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The graphviz system [1], originally from at&t labs, has a program called "dot" that does this kind of thing very well, including routing the arrows around other

The graphviz system [1], originally from at&t labs, has a program called "dot" that does this kind of thing very well, including routing the arrows around other boxes that may be in the way. It's been open sourced. It's also been ported to the web [2] 1: https://graphviz.org/ https://graphviz.org/ 2: http://www.webgraphviz.com/?tab=map http://www.webgraphviz.com/?tab=map

alhirzel 5y ago
Sometimes I wish there were a more modern replacement for Graphviz. There are things that it doesn't handle very well (e.g., nested subgraphs) and I feel like there are good (albeit proprietary) algorithms which could make their way into a general package.
- monkeycantype 5y ago
  I use dot, and manually position everything, then use the neato -n2 option to render: `dot -T ${format} -n${n} ${verbose>1?"-v ":""}-Goverlap-true -Gsplines=false -Kneato -o "${ output }" "${ input }"` this still doesn't do subgraphs well, so I sometime do the 'groups' in a separate document, then composite the layers with image magick `magick composite ${verbose>1?"-verbose ":""}-gravity NorthWest "${a}" "${b}" "${png_output}"`;
  - alhirzel 5y ago
    Cool, I appreciate you sharing the info on your process!
    - monkeycantype 5y ago
      You’re welcome
- jeffreygoesto 5y ago
  Not as easy to use, because it does not have a simple cli, but nested layouts are better than dot's with the Eclipse Layout Kernel. There is a JavaScript version, as well and you can try it in recent plantuml versions. [0] https://www.eclipse.org/elk https://www.eclipse.org/elk [1] https://github.com/eclipse/elk https://github.com/eclipse/elk [2] https://plantuml.com/elk https://plantuml.com/elk
- graphviz 5y ago
  Agree.
  - graphviz 5y ago
    Also, this is a great problem, and we tried to solve it in a more general context. http://dpd.cs.princeton.edu/Papers/DGKN97.pdf http://dpd.cs.princeton.edu/Papers/DGKN97.pdf I believe it's an open problem what makes a curve look "natural" or how to do a good job of routing multiple splines around obstacles so they do not intersect each other, though the work of Keean Crane at CMU seems promising: https://www.cs.cmu.edu/~kmcrane/Projects/RepulsiveCurves/index.html https://www.cs.cmu.edu/~kmcrane/Projects/RepulsiveCurves/ind...
CyberSimon 5y ago
This is a great github to play around with dot online: https://dreampuf.github.io/GraphvizOnline/ https://dreampuf.github.io/GraphvizOnline/

alhirzel 5y ago

Sometimes I wish there were a more modern replacement for Graphviz. There are things that it doesn't handle very well (e.g., nested subgraphs) and I feel like there are good (albeit proprietary) algorithms which could make their way into a general package.

monkeycantype 5y ago
I use dot, and manually position everything, then use the neato -n2 option to render: `dot -T ${format} -n${n} ${verbose>1?"-v ":""}-Goverlap-true -Gsplines=false -Kneato -o "${ output }" "${ input }"` this still doesn't do subgraphs well, so I sometime do the 'groups' in a separate document, then composite the layers with image magick `magick composite ${verbose>1?"-verbose ":""}-gravity NorthWest "${a}" "${b}" "${png_output}"`;
- alhirzel 5y ago
  Cool, I appreciate you sharing the info on your process!
  - monkeycantype 5y ago
    You’re welcome
jeffreygoesto 5y ago
Not as easy to use, because it does not have a simple cli, but nested layouts are better than dot's with the Eclipse Layout Kernel. There is a JavaScript version, as well and you can try it in recent plantuml versions. [0] https://www.eclipse.org/elk https://www.eclipse.org/elk [1] https://github.com/eclipse/elk https://github.com/eclipse/elk [2] https://plantuml.com/elk https://plantuml.com/elk
graphviz 5y ago
Agree.
- graphviz 5y ago
  Also, this is a great problem, and we tried to solve it in a more general context. http://dpd.cs.princeton.edu/Papers/DGKN97.pdf http://dpd.cs.princeton.edu/Papers/DGKN97.pdf I believe it's an open problem what makes a curve look "natural" or how to do a good job of routing multiple splines around obstacles so they do not intersect each other, though the work of Keean Crane at CMU seems promising: https://www.cs.cmu.edu/~kmcrane/Projects/RepulsiveCurves/index.html https://www.cs.cmu.edu/~kmcrane/Projects/RepulsiveCurves/ind...

CyberSimon 5y ago

This is a great github to play around with dot online: https://dreampuf.github.io/GraphvizOnline/ https://dreampuf.github.io/GraphvizOnline/