We have released version 5.8 of FlowChart.NET. It adds the following new features and improvements:

Node effects
Two new visual effects can be applied to nodes - Glass and Aero. In addition, the existing Emboss and Smooth Shadow effects are now applied to all node types, not just ShapeNode.

A new API is provided to facilitate effects usage. To apply an effect, create an instance of one of the effect classes, set up its properties, then add the instance to the Diagram.NodeEffects collection. Currently, there are four effect types available - EmbossEffect, SmoothShadowEffect, GlassEffect, and AeroEffect. Effects can be added, removed or modified at any time and this will immediately reflect on the diagram. Effects of different types can be applied simultaneously. It is also possible to apply more than one effect of the same type.

The old EnableEmbossEffects and EnableShadowEffects properties are reworked internally to use the new effect pipeline. Turning these properties on will automatically add an instance of the appropriate class to the NodeEffects collection. Therefore clearing the NodeEffects collection will turn these properties off if they were previously enabled. Keep in mind that the Diagram.EffectsProvider property is still required in order to enable the Emboss and Smooth Shadow effects.

Composite layout improvements
The CompositeLayout exposes several new properties. The UseAdditionalPartitioning property can be set to true in order to enable additional partitioning pass after the default partition. This is especially useful when the initial partitioning produces a graph with nodes with many leaf children.

SolarLayout tree layout algorithm
This variation of the fractal layout places child nodes around their parents, in such way, that the child nodes do not overlap. This algorithm takes into consideration the size of the nodes and tries to minimize the occupied space. The layout can optionally prevent links from crossing nodes by bending them.

Registered customers with an active upgrade subscription can download the licensed version from the clients area on our site.
    
A trial version is available for download here: 
https://www.mindfusion.eu/FCNetDemo.zip

Enjoy!