Network Visualization with Vizaj

Once the input data are uploaded, the network is immediately shown in a 3D environment. Nodes are made up of spheres and each link is generated as a curve between its endpoints. By default, the nodes and their links are dynamically highlighted when hit by the cursor. Labels also pop out if given as input. To ensure an efficient visualization, networks are initially filtered so as to keep a small percentage the strongest links via the ECO criterion [12].

The user can then tune the parameters in the GUI to obtain alternative network visualizations. Several levels of customization are provided including the network density, the geometry, radius and color of the links/nodes and of the background. In order to improve the visual perspective, 3D items can be added to the scene, such as a brain (default), a sphere or a cube. They can be moved, rotated and scaled using a mesh helper in the GUI. In addition, information about the number of links for each node can be visually shown as cylinder along the U M axis whose height is proportional to the node degree.