metapsot vs. graphviz

metapsot vs. graphviz

[Gour]

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Hi!

While writing some written assignments I have a need to draw some simple
diagrams.

Tried with Dia, but it's not superb. That's why I'm thinking about
learning some graphic programming language...

Anyone familiar with metapost & graphviz can write few words how the two
compare?

Any other suggestion?

Sincerely,
Gour


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Re: metapsot vs. graphviz

[Aditya Mahajan]

On Thu, 24 Apr 2008, Gour wrote:

> Hi!
>
> While writing some written assignments I have a need to draw some simple
> diagrams.
>
> Tried with Dia, but it's not superb. That's why I'm thinking about
> learning some graphic programming language...
>
> Anyone familiar with metapost & graphviz can write few words how the two
> compare?

Metapost is for drawing all kinds of graphics. It give you a very fine 
control on where to place objects, and is very well integrated with 
ConTeXt (your labels will be the same font as the rest of the document). 
With the new mplib, using metapost in ConTeXt is very fast (for me I do 
not notice any difference; with mkii it used to take aboud 3-4 sec).

Graphviz is good for automatic positioning of nodes. If you have a large 
number of nodes, it can figure out the best way to place them. There are 
different versions, dot (for directed graphs), circo (for circular 
graphs), neato (for undirected graphs), fps (uses a different model for 
undirected graphs). For most of the cases, the output is average: the node 
placement is very good, but then it is difficult to get tex to process the 
labels, it is limited in terms of color effects that you can get. I find 
it very hard to modify the output.

Graphiz does give metapost output, but I found it to be a bit akward to 
use. The good part about graphiz is that is very easy to learn, and for 
most cases the output is acceptable.

> Any other suggestion?

There is dot2tex, which a python script that converts from dot (graphviz) 
to tikz. I have not tried it, but from the examples it appears to remove 
all the drawbacks of integrated graphviz with tex. It is tailored towards 
integration with latex, but it should not be too hard to configure it for 
context.

Aditya
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Re: metapsot vs. graphviz

[Gour]

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>>>>> "Aditya" == Aditya Mahajan <adityam@umich.edu> writes:

Hello Aditya!


Aditya> Metapost is for drawing all kinds of graphics. It give you a
Aditya> very fine control on where to place objects, and is very well
Aditya> integrated with ConTeXt (your labels will be the same font as
Aditya> the rest of the document).  With the new mplib, using metapost
Aditya> in ConTeXt is very fast (for me I do not notice any difference;
Aditya> with mkii it used to take aboud 3-4 sec).

This is very nice feature...

Aditya> Graphviz is good for automatic positioning of nodes. If you have
Aditya> a large number of nodes, it can figure out the best way to place
Aditya> them. There are different versions, dot (for directed graphs),
Aditya> circo (for circular graphs), neato (for undirected graphs), fps
Aditya> (uses a different model for undirected graphs). For most of the
Aditya> cases, the output is average: the node placement is very good,
Aditya> but then it is difficult to get tex to process the labels, it is
Aditya> limited in terms of color effects that you can get. I find it
Aditya> very hard to modify the output.

I will probably not deal with many modes, but having support for all
kinds of graphics is preferred.

Aditya> Graphiz does give metapost output, but I found it to be a bit
Aditya> akward to use. The good part about graphiz is that is very easy
Aditya> to learn, and for most cases the output is acceptable.

But, as you wrote above, it is not a 'general' graphic package?

Aditya> There is dot2tex, which a python script that converts from dot
Aditya> (graphviz) to tikz. I have not tried it, but from the examples
Aditya> it appears to remove all the drawbacks of integrated graphviz
Aditya> with tex. It is tailored towards integration with latex, but it
Aditya> should not be too hard to configure it for context.

Thanks a lot for your input.

It seems that metapost is not the most easy way, but considering that
luatex & context are future, it looks worth to sit & have metafun ;)


Sincerely,
Gour


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___________________________________________________________________________________

Re: metapsot vs. graphviz

[Andrea Valle]

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If you're on mac,  you can try NodeBox.
http://nodebox.net/code/index.php/Home


HTH

-a-

On 24 Apr 2008, at 16:33, Gour wrote:

> Hi!
>
> While writing some written assignments I have a need to draw some  
> simple
> diagrams.
>
> Tried with Dia, but it's not superb. That's why I'm thinking about
> learning some graphic programming language...
>
> Anyone familiar with metapost & graphviz can write few words how  
> the two
> compare?
>
> Any other suggestion?
>
> Sincerely,
> Gour
>
>
> -- 
>
> Gour  | Zagreb, Croatia  | GPG key: C6E7162D
> ----------------------------------------------------------------
> ______________________________________________________________________ 
> _____________
> If your question is of interest to others as well, please add an  
> entry to the Wiki!
>
> maillist : ntg-context@ntg.nl / http://www.ntg.nl/mailman/listinfo/ 
> ntg-context
> webpage  : http://www.pragma-ade.nl / http://tex.aanhet.net
> archive  : https://foundry.supelec.fr/projects/contextrev/
> wiki     : http://contextgarden.net
> ______________________________________________________________________ 
> _____________

--------------------------------------------------
Andrea Valle
--------------------------------------------------
CIRMA - DAMS
Università degli Studi di Torino
--> http://www.cirma.unito.it/andrea/
--> http://www.myspace.com/andreavalle
--> andrea.valle@unito.it
--------------------------------------------------


"
Think of it as seasoning
. noise [salt] is boring
. F(blah) [food without salt] can be boring
. F(noise, blah) can be really tasty
"
(Ken Perlin on noise)






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___________________________________________________________________________________

Re: metapsot vs. graphviz

[Gour]

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>>>>> "Andrea" == Andrea Valle <valle@di.unito.it> writes:

Andrea> If you're on mac, you can try NodeBox.
Andrea> http://nodebox.net/code/index.php/Home

No, running Linux and decided I'll try to learn metapost.


Sincerely,
Gour


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___________________________________________________________________________________