VennDIS: a JavaFX-based Venn and Euler diagram software to generate publication quality figures.

Abstract

Venn diagrams are graphical representations of the relationships among multiple sets of objects and are often used to illustrate similarities and differences among genomic and proteomic datasets. All currently existing tools for producing Venn diagrams evince one of two traits; they require expertise in specific statistical software packages (such as R), or lack the flexibility required to produce publication-quality figures. We describe a simple tool that addresses both shortcomings, Venn Diagram Interactive Software (VennDIS), a JavaFX-based solution for producing highly customizable, publication-quality Venn, and Euler diagrams of up to five sets. The strengths of VennDIS are its simple graphical user interface and its large array of customization options, including the ability to modify attributes such as font, style and position of the labels, background color, size of the circle/ellipse, and outline color. It is platform independent and provides real-time visualization of figure modifications. The created figures can be saved as XML files for future modification or exported as high-resolution images for direct use in publications.