Sudoku 3D cube

This example shows how to create an effective 3D effect using the slant transformation. Shading has been added to enhance the 3D impression. Read more about this example over at TeXblog.

Edit and compile if you like:

% :Author: Stefan Kottwitz
% :Source: TeXblog - TikZ: shaded cube
%          http://texblog.net/latex-archive/graphics/tikz-cube-3d/
\documentclass[12pt]{article}
\usepackage{tikz}


\usetikzlibrary{positioning}
\begin{document}
\large
\pagestyle{empty}
\begin{tikzpicture}[every node/.style={minimum size=1cm},on grid]
\begin{scope}[every node/.append style={yslant=-0.5},yslant=-0.5]
  \shade[right color=gray!10, left color=black!50] (0,0) rectangle +(3,3);
  \node at (0.5,2.5) {9};
  \node at (1.5,2.5) {7};
  \node at (2.5,2.5) {1};
  \node at (0.5,1.5) {2};
  \node at (1.5,1.5) {4};
  \node at (2.5,1.5) {8};
  \node at (0.5,0.5) {5};
  \node at (1.5,0.5) {3};
  \node at (2.5,0.5) {6};
  \draw (0,0) grid (3,3);
\end{scope}
\begin{scope}[every node/.append style={yslant=0.5},yslant=0.5]
  \shade[right color=gray!70,left color=gray!10] (3,-3) rectangle +(3,3);
  \node at (3.5,-0.5) {3};
  \node at (4.5,-0.5) {9};
  \node at (5.5,-0.5) {7};
  \node at (3.5,-1.5) {6};
  \node at (4.5,-1.5) {1};
  \node at (5.5,-1.5) {5};
  \node at (3.5,-2.5) {8};
  \node at (4.5,-2.5) {2};
  \node at (5.5,-2.5) {4};
  \draw (3,-3) grid (6,0);
\end{scope}
\begin{scope}[every node/.append style={
    yslant=0.5,xslant=-1},yslant=0.5,xslant=-1
  ]
  \shade[bottom color=gray!10, top color=black!80] (6,3) rectangle +(-3,-3);
  \node at (3.5,2.5) {1};
  \node at (3.5,1.5) {4};
  \node at (3.5,0.5) {7};
  \node at (4.5,2.5) {5};
  \node at (4.5,1.5) {6};
  \node at (4.5,0.5) {8};
  \node at (5.5,2.5) {2};
  \node at (5.5,1.5) {3};
  \node at (5.5,0.5) {9};
  \draw (3,0) grid (6,3);
\end{scope}
\end{tikzpicture}
\end{document}