I’m looking for alternatives to GraphViz. I’ve been using GraphViz for more than a decade and it’s okay, but the layouts are just not producing publication-quality graphs for me given my input data. Sometimes my data is really big and complex, and sometimes it isn’t, but GraphViz never really makes stuff that’s beautiful.
What other graph visualization tools are people using? Ideally there’s one that uses the GraphViz syntax for input file.
Here for example is an input file I’m playing with:
digraph mdc {
size="4,8";
"KJ1E:A6:PAN:9E:3A" -> "JUNK-0PAN0-FOO";
"KJ1E:A6:PAN:9E:3A" -> "JUNK-0047-FOO";
"KJ1E:A6:PAN:9E:3A" -> "JUNK-0048-FOO";
"KJ1E:A6:PAN:9E:3A" -> "JUNK-0050-FOO";
"KJ1E:A6:PAN:9E:3A" -> "JUNK-0051-FOO";
"KJ1E:A6:PAN:9E:3A" -> "JUNK-0052-FOO";
"KJ1E:A6:PAN:9E:3A" -> "JUNK-0009-FOO";
"KJ16:76:A2:60:6E" -> "JUNK-0413-FOO";
"KJ16:76:A2:60:6E" -> "JUNK-0414-FOO";
"KJE0:D0:13:14:94" -> "GEORGE42-FRED";
"KJE0:D0:13:14:94" -> "MY5-30-FRED";
"KJ50:04:EE:6C:F9" -> "PSPAN-036-FRED";
"KJ50:04:EE:6C:F9" -> "GEORGE02-FRED";
"KJ50:04:EE:6C:F9" -> "GEORGE04-FRED";
"KJ1B:B9:9B:D5:BB" -> "JUNK-0047-FOO";
"KJ1B:B9:9B:D5:BB" -> "JUNK-0048-FOO";
"KJ05:5F:EF:14:PAN" -> "thPAN-PAN-FRED";
"KJ05:5F:EF:14:PAN" -> "cn20-PAN-FRED";
"KJ15:F2-KIM-:E5YF" -> "thPAN-PAN-FRED";
"KJ15:F2-KIM-:E5YF" -> "cn20-PAN-FRED";
"KJ0E:90:D5:E6:5E" -> "JUNK-0051-FOO";
"KJ0E:90:D5:E6:5E" -> "JUNK-0009-FOO";
"KJ1E:90:DE:F1:07" -> "JUNK-0051-FOO";
"KJ1E:90:DE:F1:07" -> "JUNK-0009-FOO";
"KJ1E:90:D5:EE:5E" -> "JUNK-0051-FOO";
"KJ1E:90:D5:EE:5E" -> "JUNK-0047-FOO";
"KJ1E:90:D5:EE:5E" -> "JUNK-0009-FOO";
"KJ04:ED:66:C7:19" -> "JUNK-0562-FOO";
"KJ04:ED:66:C7:19" -> "JUNK-0561-FOO";
"KJ1B:B9:9C-PET-67" -> "JUNK-0047-FOO";
"KJ1B:B9:9C-PET-67" -> "JUNK-0049-FOO";
"PAN:KJ5E:7F:FF:FA" -> "JUNK-0PAN4-FOO";
"PAN:KJ5E:7F:FF:FA" -> "PSPAN-021-FRED";
"PAN:KJ5E:7F:FF:FA" -> "GEORGE38-FRED";
"PAN:KJ5E:7F:FF:FA" -> "JUNK-0095-FOO";
"PAN:KJ5E:7F:FF:FA" -> "JUNK-PAN18-FOO";
"KJ1B:B9:9B:D3:61" -> "JUNK-0PAN0-FOO";
"KJ1B:B9:9B:D3:61" -> "JUNK-0051-FOO";
"KJ1B:B9:9B:D3:61" -> "JUNK-0052-FOO";
"KJ1B:B9:9B:D3:61" -> "JUNK-0009-FOO";
"KJ26:18:BD:D9:E9" -> "JUNK-0562-FOO";
"KJ26:18:BD:D9:E9" -> "JUNK-0561-FOO";
"KJD0:B7:69:0A-VET" -> "cn4-06-FRED";
"KJD0:B7:69:0A-VET" -> "1039-FRED";
"KJ50:04:EE:6C:F9" [fontsize=96,shape=oval]
