This version is out of date, covering development from v7.0.0 to v7.5.6. It is maintained here only for inbound reference links from elsewhere. It is no longer actively updated.

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Force Directed Layout (Dance)

Note: this feature is experimental and the result is not undoable.

In map view, View ▸ Arrange ▸ Dance (⇧⌘-D) initiates an automated layout of the view based on a physical simulation. Each link among notes in the map is treated as a spring that pulls linked notes together. From v7.5.3, the effects of Dance are undo-able (but if trying this it is best to do so immediately after the Dance, so its top of the undo stack).

All notes exert a gravitation attraction for other notes. Notes that overlap repel each other. Notes that are textually similar to each other attract each other. At the beginning of the simulation, each note is subject to a random force, much as if it were heated. The force is reduced progressively over time. This process, known as simulated annealing, helps the simulation from getting tangled up in local minima.

Each adornment that has one or more values of $ClusterTerms attracts notes in which those terms appear in the text. Adornments are otherwise ignored in the simulation.

Not all maps will benefit from automatic layout; for example, the famous (Storyspace) map of Mary-Kim Arnold’s "Lust" does not due to it's many inter-connections. Performance may be unsatisfactory in maps with more than a few dozen notes.

Dancing automatically stops when any note is dragged. Otherwise, the effect of the drag can impart a vast, unwanted acceleration to the dragged item.



A Tinderbox Reference File : Windows : Document Window : View pane : Map view : Force Directed Layout (Dance)