Why rendering happens in stages

Creating your TreeLine involves two distinct stages: arrangement and rendering.

Arrangement is the expensive part. TreeLine analyses your family structure, assigns positions, and optimises the layout. The result is a set of coordinates for every person — a layout version that is saved so it can be reused.

Rendering takes those coordinates and draws the actual chart: bars, connectors, labels, photos, annotations, and the final colour palette. Rendering is fast because the hard spatial work is already done.

This separation means that if you change the colour palette, paper size, or label style, TreeLine can re-render immediately using the saved layout — no re-arrangement needed. Only changes that affect who is visible or how relationships are structured (adding a person, changing a date, adjusting pruning) require a fresh arrangement.