|improve this question

share|improve this question

asked 1 hour ago

bertalanp99

1355

asked 1 hour ago

bertalanp99

1355

asked 1 hour ago

bertalanp99

1355

1355

add a comment | 

add a comment | 

2 Answers
2

active

oldest

votes

up vote
2
down vote

An option forced to use only one draw statement, nodes can be declared in the path; then using shape especific point like box.west, box.east and the most general way using box.angle, that find a point in the shape in the intersection of a line from the center of the shape and the shape, in this case at 25 degrees, to put the other text nodes I use coordinate shifting (coordinate)++(x_shift,y_shift) and declare a node in this point, finally to draw the arrows inside only one draw statement I use edge, I use the edge at the end because when you declare a node after the las coordinate of the edge, the node takes the first coordinate. I dont know if is the best way...

RESULT: The same as in your example but separated 1.5cm

MWE:

documentclass[tikz,border=10pt]standalone
usepackagetikz
usetikzlibraryshapes,arrows,positioning

begindocument

begintikzpicture[block/.style=draw, rectangle, minimum height=1cm]
 draw
 node (box)[block]System
 (box.180-25)++(-1.5,0) node$vecu_1$ edge[->] (box.180-25)
 (box.-180+25)++(-1.5,0) node$vecu_2$ edge[->] (box.-180+25)
 (box.25)++(1.5,0) node$vecv_1$ edge[<-] (box.25)
 (box.-25)++(1.5,0) node$vecv_2$ edge[<-] (box.-25)
 ;
endtikzpicture

enddocument

share|improve this answer

answered 42 mins ago

J Leon V.

7,420529

add a comment | 

up vote
2
down vote

Your code is already very clean. You may simplify things slightly by

• using foreach to avoid unnecessary repetition,


• putting all into one path (but there is not too much benefit from this except when you decide to give the thingy some universal features such as color or line thickness),


• drop the unnecessary libraries (neither shapes nor arrows are needed here).

This leads to

documentclass[tikz,border=3.14mm]standalone
usetikzlibrarypositioning

begindocument

begintikzpicture[block/.style=draw, rectangle, minimum height=1cm]
 node (box) [block] System
 node (in1) [above left=-.5cm and 1.5cm of box] $vecu_1$
 node (in2) [below left=-.5cm and 1.5cm of box] $vecu_2$
 node (out1) [above right=-.5cm and 1.5cm of box] $vecv_1$
 node (out2) [below right=-.5cm and 1.5cm of box] $vecv_2$
 foreach X in 1,2
 - outX) edge[->] (outX);
endtikzpicture

enddocument

share|improve this answer

answered 28 mins ago

marmot

62.9k468135

add a comment | 

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2 Answers
2

active

oldest

votes

2 Answers
2

active

oldest

votes

active

oldest

votes

active

oldest

votes

up vote
2
down vote

An option forced to use only one draw statement, nodes can be declared in the path; then using shape especific point like box.west, box.east and the most general way using box.angle, that find a point in the shape in the intersection of a line from the center of the shape and the shape, in this case at 25 degrees, to put the other text nodes I use coordinate shifting (coordinate)++(x_shift,y_shift) and declare a node in this point, finally to draw the arrows inside only one draw statement I use edge, I use the edge at the end because when you declare a node after the las coordinate of the edge, the node takes the first coordinate. I dont know if is the best way...

RESULT: The same as in your example but separated 1.5cm

MWE:

documentclass[tikz,border=10pt]standalone
usepackagetikz
usetikzlibraryshapes,arrows,positioning

begindocument

begintikzpicture[block/.style=draw, rectangle, minimum height=1cm]
 draw
 node (box)[block]System
 (box.180-25)++(-1.5,0) node$vecu_1$ edge[->] (box.180-25)
 (box.-180+25)++(-1.5,0) node$vecu_2$ edge[->] (box.-180+25)
 (box.25)++(1.5,0) node$vecv_1$ edge[<-] (box.25)
 (box.-25)++(1.5,0) node$vecv_2$ edge[<-] (box.-25)
 ;
endtikzpicture

enddocument

share|improve this answer

answered 42 mins ago

J Leon V.

