Winter Ayars wrote:
> I need to create a small program that generates images and "animations"
> (i can cheat on the animation) of Petri nets. Something like the
> wikipedia page's (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petri_net) examples, but
> automatically generated based on simple input.
>
> I'm thinking about doing this in Ruby (with Gnome 2) but don't know what
> image generation/manipulation tool would be best to use or if i should
> go with something else. Does someone have a suggestion? Ideally
> something with some good documentation. It doesn't have to be
> sophisticated, just enough to algorithmically generate pictures. I'm
> planning on using Gnome 2 as well, if this makes a difference.
>
> Thanks in advance!
>   
Look at Graphviz. It may do exactly what you want, at least if you 
aren't too picky about layout and graphic conventions.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graphviz

http://graphviz.org/