Aligning paths in tikz

Question

i have made the following transition diagram

There are a few thinks i would like to do, on node 1,2,3 i would like the inner arrows to have no overlab, i looks silly, also if node 1 and 5 could be aligned, doesn't matter if 5 is moved down or 1 is moved up. I am still pretty new at tikz, but hope one of you kan help. Code below.

Thanks!

Steffen

\documentclass[a4paper,oneside,article]{memoir}
\usepackage{tikz}
\usetikzlibrary{arrows}
\begin{document}
\begin{tikzpicture}[->,,>=stealth',shorten >=1pt,node distance=2cm,
thick,main node/.style={circle,draw,font=\sffamily\Large\bfseries}]

\node[main node] (1) {1};
\node[main node] (2) [below left of=1] {2};
\node[main node] (3) [below right of=1] {3};
\node[main node] (4) [right of=3] {4};
\node[main node] (5) [above of=4] {5};
\node[main node] (6) [right of=4] {6};

\path[every node/.style={font=\sffamily\small}]
(1) edge [bend right] node {} (2)
    edge [bend right] node {} (3)
    edge [loop above] node {} (1)
(2) edge [bend right] node {} (1)
    edge [bend left] node {} (3)
    edge [loop below] node {} (2)
(3) edge [bend right] node {} (1)
    edge [bend left] node {} (2)
    edge [loop below] node {} (3)
(4) edge [bend right] node {} (5)
    edge node {} (3)
    edge node {} (6)
    edge [loop below] node {} (4)
(5) edge [bend right] node {} (4)
    edge [loop above] node {} (5)
(6) edge [loop right] node {} (6)   
;
\end{tikzpicture}
\end{document}

Answer 1

Use arrows.meta instead of arrows (which is apparently deprecated anyway). The definition for stealth tip becomes >={stealth}.

In order for the arrows to avoid overlapping, edit the bend options by adding the degrees for the single arrows you want to affect. So for example bend right/left=15 works in this case.

Lastly, if you want to align two nodes on the x and the y axis, type \node (n) at (<node> -| <node>) {};, so in your case it becomes \node[main node] (5) at (1 -| 4) {5};.

Output

Code

\documentclass[margin=10pt]{standalone}
\usepackage{tikz}

\usetikzlibrary{arrows.meta}

\begin{document}
\begin{tikzpicture}[
    ->,
    >={Stealth[round]},
    shorten >=1pt,
    node distance=2cm,
    thick,
    main node/.style={circle,draw,font=\sffamily\Large\bfseries}]

\node[main node] (1) {1};
\node[main node] (2) [below left of=1] {2};
\node[main node] (3) [below right of=1] {3};
\node[main node] (4) [right of=3] {4};
\node[main node] (5) at (1 -| 4) {5};
\node[main node] (6) [right of=4] {6};

\path[every node/.style={font=\sffamily\small}]
(1) edge [bend right] node {} (2)
    edge [bend right=15] node {} (3)
    edge [loop above] node {} (1)
(2) edge [bend right=15] node {} (1)
    edge [bend left=15] node {} (3)
    edge [loop below] node {} (2)
(3) edge [bend right] node {} (1)
    edge [bend left] node {} (2)
    edge [loop below] node {} (3)
(4) edge [bend right] node {} (5)
    edge node {} (3)
    edge node {} (6)
    edge [loop below] node {} (4)
(5) edge [bend right] node {} (4)
    edge [loop above] node {} (5)
(6) edge [loop right] node {} (6);
\end{tikzpicture}
\end{document}