7,420529

add a comment | 

up vote
2
down vote

An option forced to use only one draw statement, nodes can be declared in the path; then using shape especific point like box.west, box.east and the most general way using box.angle, that find a point in the shape in the intersection of a line from the center of the shape and the shape, in this case at 25 degrees, to put the other text nodes I use coordinate shifting (coordinate)++(x_shift,y_shift) and declare a node in this point, finally to draw the arrows inside only one draw statement I use edge, I use the edge at the end because when you declare a node after the las coordinate of the edge, the node takes the first coordinate. I dont know if is the best way...

RESULT: The same as in your example but separated 1.5cm

MWE:

documentclass[tikz,border=10pt]standalone
usepackagetikz
usetikzlibraryshapes,arrows,positioning

begindocument

begintikzpicture[block/.style=draw, rectangle, minimum height=1cm]
 draw
 node (box)[block]System
 (box.180-25)++(-1.5,0) node$vecu_1$ edge[->] (box.180-25)
 (box.-180+25)++(-1.5,0) node$vecu_2$ edge[->] (box.-180+25)
 (box.25)++(1.5,0) node$vecv_1$ edge[<-] (box.25)
 (box.-25)++(1.5,0) node$vecv_2$ edge[<-] (box.-25)
 ;
endtikzpicture

enddocument

share|improve this answer

answered 42 mins ago

J Leon V.

7,420529

add a comment | 

up vote
2
down vote

up vote
2
down vote

An option forced to use only one draw statement, nodes can be declared in the path; then using shape especific point like box.west, box.east and the most general way using box.angle, that find a point in the shape in the intersection of a line from the center of the shape and the shape, in this case at 25 degrees, to put the other text nodes I use coordinate shifting (coordinate)++(x_shift,y_shift) and declare a node in this point, finally to draw the arrows inside only one draw statement I use edge, I use the edge at the end because when you declare a node after the las coordinate of the edge, the node takes the first coordinate. I dont know if is the best way...

RESULT: The same as in your example but separated 1.5cm

MWE:

documentclass[tikz,border=10pt]standalone
usepackagetikz
usetikzlibraryshapes,arrows,positioning

begindocument

begintikzpicture[block/.style=draw, rectangle, minimum height=1cm]
 draw
 node (box)[block]System
 (box.180-25)++(-1.5,0) node$vecu_1$ edge[->] (box.180-25)
 (box.-180+25)++(-1.5,0) node$vecu_2$ edge[->] (box.-180+25)
 (box.25)++(1.5,0) node$vecv_1$ edge[<-] (box.25)
 (box.-25)++(1.5,0) node$vecv_2$ edge[<-] (box.-25)
 ;
endtikzpicture

enddocument

share|improve this answer

answered 42 mins ago

J Leon V.

7,420529

An option forced to use only one draw statement, nodes can be declared in the path; then using shape especific point like box.west, box.east and the most general way using box.angle, that find a point in the shape in the intersection of a line from the center of the shape and the shape, in this case at 25 degrees, to put the other text nodes I use coordinate shifting (coordinate)++(x_shift,y_shift) and declare a node in this point, finally to draw the arrows inside only one draw statement I use edge, I use the edge at the end because when you declare a node after the las coordinate of the edge, the node takes the first coordinate. I dont know if is the best way...

RESULT: The same as in your example but separated 1.5cm

MWE:

documentclass[tikz,border=10pt]standalone
usepackagetikz
usetikzlibraryshapes,arrows,positioning

begindocument

begintikzpicture[block/.style=draw, rectangle, minimum height=1cm]
 draw
 node (box)[block]System
 (box.180-25)++(-1.5,0) node$vecu_1$ edge[->] (box.180-25)
 (box.-180+25)++(-1.5,0) node$vecu_2$ edge[->] (box.-180+25)
 (box.25)++(1.5,0) node$vecv_1$ edge[<-] (box.25)
 (box.-25)++(1.5,0) node$vecv_2$ edge[<-] (box.-25)
 ;
endtikzpicture

enddocument

share|improve this answer

answered 42 mins ago

J Leon V.

7,420529

share|improve this answer

share|improve this answer

answered 42 mins ago

J Leon V.

7,420529

answered 42 mins ago

J Leon V.

7,420529

answered 42 mins ago

J Leon V.

