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tikzfigure

Getting Started

tikzfigure is a Python library for building TikZ (LaTeX) figures programmatically. You describe your drawing with Python objects and method calls; tikzfigure turns them into LaTeX/TikZ code that can be compiled to PDF or rendered to PNG.

This first tutorial covers the absolute basics:

  • creating a TikzFigure
  • adding nodes
  • drawing connections
  • displaying and saving the result
  • inspecting the generated TikZ code
from tikzfigure import Node, TikzFigure

Your first figure

Section titled “Your first figure”

A TikzFigure is the canvas. Nodes are placed on it with add_node(x, y, ...), and connections are drawn with draw([node_a, node_b], ...). Call show() to compile and display the result inline.

fig = TikzFigure()


n1 = fig.add_node(0, 0, shape="circle", color="white", fill="blue", content="Hello!")
n2 = fig.add_node(5, 0, shape="circle", color="white", fill="red", content="Hi!")


fig.draw([n1, n2], arrows="->", line_width=2, color="gray")


fig.show(use_web_compilation=True)

Show Tikz code 
print(fig)
% --------------------------------------------- %
% Tikzfigure generated by tikzfigure v0.2.1     %
% https://github.com/max-models/tikzfigure      %
% --------------------------------------------- %
\begin{tikzpicture}
    \node[shape=circle, color=white, fill=blue] (node0) at ({0}, {0}) {Hello!};
    \node[shape=circle, color=white, fill=red] (node1) at ({5}, {0}) {Hi!};
    \draw[color=gray, line width=2, arrows=->] (node0) to (node1);
\end{tikzpicture}

Inspecting the generated TikZ code

Section titled “Inspecting the generated TikZ code”

generate_tikz() returns the raw LaTeX/TikZ string. This is useful for debugging or for pasting code directly into a .tex file.

print(fig)
% --------------------------------------------- %
% Tikzfigure generated by tikzfigure v0.2.1     %
% https://github.com/max-models/tikzfigure      %
% --------------------------------------------- %
\begin{tikzpicture}
    \node[shape=circle, color=white, fill=blue] (node0) at ({0}, {0}) {Hello!};
    \node[shape=circle, color=white, fill=red] (node1) at ({5}, {0}) {Hi!};
    \draw[color=gray, line width=2, arrows=->] (node0) to (node1);
\end{tikzpicture}

Alternative: create nodes independently

Section titled “Alternative: create nodes independently”

You can also construct Node objects directly and then register them with fig.add(), which is handy when building nodes in a loop or helper function.

Note that when drawing the arrow, we can either reference the node with the node instance (n1) or its label (node1).

fig2 = TikzFigure()


n1 = Node(
    0, 0, label="node1", shape="circle", color="white", fill="blue", content="Hello!"
)
n2 = Node(5, 0, label="node2", shape="circle", color="white", fill="red", content="Hi!")


fig2.add([n1, n2])
# Note that we can use the node labels to refer to them when drawing edges
fig2.draw(["node1", n2], arrows="<-", line_width=2, color="gray")


fig2.show()

Show Tikz code 
print(fig)
% --------------------------------------------- %
% Tikzfigure generated by tikzfigure v0.2.1     %
% https://github.com/max-models/tikzfigure      %
% --------------------------------------------- %
\begin{tikzpicture}
    \node[shape=circle, color=white, fill=blue] (node0) at ({0}, {0}) {Hello!};
    \node[shape=circle, color=white, fill=red] (node1) at ({5}, {0}) {Hi!};
    \draw[color=gray, line width=2, arrows=->] (node0) to (node1);
\end{tikzpicture}

A simple directed graph

Section titled “A simple directed graph”

Here we place four nodes and connect them with arrows. bend_left curves the arrow - positive values bend it left relative to the direction of travel.

fig = TikzFigure()


A = fig.add_node(0, 2, label="A", content="A", shape="circle", fill="cyan!40")
B = fig.add_node(3, 2, label="B", content="B", shape="circle", fill="cyan!40")
C = fig.add_node(0, 0, label="C", content="C", shape="circle", fill="cyan!40")
D = fig.add_node(3, 0, label="D", content="D", shape="circle", fill="cyan!40")


fig.draw([A, B], arrows="->")
fig.draw([A, C], arrows="->")
fig.draw([B, D], arrows="->")
fig.draw([C, D], arrows="->")
fig.draw([A, D], arrows="->", dashed=True, bend_left=20, color="gray")


fig.show()

Show Tikz code 
print(fig)
% --------------------------------------------- %
% Tikzfigure generated by tikzfigure v0.2.1     %
% https://github.com/max-models/tikzfigure      %
% --------------------------------------------- %
\begin{tikzpicture}
    \node[shape=circle, fill=cyan!40] (A) at ({0}, {2}) {A};
    \node[shape=circle, fill=cyan!40] (B) at ({3}, {2}) {B};
    \node[shape=circle, fill=cyan!40] (C) at ({0}, {0}) {C};
    \node[shape=circle, fill=cyan!40] (D) at ({3}, {0}) {D};
    \draw[arrows=->] (A) to (B);
    \draw[arrows=->] (A) to (C);
    \draw[arrows=->] (B) to (D);
    \draw[arrows=->] (C) to (D);
    \draw[dashed=True, color=gray, bend left=20, arrows=->] (A) to (D);
\end{tikzpicture}

Saving to disk

Section titled “Saving to disk”

savefig() compiles the figure and writes a PDF or rasterised image (PNG/JPG). The format is determined by the file extension.

# fig.savefig("graph.pdf")
# fig.savefig("graph.png")