Dynamic connection line anchoring for canvas nodes and groups

Use case or problem

For me, oftentimes nodes/groups will be moved all over the canvas. However the nodes/groups that they are connected to may stay in one place, or not. So, it regularly occurs that the anchor that I originally chose to attach to, becomes a less than ideal choice, causing the connection line to overlap/interfere. I can remove the connection line and reattach it to a better anchor, but even this is a temporary solution.

Proposed solution

It would be nice if there were an option to have connection lines for nodes/groups be dynamic, automatically attaching to the nearest anchor.

Thanks!

8 Likes

Yep I agree this would be a nice improvement!

Draw.io has a nice solution for that. They give you the ability to either connect to a specific anchor (at which point there is no dynamic behaviour), or connect to the node itself (by dragging the connection line anywhere else on the node itself. If the second option is used, the anchor point becomes “shortest path” and is dynamic.

I hope we get to see a similar system put 8n place!

4 Likes

Great feature request!
For now you can also click on the connection line and simply drag one end to another connection point of your card - maybe this helps a little, in case you didn’t know that already :slight_smile:

1 Like

Why did you create this as two separate feature requests? What distinguishes them? I’m on the verge of merging the other one into here.

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I thought that maybe it was less realistic for it to be implemented for all nodes and thought maybe doing it for groups might be a starting point. Feel free to merge them. Thanks.

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Use case or problem

Sometimes I wish Obsidian could make and maintain the choice of node anchors with which the canvas connection lines are attached.

Proposed solution

It would be helpful in some cases to be able to turn on a dynamic anchor mode to let the nearest anchor always be used in order to make a connection between two canvas nodes.

Related feature requests (optional)

Related: Dynamic connection line anchoring for canvas groups

Thanks!

2 Likes

+1. I’ve been using the canvas feature to divergently/ spatially think through things. I end up updating a lot of arrows as things become clearer and as I prepare the canvas to share with others.

1 Like

Although I haven’t tried this and it appears to require a command to be run rather than dynamic adjustment, I wanted to link to this seemingly useful and relevant post: New plugin: Optimize Canvas Connections

I still would very much look forward to this functionality being a core option that occurs automatically.

Thanks.

2 Likes

Hi @I-d-as
Thanks for pushing my pluggin :slight_smile:
Like you, I would prefer Obsidian to provide some options for canvas, such as automatic connection line optimization. I made this plugin as a first step to try Obsidian canvas myself, to see if I would move to it (currently using Scapple that doesn’t have this problem). I would love to be able to use Obsidian canvas and this was one of some show stoppers for me. But they just started, I guess it will improve in the following months, and I hope my plugin will soon become obsolete.

3 Likes

Although groups are not mentioned, this is the same as Canvas- Auto-change connection points when connected items are moved