\documentclass{article} \usepackage[pdftex,active,tightpage]{preview} \usepackage{tikz} \usetikzlibrary{calc} \begin{document} \begin{preview} \tikzstyle{vertex}=[draw,fill=black!15,circle,minimum size=20pt,inner sep=0pt] \tikzstyle{encrypt}=[draw,fill=black!15,rectangle,minimum size=20pt,inner sep=0pt] \begin{tikzpicture} \newcommand{\n}{3} \foreach \nr in {1, ..., \n}{ \node (M\nr) at (0,{(\n-\nr)*2}) {$M_\nr$}; \node (C\nr) at (4,{(\n-\nr)*2}) {$C_\nr$}; \node (E\nr)[encrypt] at (2,{(\n-\nr)*2}) {$E$}; \node (K\nr) at (2,{(\n-\nr)*2+1}) {$K$}; \draw[->,very thick] (M\nr) -- (E\nr); \draw[->,very thick] (K\nr) -- (E\nr); \draw[->,very thick] (E\nr) -- (C\nr); } \node (Mx) at (0,-1) {$\vdots$}; \node (Ex) at (2,-1) {$\vdots$}; \node (Cx) at (4,-1) {$\vdots$}; \end{tikzpicture} \end{preview} \end{document}