nplot: Plot a network

In netplot: Beautiful Graph Drawing

Plot a network

Description

nplot() is the main function of the netplot package. It draws a network using the grid graphics system (the same engine that powers ggplot2), emphasizing aesthetics and providing sensible defaults that yield out-of-the-box nice visualizations. Compared with base igraph/network plots, nplot() auto-scales vertices and edges relative to the plotting device, draws truly curved edges, mixes edge colors from their endpoints, and fills the device efficiently.

Usage

nplot(
  x,
  layout,
  vertex.size = 1,
  bg.col = "transparent",
  vertex.nsides = 10,
  vertex.color = grDevices::hcl.colors(1),
  vertex.size.range = c(0.01, 0.03, 4),
  vertex.frame.color = NULL,
  vertex.rot = 0,
  vertex.frame.prop = 0.2,
  vertex.label = NULL,
  vertex.label.fontsize = NULL,
  vertex.label.color = adjustcolor("black", alpha.f = 0.8),
  vertex.label.fontfamily = "sans",
  vertex.label.fontface = "plain",
  vertex.label.show = 0.3,
  vertex.label.range = c(5, 15),
  edge.width = 1,
  edge.width.range = c(1, 2),
  edge.arrow.size = NULL,
  edge.color = ~ego(alpha = 0.1, col = "gray") + alter,
  edge.curvature = pi/3,
  edge.line.lty = "solid",
  edge.line.breaks = 5,
  sample.edges = 1,
  skip.vertex = FALSE,
  skip.edges = FALSE,
  skip.arrows = skip.edges,
  add = FALSE,
  zero.margins = TRUE,
  edgelist
)

## S3 method for class 'igraph'
nplot(
  x,
  layout = igraph::layout_nicely(x),
  vertex.size = igraph::degree(x, mode = "in"),
  bg.col = "transparent",
  vertex.nsides = 10,
  vertex.color = grDevices::hcl.colors(1),
  vertex.size.range = c(0.01, 0.03, 4),
  vertex.frame.color = NULL,
  vertex.rot = 0,
  vertex.frame.prop = 0.2,
  vertex.label = igraph::vertex_attr(x, "name"),
  vertex.label.fontsize = NULL,
  vertex.label.color = adjustcolor("black", alpha.f = 0.8),
  vertex.label.fontfamily = "sans",
  vertex.label.fontface = "plain",
  vertex.label.show = 0.3,
  vertex.label.range = c(5, 15),
  edge.width = igraph::edge_attr(x, "weight"),
  edge.width.range = c(1, 2),
  edge.arrow.size = NULL,
  edge.color = ~ego(alpha = 0.1, col = "gray") + alter,
  edge.curvature = pi/3,
  edge.line.lty = "solid",
  edge.line.breaks = 5,
  sample.edges = 1,
  skip.vertex = FALSE,
  skip.edges = FALSE,
  skip.arrows = !igraph::is_directed(x),
  add = FALSE,
  zero.margins = TRUE,
  edgelist
)

## S3 method for class 'network'
nplot(
  x,
  layout = sna::gplot.layout.kamadakawai(x, NULL),
  vertex.size = sna::degree(x, cmode = "indegree"),
  bg.col = "transparent",
  vertex.nsides = 10,
  vertex.color = grDevices::hcl.colors(1),
  vertex.size.range = c(0.01, 0.03, 4),
  vertex.frame.color = NULL,
  vertex.rot = 0,
  vertex.frame.prop = 0.2,
  vertex.label = network::get.vertex.attribute(x, "vertex.names"),
  vertex.label.fontsize = NULL,
  vertex.label.color = adjustcolor("black", alpha.f = 0.8),
  vertex.label.fontfamily = "sans",
  vertex.label.fontface = "plain",
  vertex.label.show = 0.3,
  vertex.label.range = c(5, 15),
  edge.width = network::get.edge.attribute(x, "weight"),
  edge.width.range = c(1, 2),
  edge.arrow.size = NULL,
  edge.color = ~ego(alpha = 0.1, col = "gray") + alter,
  edge.curvature = pi/3,
  edge.line.lty = "solid",
  edge.line.breaks = 5,
  sample.edges = 1,
  skip.vertex = FALSE,
  skip.edges = FALSE,
  skip.arrows = !network::is.directed(x),
  add = FALSE,
  zero.margins = TRUE,
  edgelist
)

