Manipulating Weights to Improve Stress-Graph Drawings of 3-Connected Planar Graphs

We study methods to manipulate weights in stress-graph embeddings to improve convex straight-line planar drawings of 3-connected planar graphs. Stress-graph embeddings are weighted versions of Tutte embeddings, where solving a linear system places vertices at a minimum-energy configuration for a system of springs. A major drawback of the unweighted Tutte embedding is that it often results in drawings with exponential area. We present a number of approaches for choosing better weights. One approach constructs weights (in linear time) that uniformly spread all vertices in a chosen direction, such as parallel to the $x$- or $y$-axis. A second approach morphs $x$- and $y$-spread drawings to produce a more aesthetically pleasing and uncluttered drawing. We further explore a "kaleidoscope" paradigm for this $xy$-morph approach, where we rotate the coordinate axes so as to find the best spreads and morphs. A third approach chooses the weight of each edge according to its depth in a spanning tree rooted at the outer vertices, such as a Schnyder wood or BFS tree, in order to pull vertices closer to the boundary.Comment: 14 pages, 10 figure

Quantum Tutte Embeddings

Using the framework of Tutte embeddings, we begin an exploration of \emph{quantum graph drawing}, which uses quantum computers to visualize graphs. The main contributions of this paper include formulating a model for quantum graph drawing, describing how to create a graph-drawing quantum circuit from a given graph, and showing how a Tutte embedding can be calculated as a quantum state in this circuit that can then be sampled to extract the embedding. To evaluate the complexity of our quantum Tutte embedding circuits, we compare them to theoretical bounds established in the classical computing setting derived from a well-known classical algorithm for solving the types of linear systems that arise from Tutte embeddings. We also present empirical results obtained from experimental quantum simulations.Comment: 19 pages, 6 figure

Convexity-Increasing Morphs of Planar Graphs

We study the problem of convexifying drawings of planar graphs. Given any planar straight-line drawing of an internally 3-connected graph, we show how to morph the drawing to one with strictly convex faces while maintaining planarity at all times. Our morph is convexity-increasing, meaning that once an angle is convex, it remains convex. We give an efficient algorithm that constructs such a morph as a composition of a linear number of steps where each step either moves vertices along horizontal lines or moves vertices along vertical lines. Moreover, we show that a linear number of steps is worst-case optimal. To obtain our result, we use a well-known technique by Hong and Nagamochi for finding redrawings with convex faces while preserving y-coordinates. Using a variant of Tutte's graph drawing algorithm, we obtain a new proof of Hong and Nagamochi's result which comes with a better running time. This is of independent interest, as Hong and Nagamochi's technique serves as a building block in existing morphing algorithms.Comment: Preliminary version in Proc. WG 201

Comparing Features of Three-Dimensional Object Models Using Registration Based on Surface Curvature Signatures

This dissertation presents a technique for comparing local shape properties for similar three-dimensional objects represented by meshes. Our novel shape representation, the curvature map, describes shape as a function of surface curvature in the region around a point. A multi-pass approach is applied to the curvature map to detect features at different scales. The feature detection step does not require user input or parameter tuning. We use features ordered by strength, the similarity of pairs of features, and pruning based on geometric consistency to efficiently determine key corresponding locations on the objects. For genus zero objects, the corresponding locations are used to generate a consistent spherical parameterization that defines the point-to-point correspondence used for the final shape comparison

Morphing planar triangulations

A morph between two drawings of the same graph can be thought of as a continuous deformation between the two given drawings. A morph is linear if every vertex moves along a straight line segment from its initial position to its final position. In this thesis we study algorithms for morphing, in which the morphs are given by sequences of linear morphing steps. In 1944, Cairns proved that it is possible to morph between any two planar drawings of a planar triangulation while preserving planarity during the morph. However this morph may require exponentially many steps. It was not until 2013 that Alamdari et al. proved that the morphing problem for planar triangulations can be solved using polynomially many steps. In 1990 it was shown by Schnyder that using special drawings that we call Schnyder drawings it is possible to draw a planar graph on a O(n)×O(n) grid, and moreover such drawings can be found in O(n) time (here n denotes the number of vertices of the graph). It still remains unknown whether there is an efficient algorithm for morphing in which all drawings are on a polynomially sized grid. In this thesis we give two different new solutions to the morphing problem for planar triangulations. Our first solution gives a strengthening of the result of Alamdari et al. where each step is a unidirectional morph. This also leads to a simpler proof of their result. Our second morphing algorithm finds a planar morph consisting of O(n²) steps between any two Schnyder drawings while remaining in an O(n)×O(n) grid. However, there are drawings of planar triangulations which are not Schnyder drawings, and for these drawings we show that a unidirectional morph consisting of O(n) steps that ends at a Schnyder drawing can be found. We conclude this work by showing that the basic steps from our morphs can be implemented using a Schnyder wood and weight shifts on the set of interior faces

