Re: HELP: Drawing Arcs

David Peterson wrote:

> Huh.   I typed "arc pair grammar" into Google, and the first hit
> was a conlang message about how there should be an encyclopedia
> entry for arc pair grammar.   Guess that effort failed...?
<snip>

> Ahh!   Perfect!   I found a .gif of an explanation of RG, Chômeurs et
> tous!    Here's the link:
>
> http://www1.elsevier.com/homepage/sal/ellei/images/grammar.gif
>
> As you can see, these arrows are extremely malleable, yet they come out
> looking nice and smooth.   Does anyone know of a font that has arrows
> like these, or how one can draw them aside from freehand?   I'd be
> extremely appreciative.
I think I've mentioned it on the list before. GraphViz[1] is an
excellent graph and network drawing tool that's probably exactly what
you're looking for. It uses a simple (very simple) declarative language
for specifying the graphs and generates output in a whole host of
formats. It comes with a variety of layout algorithms so you can get it
looking exactly the way you want.

There's also a few GUI tools you can use that come bundled with it, but
they feel like quick hacks. If you've a Mac, this version[2] looks quite
excellent.

K.

[1] http://www.graphviz.org/
[2] http://www.pixelglow.com/graphviz/