Visualization

The Visualization panel controls how the graph looks: node and edge geometry, material and lighting presets, edge styling, and on-render text labels. It is where attribute-driven encodings become visible.

The parent panel requires a graph to be loaded. The rendering geometry itself is created by Setup Visual (available in the Data panel Step 4), which instances node spheres and edge cylinders through Geometry Nodes.

Subpanel — Appearance

Base geometry of nodes and edges.

Control Description
Node Size Base radius of node glyphs.
Node Resolution Tessellation of the node primitive.
Node Shape Glyph shape used for nodes.
Attr Mult (node) Multiplier applied when node size is driven by an attribute.
Edge Thickness Base radius of edge tubes.
Edge Resolution Tessellation of the edge primitive.
Attr Mult (edge) Multiplier applied when edge thickness is driven by an attribute.
Show Arrows Adds direction arrows; exposes arrow Size and Position along the edge.
Update Appearance Applies the appearance settings to the geometry.

Subpanel — Scene Setup

Materials and lighting for renders.

Control Description
Material Preset A predefined material style; Apply Preset assigns it.
Lighting A lighting rig preset; Setup Lighting builds the lights in the scene.

Subpanel — Edge Style

Controls the geometric routing of edges, from straight tubes to bundled, curved, orthogonal, and tapered styles.

Control Description
Preset A named bundle of style settings.
Type The routing type: straight, Curved, Quadratic, Arc, Tapered, Orthogonal, or Bundled. The settings below change with the type.
Curve Settings For curved types: Curvature, Segments, and Direction.
Orthogonal Settings For orthogonal edges: Style and Segments.
Bundling Settings For bundled edges: Strength, Iterations, Compatibility threshold, and Segments.
Taper Settings For tapered edges: Start Thickness and End Thickness.
Multi-Edge Handling Auto-Offset Parallel Edges (with Offset Distance) and Self-Loop Radius.
OSMnx Options For OSMnx graphs: Preserve Street Geometry keeps the original curved street shapes.

Quick presets

One-click presets emulate familiar tools and use cases: Gephi, Cytoscape, Schematic, Bundled, Flow, and Minimal.

Action Description
Apply Edge Style Applies the configured style to the graph.
Preview (eye icon) Previews the style without committing.
Reset (loop icon) Restores straight edges.

Subpanel — Text Labels

Note

Enable the overlay with the checkbox in the subpanel header. Labels are composited over the final render using the scene camera and render resolution.

Control Description
Source Where label text comes from; choose Attribute to label by a named attribute.
Attribute The attribute to display (when source is Attribute).
Number Format Format type (float, scientific, percentage…), decimals, thousands separator, and optional prefix/suffix.
Size Mode Fixed, Proportional, or Adaptive (adaptive compensates for perspective). Exposes Base Size and/or Scale Factor.
Visibility Max Distance beyond which labels hide, and Depth Occlusion so labels behind geometry are hidden.
Attribute Filter Optionally show labels only for nodes matching an attribute/operator/value condition (e.g. degree above a threshold).
Font System font or a custom font file.
Appearance Text colour and an optional background with colour and opacity.
Auto Update Periodically regenerates the overlay (with an interval); start/stop the modal updater.
Generate / Update / Remove Build, refresh, or remove the overlay image.

Typical workflow

  1. Run Setup Visual so the graph has renderable geometry.
  2. In Appearance, set base node/edge sizes; enable direction arrows for directed graphs.
  3. Apply a Material Preset and Lighting in Scene Setup.
  4. Choose an Edge Style (or a quick preset) appropriate to the density.
  5. Drive node/edge colour and size from attributes (centrality, community, etc.) and add Text Labels for key nodes.
  6. Render with Cycles or EEVEE and continue to Export.
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