Network3: An R Package For Networks 3d Visualization Based On Forg3d

In the past decade, the studies of complex networks become rather hot. By the efforts of AL Barabasi, MEJ Newman, DJ Watts, et al., the physicists, biologists and sociologists have made extensive studies on the scale-free, small-world, assortative-mixing and modularity nature of the complex networks. As the causal or recursive relationship of the nature and human society configures a complex network, these new results have been highly concerned by the scientific communities. In the biological science, protein interaction networks, gene regulatory networks and signal transduction networks have been extensively studied. Complex networks'studies often need to visualize the relevant description of the network. This paper developed a library named Network3 which is based on the R language and can visualize the complex networks in a 3D fashion. By using this library, we can deal with the network data in R in the conduct of rather efficient 3D visualization. With invoking assist from the igraph library, Network3 can achieve the functions such as spanning tree construction, network communities'display and network renormalization and also support the layout of two-dimensional and three-dimensional mode. In this paper, we used the protein interaction network as an example, to show Network3's functions on the biological network analysis and visualization.