Plugins & Projects

While there are many capabilties built into GraphSynth, it also serves as a framework for larger research projects as well as small plugins that fulfill common graph concepts. With GraphSynth 2, there are two different types of plugins that can be developed: graph-layout plugins and search plugins. As the name implies, graph-layout plugins implement common algorithms in laying out graphs. Graph layout is an interesting area of research bridging mathematics, computer science, cognitive psychology and art (see wikipedia for overview). The automated layout of graphs was never a directive for GraphSynth, but inevitably it becomes an important aspect in viewing results. It is also possible to build graph-layout plugins that do more than simple rearrangement of nodes by altering their coordinates of a graph. One could, for example, write a graph-layout plugin to recolor nodes, change node shapes and arc shapes, and add additional shapes or images, extend the graph to three-dimensions. Search plugins is a real research front that involves automatically choosing rules to satisfy a particular problem's goals. Within the basic GraphSnth implementation, one can guide which rules are invoked but usually a more interesting and challenging problem is to leverage AI and numerical programming to invoke particular rules towards creating an optimal graph or shape. 

• Search Plugins
  • Automated Disassembly for Measuring Environmental Impact
  • Synthesizing E-M Solutions through Automated Analogies
  • Automated Synthesis of Gear Trains
  • Synthesizing Planar Mechanisms
  • Neural Networks Synthesis
  • Sheet Metal Part Synthesis
  • Synthesis of Hydraulic Networks (to be posted)
• Graph Layout Plugins
  • coming soon