7,420529

7,420529

add a comment | 

add a comment | 

up vote
2
down vote

Your code is already very clean. You may simplify things slightly by

• using foreach to avoid unnecessary repetition,


• putting all into one path (but there is not too much benefit from this except when you decide to give the thingy some universal features such as color or line thickness),


• drop the unnecessary libraries (neither shapes nor arrows are needed here).

This leads to

documentclass[tikz,border=3.14mm]standalone
usetikzlibrarypositioning

begindocument

begintikzpicture[block/.style=draw, rectangle, minimum height=1cm]
 node (box) [block] System
 node (in1) [above left=-.5cm and 1.5cm of box] $vecu_1$
 node (in2) [below left=-.5cm and 1.5cm of box] $vecu_2$
 node (out1) [above right=-.5cm and 1.5cm of box] $vecv_1$
 node (out2) [below right=-.5cm and 1.5cm of box] $vecv_2$
 foreach X in 1,2
 - outX) edge[->] (outX);
endtikzpicture

enddocument

share|improve this answer

answered 28 mins ago

marmot

62.9k468135

add a comment | 

up vote
2
down vote

Your code is already very clean. You may simplify things slightly by

• using foreach to avoid unnecessary repetition,


• putting all into one path (but there is not too much benefit from this except when you decide to give the thingy some universal features such as color or line thickness),


• drop the unnecessary libraries (neither shapes nor arrows are needed here).

This leads to

documentclass[tikz,border=3.14mm]standalone
usetikzlibrarypositioning

begindocument

begintikzpicture[block/.style=draw, rectangle, minimum height=1cm]
 node (box) [block] System
 node (in1) [above left=-.5cm and 1.5cm of box] $vecu_1$
 node (in2) [below left=-.5cm and 1.5cm of box] $vecu_2$
 node (out1) [above right=-.5cm and 1.5cm of box] $vecv_1$
 node (out2) [below right=-.5cm and 1.5cm of box] $vecv_2$
 foreach X in 1,2
 - outX) edge[->] (outX);
endtikzpicture

enddocument

share|improve this answer

answered 28 mins ago

marmot

62.9k468135

add a comment | 

up vote
2
down vote

up vote
2
down vote

Your code is already very clean. You may simplify things slightly by

• using foreach to avoid unnecessary repetition,


• putting all into one path (but there is not too much benefit from this except when you decide to give the thingy some universal features such as color or line thickness),


• drop the unnecessary libraries (neither shapes nor arrows are needed here).

This leads to

documentclass[tikz,border=3.14mm]standalone
usetikzlibrarypositioning

begindocument

begintikzpicture[block/.style=draw, rectangle, minimum height=1cm]
 node (box) [block] System
 node (in1) [above left=-.5cm and 1.5cm of box] $vecu_1$
 node (in2) [below left=-.5cm and 1.5cm of box] $vecu_2$
 node (out1) [above right=-.5cm and 1.5cm of box] $vecv_1$
 node (out2) [below right=-.5cm and 1.5cm of box] $vecv_2$
 foreach X in 1,2
 - outX) edge[->] (outX);
endtikzpicture

enddocument

share|improve this answer

answered 28 mins ago

marmot

62.9k468135

Your code is already very clean. You may simplify things slightly by

• using foreach to avoid unnecessary repetition,


• putting all into one path (but there is not too much benefit from this except when you decide to give the thingy some universal features such as color or line thickness),


• drop the unnecessary libraries (neither shapes nor arrows are needed here).

This leads to

documentclass[tikz,border=3.14mm]standalone
usetikzlibrarypositioning

begindocument

begintikzpicture[block/.style=draw, rectangle, minimum height=1cm]
 node (box) [block] System
 node (in1) [above left=-.5cm and 1.5cm of box] $vecu_1$
 node (in2) [below left=-.5cm and 1.5cm of box] $vecu_2$
 node (out1) [above right=-.5cm and 1.5cm of box] $vecv_1$
 node (out2) [below right=-.5cm and 1.5cm of box] $vecv_2$
 foreach X in 1,2
 - outX) edge[->] (outX);
endtikzpicture

enddocument

share|improve this answer

answered 28 mins ago

marmot

62.9k468135

share|improve this answer

share|improve this answer

answered 28 mins ago

marmot

62.9k468135

answered 28 mins ago

marmot

62.9k468135

answered 28 mins ago

marmot

62.9k468135

62.9k468135

add a comment | 

add a comment | 

 

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