Basic Styles

Introduction

Neural Sketch provides a comprehensive suite of basic styles that make your diagrams clear, elegant, and publication-ready. In this guide, you'll explore how to apply different border types, shadows, importance levels, and custom container styling to your diagram elements.

Border and Shadow Styles

Explore various border types and shadow effects to enhance the visual distinction of your elements.

\nskBlock[
  text-north=solid,
  border-type=solid,
]

icon and text \nskBlock types automatically set their width based on their content. Use padding-x and padding-y for ease of use.

Border Styles and Shadows

Use key-value pairs to customize borders and shadows on blocks individually, enhancing visual hierarchy and readability.

Border Types

Different border styles convey distinct visual cues:

Solid border (border-type=solid)

\nskBlock[
  id=A,
  text-north={Solid Border},
  border-type=solid
]

Dashed Border (border-type=dashed)

\nskBlock[
  id=B,
  text-north={Dashed Border},
  border-type=dashed
]

Any TikZ/pgf supported

Style Name	Description
`solid`	Solid line (default)
`dotted`	Dotted dash pattern
`densely dotted`	Densely dotted dash pattern
`loosely dotted`	Loosely dotted dash pattern
`dashed`	Dashed dash pattern
`densely dashed`	Densely dashed dash pattern
`loosely dashed`	Loosely dashed dash pattern
`dash dot`	Dash–dot dash pattern
`densely dash dot`	Densely dash–dot dash pattern
`loosely dash dot`	Loosely dash–dot dash pattern
`dash dot dot`	Dash–dot–dot dash pattern
`densely dash dot dot`	Densely dash–dot–dot dash pattern
`loosely dash dot dot`	Loosely dash–dot–dot dash pattern

Uniform Border Radius Scaling

By default, the border radius scales uniformly with the block’s dimensions (i.e., when you modify width=, height=, or size=), preserving the same corner radii.

However, you can disable this behavior:

\nskBlock[
  border-radius-scale=false % true | false
]

Shadow Effects

Apply shadows to emphasize depth and layering:

With Shadow (shadow=true)

\nskBlock[
  id=C,
  text-north={With Shadow},
  shadow=true
]

Without Shadow (shadow=false)

\nskBlock[
  id=D,
  text-north={No Shadow},
  shadow=false
]

Importance-Based Styling

Highlight blocks by adjusting their importance, visually scaling border thickness and emphasizing prominence:

Increased Importance (importance=2)

\nskBlock[
  id=E,
  text-north={Important Block},
  importance=2,
  shadow=false
]

Outer Borders

Use outer borders to accentuate important blocks or delineate interactive areas:

Outer Border (outer-border-type, outer-border-size, outer-border-color)

\nskBlock[
  id=F,
  outer-border-type=solid,
  outer-border-size=4mm,
  outer-border-color=nskSecondaryAccent!70
]

Exploring Shapes

Basic Geometric Shapes

Utilize fundamental geometric shapes available in Neural Sketch:

\foreach \shape in
  {rectangle, circle, diamond, ellipse, trapezium, semicircle}{
    \nskBlock[
      type=\shape,
      width=1cm, height=1cm,
      last-pos-s={right=.8cm}
    ]
  }

Regular Polygons

Any n-sided polygons with or without smoothed corners

\foreach \ns in {3,...,6}{
    \nskBlock*[
      type=polygon[\ns],
      width=1.5cm, height=1.5cm,
      last-pos-s={right=.8cm},
    ]
  }

Special Shapes

Employ specialized shapes for unique diagramming needs:

\foreach \shape in {
  isosceles triangle,
  kite, dart,
  cylinder, cloud, signal, tape
}{
    \nskBlock*[
      type=\shape,
      last-pos-s={right=.8cm},
    ]
  }

Rounded and Chamfered Rectangles

Explore rectangles with customized rounded or chamfered corners:

\nskBlock[
  type=rrect[180], % 180 | 120 | 90
]

Best Practices

Combine different styles to emphasize key diagram components.
Use container groups to logically organize elements.
Customize embedded graphics for a personalized touch.

Basic Styles

On this page