## S3 method for class 'matrix'
nplot(
  x,
  layout,
  vertex.size = 1,
  bg.col = "transparent",
  vertex.nsides = 10,
  vertex.color = grDevices::hcl.colors(1),
  vertex.size.range = c(0.01, 0.03, 4),
  vertex.frame.color = NULL,
  vertex.rot = 0,
  vertex.frame.prop = 0.2,
  vertex.label = NULL,
  vertex.label.fontsize = NULL,
  vertex.label.color = adjustcolor("black", alpha.f = 0.8),
  vertex.label.fontfamily = "sans",
  vertex.label.fontface = "plain",
  vertex.label.show = 0.3,
  vertex.label.range = c(5, 15),
  edge.width = 1,
  edge.width.range = c(1, 2),
  edge.arrow.size = NULL,
  edge.color = ~ego(alpha = 0.1, col = "gray") + alter,
  edge.curvature = pi/3,
  edge.line.lty = "solid",
  edge.line.breaks = 5,
  sample.edges = 1,
  skip.vertex = FALSE,
  skip.edges = FALSE,
  skip.arrows = skip.edges,
  add = FALSE,
  zero.margins = TRUE,
  edgelist
)

## Default S3 method:
nplot(
  x,
  layout,
  vertex.size = 1,
  bg.col = "transparent",
  vertex.nsides = 10,
  vertex.color = grDevices::hcl.colors(1),
  vertex.size.range = c(0.01, 0.03, 4),
  vertex.frame.color = NULL,
  vertex.rot = 0,
  vertex.frame.prop = 0.2,
  vertex.label = NULL,
  vertex.label.fontsize = NULL,
  vertex.label.color = adjustcolor("black", alpha.f = 0.8),
  vertex.label.fontfamily = "sans",
  vertex.label.fontface = "plain",
  vertex.label.show = 0.3,
  vertex.label.range = c(5, 15),
  edge.width = 1,
  edge.width.range = c(1, 2),
  edge.arrow.size = NULL,
  edge.color = ~ego(alpha = 0.1, col = "gray") + alter,
  edge.curvature = pi/3,
  edge.line.lty = "solid",
  edge.line.breaks = 5,
  sample.edges = 1,
  skip.vertex = FALSE,
  skip.edges = FALSE,
  skip.arrows = skip.edges,
  add = FALSE,
  zero.margins = TRUE,
  ...,
  edgelist
)

## S3 method for class 'netplot'
print(x, y = NULL, newpage = TRUE, legend = TRUE, ...)

Arguments

x	A graph. It supports networks stored as igraph, network, and matrices objects (see details).
layout	Numeric two-column matrix with the graph layout in x/y positions of the vertices.
vertex.size	Numeric vector of length vcount(x). Absolute size of the vertex from 0 to 1. Can also be a one-sided formula (e.g. ~ degree) naming a numeric vertex attribute to map sizes from (see "Mapping attributes with formulas").
bg.col	Color of the background.
vertex.nsides	Numeric vector of length vcount(x). Number of sides of the vertex. E.g. three is a triangle, and 100 approximates a circle. Can also be a one-sided formula (e.g. ~ group) naming a vertex attribute; each unique value is then mapped to a distinct shape (see "Mapping attributes with formulas").
vertex.color	Vector of length vcount(x). Vertex HEX or built in colors. Can also be a one-sided formula (e.g. ~ group) naming a vertex attribute to color vertices by (see "Mapping attributes with formulas").
vertex.size.range	Numeric vector of length 2 or 3, or NULL. Relative size for the minimum and maximum of the plot, and curvature of the scale. The third number is used as size^rel[3]. If NULL, scaling is suppressed and vertex.size is used as is.
vertex.frame.color	Vector of length vcount(x). Border of vertex in HEX or built in colors.
vertex.rot	Vector of length vcount(x) in Radians. Passed to npolygon, elevation degree from which the polygon is drawn.
vertex.frame.prop	Vector of length vcount(x). What proportion of the vertex does the frame occupy (values between 0 and 1).
vertex.label	Character vector of length vcount(x). Labels.
vertex.label.fontsize	Numeric vector.
vertex.label.color	Vector of colors of length vcount(x).
vertex.label.fontfamily	Character vector of length vcount(x).
vertex.label.fontface	See grid::gpar
vertex.label.show	Numeric scalar. Proportion of labels to show as the top ranking according to vertex.size.
vertex.label.range	Numeric vector of size 2 or 3. Relative scale of vertex.label.fontsize in points (see grid::gpar).
edge.width	Numeric vector of length ecount(x). Relative edge widths. Values are normalized and then mapped to the range specified by edge.width.range, unless edge.width.range is NULL. For nplot.igraph and nplot.network, defaults to the "weight" edge attribute if present; otherwise all edges use width 1. Can also be a one-sided formula (e.g. ~ weight) naming a numeric edge attribute (see "Mapping attributes with formulas").
edge.width.range	Numeric vector of length 2, or NULL. The minimum and maximum line widths (in points) to use when mapping edge.width values. For example, c(1, 4) maps the smallest edge weight to 1pt and the largest to 4pt. If NULL, scaling is suppressed and edge.width is used as is.
edge.arrow.size	Vector of length ecount(x) from 0 to 1.
edge.color	A vector of length ecount(x). In HEX or built in colors. Can be NULL in which case the color is picked as a mixture between ego and alters' vertex.color values.
edge.curvature	Numeric vector of length ecount(x). Curvature of edges in terms of radians.
edge.line.lty	Vector of length ecount(x). Line types in R (e.g.- 1 = Solid, 2 = Dashed, etc).
edge.line.breaks	Vector of length ecount(x). Number of vertices to draw (approximate) the arc (edge).
sample.edges	Numeric scalar between 0 and 1. Proportion of edges to sample.
skip.vertex, skip.edges, skip.arrows	Logical scalar. When TRUE the object is not plotted.
add	Logical scalar.
zero.margins	Logical scalar.
edgelist	An edgelist.
y, ...	Ignored
newpage	Logical scalar. When TRUE calls grid::grid.newpage.
legend	Logical scalar. When TRUE it adds a legend.

