Introduction & SmartDiagram

Simple charts, drawings and diagrams

In this part of the graphics section we plan on covering the basics of the following packages:

SmartDiagram
TikZ
PGFPlots

They range from easiest to hardest as they all come from the same "PGFPlots" package and their only difference is the level of the syntax used. SmartDiagram is simpler and more accessible but going down through TikZ and finally to the "root" package which is PGFPlots you won't have a higher level language anymore, meaning the learning curve will be harder but you will also have more freedom. What you should expect from this tutorial is how to make basic diagrams and draw effectively in LaTeX at a beginner level. Of course, if you feel brave enough to delve into the packages documentation, go ahead, no one will stop you:

SmartDiagram

With that said, let's get right into business, starting off from the top of our list with our first drawing package: "SmartDiagram". As the name suggests, the aim of the package is to provide the user with an easy way of drawing diagrams to use in presentations or text documents. It is a pretty intuitive package and should not give many issues during the learning process. Note that the SmartDiagram package automatically loads the TikZ, etoolbox, xparse, xtring packages along with the backgrounds, calcs, fadings, shadows, shapes.arrows, shapes.symbols TikZ libraries. The basic command to make diagrams is \smartdiagram[type of diagram]{item list} where each item should be separated by a comma.
The diagram types you can insert are the following:^*
*Note that the following elements are written with capital letters for the sake of a better appearance. Every diagram type should be written without capital letters when used as actual code.

Circular Diagram: counterclockwise circular diagram by default
Circular Diagram:clockwise: clockwise version of the previous diagram
Flow Diagram: represents a flow chart
Flow Diagram:horizontal: horizontal version of the previous diagram
Descriptive Diagram: displays items and their descriptions
Priority Descriptive Diagram: items are sorted by their relevance
Bubble Diagram: each item is displayed as a bubble around a bubble center which contains the first element
Constellation Diagram: each item is a circle connected to the center which is the first item of the list
Connected Constellation Diagram: every item is a cirlce and they are all connected except for the first item
Sequence Diagram: all the items are displayed in a sequence which points to the following element

With this, we'll be going through the main types of diagrams with their own example. They're all pretty easy to draw with the given command but they can be further modified by adding options using the \smartdiagramset{list of options} command. We'll list the general options here:

set color list (default: none): defines the list of usable colors
uniform color list (default: none): defines a single color for the diagram
use predefined color list (default: none): lets the user reuse the colors used in a previous diagram
insert decoration (default: none): allows the user to decorate the borders of the diagram module. This would require additional decoration packages so we won't cover it here. If you're interested, we reccomend to check out the documentation.
arrow line width (default: 0.1cm): changes the width of the diagram arrows
arrow tip (default: stealth): allows to select the arrow tip. This requires more expertise and further libraries to work.
arrow style (default: <-): selects the arrow style
uniform arrow color (default: false): when true, enables arrow color
arrow color (default: gray): selects the arrow color

you will then be able to find the specific ones in their respective diagram section.

Circular Diagram

The following example shows you how LaTeX compiles the basic \smartdiagram[circular diagram] command:

CODE


                    \documentclass[12pt]{article} 

                    \title{Circular Diagram}

                    \date{}
 


                    \usepackage{smartdiagram}
 


                    \begin{document}

                    \maketitle 
 


                    \begin{center} 

                    \smartdiagram[circular diagram]{Item 1, Item 2, Item 3, Item 4} 

                    \end{center} 

                    \end{document}

This might be simple and effective but if it doesn't fit what you want you might also want to check out options to customize your own diagram. The specific options for this type of diagram also apply to the clockwise circular diagram, to the flow diagram and its horizontal counterpart. They are as follows:

module minimum width (default: 2cm): sets the minimum width of the module
module minimum height (default: 1cm): sets the minimum height of the module
module shape (default: rectangle, rounded corners):sets the shape of the module but you should ensure to load the correct library for shapes
text width (default: 1.75cm):sets the text width inside the module
font (default: \small): sets the font inside the module
border color (default: gray):sets the color of the module border
text color: sets the color of the text in the module
circular distance (default 2.75): sets the radius of the circle which the items are placed onto

Now, let's try to make use of some of these options to make our diagram look even better:

CODE


                  \documentclass[12pt]{article} 

                  \title{Customized Circular Diagram} 

                  \date{} 
 


                  \usepackage{smartdiagram} 
 


                  \begin{document} 

                  \maketitle 
 


                  \begin{center} 

                  \smartdiagramset{ 

                  module minimum width=4cm, 

                  module minimum height=2cm, 

                  font= \huge, 

                  border color= black, 

                  text color= blue!30!green, 

                  circular distance= 5} 

                  \smartdiagram[circular diagram]{Item 1, Item 2, Item 3, Item 4} 

                  \end{center} 
 


                  \end{document}