Facets of Planar Graph Drawing

This thesis makes a contribution to the field of Graph Drawing, with a focus on the planarity drawing convention. The following three problems are considered. (1) Ordered Level Planarity: We introduce and study the problem Ordered Level Planarity which asks for a planar drawing of a graph such that vertices are placed at prescribed positions in the plane and such that every edge is realized as a y-monotone curve. This can be interpreted as a variant of Level Planarity in which the vertices on each level appear in a prescribed total order. We establish a complexity dichotomy with respect to both the maximum degree and the level-width, that is, the maximum number of vertices that share a level. Our study of Ordered Level Planarity is motivated by connections to several other graph drawing problems. With reductions from Ordered Level Planarity, we show NP-hardness of multiple problems whose complexity was previously open, and strengthen several previous hardness results. In particular, our reduction to Clustered Level Planarity generates instances with only two nontrivial clusters. This answers a question posed by Angelini, Da Lozzo, Di Battista, Frati, and Roselli [2015]. We settle the complexity of the Bi-Monotonicity problem, which was proposed by Fulek, Pelsmajer, Schaefer, and Stefankovic [2013]. We also present a reduction to Manhattan Geodesic Planarity, showing that a previously [2009] claimed polynomial time algorithm is incorrect unless P=NP. (2) Two-page book embeddings of triconnected planar graphs: We show that every triconnected planar graph of maximum degree five is a subgraph of a Hamiltonian planar graph or, equivalently, it admits a two-page book embedding. In fact, our result is more general: we only require vertices of separating 3-cycles to have degree at most five, all other vertices may have arbitrary degree. This degree bound is tight: we describe a family of triconnected planar graphs that cannot be realized on two pages and where every vertex of a separating 3-cycle has degree at most six. Our results strengthen earlier work by Heath [1995] and by Bauernöppel [1987] and, independently, Bekos, Gronemann, and Raftopoulou [2016], who showed that planar graphs of maximum degree three and four, respectively, can always be realized on two pages. The proof is constructive and yields a quadratic time algorithm to realize the given graph on two pages. (3) Convexity-increasing morphs: We study the problem of convexifying drawings of planar graphs. Given any planar straight-line drawing of an internally 3-connected graph, we show how to morph the drawing to one with strictly convex faces while maintaining planarity at all times. Our morph is convexity-increasing, meaning that once an angle is convex, it remains convex. We give an efficient algorithm that constructs such a morph as a composition of a linear number of steps where each step either moves vertices along horizontal lines or moves vertices along vertical lines. Moreover, we show that a linear number of steps is worst-case optimal.Diese Arbeit behandelt drei unterschiedliche Problemstellungen aus der Disziplin des Graphenzeichnens (Graph Drawing). Bei jedem der behandelten Probleme ist die gesuchte Darstellung planar. (1) Ordered Level Planarity: Wir führen das Problem Ordered Level Planarity ein, bei dem es darum geht, einen Graph so zu zeichnen, dass jeder Knoten an einer vorgegebenen Position der Ebene platziert wird und die Kanten als y-monotone Kurven dargestellt werden. Dies kann als eine Variante von Level Planarity interpretiert werden, bei der die Knoten jedes Levels in einer vorgeschriebenen Reihenfolge platziert werden müssen. Wir klassifizieren die Eingaben bezüglich ihrer Komplexität in Abhängigkeit von sowohl dem Maximalgrad, als auch der maximalen Anzahl von Knoten, die demselben Level zugeordnet sind. Wir motivieren die Ergebnisse, indem wir Verbindungen zu einigen anderen Graph Drawing Problemen herleiten: Mittels Reduktionen von Ordered Level Planarity zeigen wir die NP-Schwere einiger Probleme, deren Komplexität bislang offen war. Insbesondere wird gezeigt, dass Clustered Level Planarity bereits für Instanzen mit zwei nichttrivialen Clustern NP-schwer ist, was eine Frage von Angelini, Da Lozzo, Di Battista, Frati und Roselli [2015] beantwortet. Wir zeigen die NP-Schwere des Bi-Monotonicity Problems und beantworten damit eine Frage von Fulek, Pelsmajer, Schaefer und Stefankovic [2013]. Außerdem wird eine Reduktion zu Manhattan Geodesic Planarity angegeben. Dies zeigt, dass ein bestehender [2009] Polynomialzeitalgorithmus für dieses Problem inkorrekt ist, es sei denn, dass P=NP ist. (2) Bucheinbettungen von dreifach zusammenhängenden planaren Graphen mit zwei Seiten: Wir zeigen, dass jeder dreifach zusammenhängende planare Graph mit Maximalgrad 5 Teilgraph eines Hamiltonischen planaren Graphen ist. Dies ist äquivalent dazu, dass ein solcher Graph eine Bucheinbettung auf zwei Seiten hat. Der Beweis ist konstruktiv und zeigt in der Tat sogar, dass es für die Realisierbarkeit nur notwendig ist, den Grad von Knoten separierender 3-Kreise zu beschränken - die übrigen Knoten können beliebig hohe Grade aufweisen. Dieses Ergebnis ist bestmöglich: Wenn die Gradschranke auf 6 abgeschwächt wird, gibt es Gegenbeispiele. Diese Ergebnisse verbessern Resultate von Heath [1995] und von Bauernöppel [1987] und, unabhängig davon, Bekos, Gronemann und Raftopoulou [2016], die gezeigt haben, dass planare Graphen mit Maximalgrad 3 beziehungsweise 4 auf zwei Seiten realisiert werden können. (3) Konvexitätssteigernde Deformationen: Wir zeigen, dass jede planare geradlinige Zeichnung eines intern dreifach zusammenhängenden planaren Graphen stetig zu einer solchen deformiert werden kann, in der jede Fläche ein konvexes Polygon ist. Dabei erhält die Deformation die Planarität und ist konvexitätssteigernd - sobald ein Winkel konvex ist, bleibt er konvex. Wir geben einen effizienten Algorithmus an, der eine solche Deformation berechnet, die aus einer asymptotisch optimalen Anzahl von Schritten besteht. In jedem Schritt bewegen sich entweder alle Knoten entlang horizontaler oder entlang vertikaler Geraden