Details

Vertex and edge aesthetics can be set directly (passing a vector) or, conveniently, mapped from graph attributes using a formula interface (see the "Mapping attributes with formulas" section below). The returned object is a grid grob, so it can be further edited with set_vertex_gpar() / set_edge_gpar(), combined with other grid graphics (e.g. via gridExtra::grid.arrange()), or annotated with a legend through nplot_legend().

When x is of class matrix, it will be passed to igraph::graph_from_adjacency_matrix().

Value

An object of class c("netplot", "gTree", "grob", "gDesc"). The object has an additional set of attributes:

• ⁠.xlim, .ylim⁠ vector of size two with the x-asis/y-axis limits.

• .layout A numeric matrix of size vcount(x) * 2 with the vertices positions

• .edgelist A numeric matrix, The edgelist.

In the case of nplot.default, an object of class netplot and grob (see grid::grob) with the following slots:

• children The main grob of the object.

• name Character scalar. The name of the plot

• .xlim and .ylim Two vectors indicating the limits of the plot

• .layout A two-column matrix with the location of the vertices.

• .edgelist A two-column matrix, an edgelist.

• .N Integer. The number of vertices.

• .M Integer. The number of edges.

The children grob contains the following two objects:

• background a grob rectangule.

• graph a gTree that contains each vertex and each edge of the figure.

Mapping attributes with formulas

Several aesthetics can be mapped directly from graph attributes by passing a one-sided formula naming the attribute, instead of building the vector by hand. The mapping depends on the aesthetic:

• vertex.color = ~ attr colors vertices by the vertex attribute attr. Character/factor attributes are mapped to a categorical palette, numeric attributes to a continuous gradient, and logical attributes to two colors. When used this way, print()-ing the resulting plot also draws a matching legend: a categorical key for discrete attributes and a continuous color bar for continuous ones.

• vertex.nsides = ~ attr maps each unique value of attr to a distinct vertex shape (triangle, square, pentagon, ...).

• vertex.size = ~ attr and edge.width = ~ attr scale sizes/widths from a numeric vertex/edge attribute.

• edge.color uses a different, richer formula grammar based on ego() and alter() to mix the endpoints' colors; see netplot-formulae.

For vertex.nsides, vertex.size, and edge.width the right-hand side of the formula is evaluated with the graph's attributes in scope, so besides bare names you can use expressions, e.g. edge.width = ~ log1p(weight) or vertex.size = ~ degree ^ 2.

For example, nplot(x, vertex.color = ~ gender, vertex.size = ~ degree) colors vertices by the gender attribute and sizes them by degree. The same attribute-mapping formulas also work in set_vertex_gpar().

See Also

nplot_base

Examples

library(igraph)
library(netplot)
set.seed(1)
x <- sample_smallworld(1, 200, 5, 0.03)

plot(x) # ala igraph
nplot(x) # ala netplot

# Mapping aesthetics from vertex attributes using formulas
V(x)$grp <- sample(letters[1:3], vcount(x), replace = TRUE)
V(x)$deg <- degree(x)
nplot(
  x,
  vertex.color  = ~ grp, # color by the categorical attribute
  vertex.nsides = ~ grp, # and give each group a distinct shape
  vertex.size   = ~ deg  # size by a numeric attribute
)

netplot documentation built on July 23, 2026, 5:13 p.m.