"KJ1E:90:DE:F1:07" [fontsize=96,shape=oval]
"KJ05:5F:EF:14:PAN" [fontsize=96,shape=oval]
"KJ26:18:BD:D9:E9" [fontsize=96,shape=oval]
"KJ1B:B9:9B:D5:BB" [fontsize=96,shape=oval]
"KJE0:D0:13:14:94" [fontsize=96,shape=oval]
"KJ0E:90:D5:E6:5E" [fontsize=96,shape=oval]
"KJ1E:A6:PAN:9E:3A" [fontsize=96,shape=oval]
"KJ1E:90:D5:EE:5E" [fontsize=96,shape=oval]
"PAN:KJ5E:7F:FF:FA" [fontsize=96,shape=oval]
"KJ1B:B9:9B:D3:61" [fontsize=96,shape=oval]
"KJ1B:B9:9C-PET-67" [fontsize=96,shape=oval]
"KJ15:F2-KIM-:E5YF" [fontsize=96,shape=oval]
"KJD0:B7:69:0A-VET" [fontsize=96,shape=oval]
"KJ04:ED:66:C7:19" [fontsize=96,shape=oval]
"KJ16:76:A2:60:6E" [fontsize=96,shape=oval]
"JUNK-0009-FOO" [fontsize=96,shape=box3d]
"GEORGE38-FRED" [fontsize=96,shape=box3d]
"JUNK-0413-FOO" [fontsize=96,shape=box3d]
"JUNK-0561-FOO" [fontsize=96,shape=box3d]
"JUNK-0050-FOO" [fontsize=96,shape=box3d]
"cn20-PAN-FRED" [fontsize=96,shape=box3d]
"JUNK-PAN18-FOO" [fontsize=96,shape=box3d]
"1039-FRED" [fontsize=96,shape=box3d]
"JUNK-0095-FOO" [fontsize=96,shape=box3d]
"PSPAN-021-FRED" [fontsize=96,shape=box3d]
"JUNK-0048-FOO" [fontsize=96,shape=box3d]
"JUNK-0052-FOO" [fontsize=96,shape=box3d]
"GEORGE42-FRED" [fontsize=96,shape=box3d]
"JUNK-0049-FOO" [fontsize=96,shape=box3d]
"GEORGE04-FRED" [fontsize=96,shape=box3d]
"cn4-06-FRED" [fontsize=96,shape=box3d]
"thPAN-PAN-FRED" [fontsize=96,shape=box3d]
"GEORGE02-FRED" [fontsize=96,shape=box3d]
"JUNK-0PAN0-FOO" [fontsize=96,shape=box3d]
"MY5-30-FRED" [fontsize=96,shape=box3d]
"JUNK-0047-FOO" [fontsize=96,shape=box3d]
"JUNK-0562-FOO" [fontsize=96,shape=box3d]
"JUNK-0PAN4-FOO" [fontsize=96,shape=box3d]
"JUNK-0051-FOO" [fontsize=96,shape=box3d]
"PSPAN-036-FRED" [fontsize=96,shape=box3d]
"JUNK-0414-FOO" [fontsize=96,shape=box3d]
}
(All of the fontsize=96 are my vain attempt to get graphviz to make the font more readable, but apparently it doesn’t work.)
What’s there not to like?
I personally wouldn’t use box3d, and my choice of colors probably hurts your eyes…
(full size image: https://i.stack.imgur.com/MTe6n.png )
EDIT:
Here’s the modified dot code – I reorganized it a little bit:
You can see and modify it here: http://graph.gafol.net/dLQGPHJRc – this site uses nice presets for fonts and fontsize.
Please note that I added
start=random, therefore the layout may be different every time you create the graph.