[patiobarbecue]

Dear there,

I frequently need to draw different kinds of Markov Chains for my work. For example:


However, it is not easy to consistently draw the arcs, especially those self-looping arcs. Any suggestions? Especially any ideas without programming?

Sincerely Yours,
Michael

I might prepare some single-point bezier links and some 16 magnet circles and keep them in a stencil document.



--

PS to prepare 16 magnet circles like the one above, you would need to adjust the start angle of the script (as below) so that there are two magnets at each cardinal direction.

property plngMagnets : 16
property prStartDegrees : 360 / 32

on run
	set lstMagnets to RadialMagnets(plngMagnets, prStartDegrees)
	tell application id "OGfl"
		tell front window
			repeat with oGraphic in (selection) as list
				if class of oGraphic = shape then set magnets of oGraphic to lstMagnets
			end repeat
		end tell
	end tell
end run

on RadialMagnets(lngN, rStartDegree)
	if lngN < 1 then return {}
	
	set lstMagnets to {}
	set rTheta to rStartDegree
	set rDelta to 360 / lngN
	
	repeat with i from 1 to lngN
		set end of lstMagnets to {sin(rTheta), -(cos(rTheta))}
		set rTheta to rTheta + rDelta
	end repeat
	return lstMagnets
end RadialMagnets


on sin(rDegrees)
	(do shell script "echo 'echo $((sin(" & (rDegrees / 180) * pi & ")))' | ksh") as number
end sin

on cos(rDegrees)
	(do shell script "echo 'echo $((cos(" & (rDegrees / 180) * pi & ")))' | ksh") as number
end cos

Updated the simple stencil to add links at multiples of 45º