5 Graph Description Language (GDL) - Absint

B in the message window (see p. 120). Next, the iterations for the crossing reduction can be
limited (-cmax option, cmax attribute) or another crossing weight selected (-bary option, etc.,
crossing_weight attribute). Normally, it is not necessary to switch off local crossing optimization,
because this step is quite fast and effective.
If the graph is very unbalanced, the pendulum method may require considerable time (indicated by
m in the message window). In this case, the number of iterations for the crossing reduction should
be limited (-pmax option, pmax attribute). If the straight-line fine-tuning phase takes too long
(indicated by S in the message window), its maximum iteration number should be limited (-smax
option, smax attribute).
Other parameters usually needn’t be changed, because the corresponding phases are quite fast.
Bending reduction in particular improves layout quality greatly and is so fast that the -bending
option is hardly needed.
Fast mode (-fast option) drastically reduces all iteration limits and may result in poor layout
quality.
The drawing of splines is slow, consequently it should be avoided on large graphs.
It is also possible to set a time limit (-timelimit option). If the time limit is exceeded, the
fastest possible mode for the current and the following iteration phases is selected. Selecting a
time limit does not mean that the layout has actually finished when the time has elapsed: Layout
may be faster if the graph is small and/or its structure is simple. It may be much slower, because
even the fastest possible methods may take some time. The time limit is real time, thus the result
of the layout may depend on the load of the computer. Thus, given a time limit, two identical trials
needn’t result in identical layouts.
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