I have a bubble chart in D3 and I'm using it to show how many bubbles there are per group. This version has about 500 bubbles to start with and my full version has about 3,000.
I am struggling along two dimension. I'm trying to get the bubbles to stay put when they're not transitioning between states and I'm also trying to get the bubbles to create a rectangular shape.
This is a demo of the bubble chart. I'll add the code and then go through what I've tried.
This is the code for my bubbles.
// Initial time and quarter
let time_so_far = 0;
let quarter = 0;
const tick_time = 100
// Forces
const radius = 1.5
const padding1 = 10;
const padding2 = 2;
const strength = 50
const veloc_decay = .99
const alpha = .05
const alpha_decay = 0
const alpha_min = 0.001
const alpha_Collision = .08;
const charge_strength = -.5
const charge_theta = .9
// Load data
Promise.all([
d3.tsv("stages.tsv", d3.autoType),
d3.tsv("customers.tsv", d3.autoType),
])
// Once data is loaded...
.then(function(files){
// Prepare the data...
const stage_data = files[0]
const customer_data = files[1]
// Consolidate stages by id.
stage_data.forEach(d => {
if (d3.keys(stakeholders).includes(d.id+"")) {
stakeholders[d.id+""].push(d);
} else {
stakeholders[d.id+""] = [d];
}
});
// Consolidate customers by week.
customer_data.forEach(d => {
if (d3.keys(customers).includes(d.week+"")) {
customers[d.week+""].push(d);
} else {
customers[d.week+""] = [d];
}
});
// Create node data.
var nodes = d3.keys(stakeholders).map(function(d) {
// Initialize count for each group.
groups[stakeholders[d][0].stage].cnt += 1;
return {
id: "node"+d,
x: groups[stakeholders[d][0].stage].x + Math.random(),
y: groups[stakeholders[d][0].stage].y + Math.random(),
r: radius,
color: groups[stakeholders[d][0].stage].color,
group: stakeholders[d][0].stage,
timeleft: stakeholders[d][0].weeks,
istage: 0,
stages: stakeholders[d]
}
});
// Circle for each node.
const circle = svg.append("g")
.selectAll("circle")
.data(nodes)
.join("circle")
.attr("cx", d => d.x)
.attr("cy", d => d.y)
.attr("fill", d => d.color)
.attr("r", d => d.r);
// Forces
const simulation = d3.forceSimulation(nodes)
// .force("bounds", boxingForce)
.force("x", d => d3.forceX(d.x))
.force("y", d => d3.forceY(d.y))
.force("cluster", forceCluster())
.force("collide", forceCollide())
.force("charge", d3.forceManyBody().strength(charge_strength).theta(charge_theta))
// .force('center', d3.forceCenter(center_x, center_y))
.alpha(alpha)
.alphaDecay(alpha_decay)
.alphaMin(alpha_min)
.velocityDecay(veloc_decay)
// Adjust position of circles.
simulation.on("tick", () => {
circle
.attr("cx", d => Math.max(r, Math.min(500 - r, d.x)))
.attr("cy", d => Math.max(r, Math.min(500 - r, d.y)))
.attr("fill", d => groups[d.group].color);
});
// Force to increment nodes to groups.
function forceCluster() {
let nodes;
function force(alpha) {
const l = alpha * strength;
for (const d of nodes) {
d.vx -= (d.x - groups[d.group].x) * l;
d.vy -= (d.y - groups[d.group].y) * l;
}
}
force.initialize = _ => nodes = _;
return force;
}
// Force for collision detection.
function forceCollide() {
let nodes;
let maxRadius;
function force() {
const quadtree = d3.quadtree(nodes, d => d.x, d => d.y);
for (const d of nodes) {
const r = d.r + maxRadius;
const nx1 = d.x - r, ny1 = d.y - r;
const nx2 = d.x + r, ny2 = d.y + r;
quadtree.visit((q, x1, y1, x2, y2) => {
if (!q.length) do {
if (q.data !== d) {
const r = d.r + q.data.r + (d.group === q.data.group ? padding1 : padding2);
let x = d.x - q.data.x, y = d.y - q.data.y, l = Math.hypot(x, y);
if (l < r) {
l = (l - r) / l * alpha_Collision;
d.x -= x *= l, d.y -= y *= l;
q.data.x += x, q.data.y += y;
}
}
} while (q = q.next);
return x1 > nx2 || x2 < nx1 || y1 > ny2 || y2 < ny1;
});
}
}
force.initialize = _ => maxRadius = d3.max(nodes = _, d => d.r) + Math.max(padding1, padding2);
return force;
}
// Make time pass. Adjust node stage as necessary.
function timer() {
// Ticker...
nodes.forEach(function(o,i) {
o.timeleft -= 1;
if (o.timeleft == 0 && o.istage < o.stages.length-1) {
// Decrease counter for previous group.
groups[o.group].cnt -= 1;
// Update current node to new group.
o.istage += 1;
o.group = o.stages[o.istage].stage;
o.timeleft = o.stages[o.istage].weeks;
// Increment counter for new group.
groups[o.group].cnt += 1;
}
});
// Previous quarter
quarter = Math.floor(time_so_far / 12)
// Increment time.
time_so_far += 1;
// goes by week, timer updates every quarter
var current_quarter = Math.floor(time_so_far / 13) + 1
// stop on the last quarter
if(time_so_far == d3.keys(customers).length) { return }
d3.select("#timecount .cnt").text(quarters[current_quarter]);
// update counter
d3.selectAll(".counter")
.text(d => d.cnt)
// Define length of a tick
d3.timeout(timer, tick_time);
} // @end timer()
timer()
}); // end TSV
Right now, my bubbles are constantly moving. Even if I make the space for the bubbles really large and the padding really small, they keep moving.
I've tried to set .alphaDecay() to a value greater than 0 and it gets the bubbles to stop moving and they look quite good, but then they don't have energy to transition between states.
I'd like to set it so that the bubbles find their spot when the page loads and then they don't move, except to change from no interactions to portfolio to partner similar to the bubble chart here.
The other problem is that the bubbles congregate as circles. I'd like to get them to fill in the whole rectangular backdrop for each of the states.
Per Mike Bostock's comments, I added boundaries in the simulation.on function. It works to set boundaries on the whole space, but it doesn't apply the boundaries to each state individually, so they still end up clustering as circles.
I've also tried John Guerra's d3.forceBoundary but I run into the same problem.
How can I force the bubbles to stay in one position and only move when a transition in states occurs and how can I get the bubbles to congregate in rectangles on each state?
Edit: I tried to set alphaDecay > 0 so the bubbles would initialize and stop moving and then I added a new alpha value in the .on("tick", function, but that just let them keep energy.
The core of the problem is that I don't know how to apply force that lets them move across the viz from one state to another state, but doesn't cause them to jumble around.
My next try is going to be to create a different force for changing states than for getting created.
Edit2: I've got a solution going for the energy problem. It's a bit hacky.
I added o.statechange = 3 within the if loop inside nodes.forEach(function(o,i) { and I added o.statechange -= 1 right above the if loop. And then, in forceCluster I added
for (var i = 0, n = nodes.length, node, k = alpha * strength; i < n; ++i) {
node = nodes[i];
if(node.statechange <= 0) { continue }
node.vx -= (node.x - groups[node.group].x) * k;
node.vy -= (node.y - groups[node.group].y) * k;
}
This gives circles energy for three ticks if they need to make a move. Otherwise, they don't get any. (Last edit, this work-around worked for a small number of nodes but it fails as the number of nodes gets larger)
