Prof. Dr. Oliver Deussen

Inevitably, the projection of most graph structures on two-dimensional screens will create errors and therefore visually wrong impressions. In the past, two types of methods have been developed to minimize such projection errors and create layouts in a visually pleasing way. The first group of methods, force-directed layouts, interpret the links of a graph as physical springs, while stress-based methods minimize an energy function that aims to map graph distances faithfully. With Prof. Yunhai Wang I developed a unified description that allows to create optimal parameters for both modeling types and even to specify new, better methods for most graphs. Adding vector-based constraints allows systems to render graphs with different layouts and under varying perspectives. We show that deviating from all kinds of physical metaphors is a good idea to create even better projection methods.