I am trying to draw a finite-state automaton using the automata package in TikZ and am having trouble getting an edge to "clear" the other states (that is, not run into them). Having read this answer, I used bend for the edge from q1 to q8; while that edge "clears" q5 and q6, when I tried the same for the backedge from q7 to q2, it didn't work. I also tried in and out from this answer to no avail.
It seems any combination of bend, in, and out parameters that I try still causes that edge to run into q3 and q4. I know I'm missing something, but what? The documentation on the automata package is a bit thin in this regard.
Here's my current MWE:
\documentclass{article}
\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}
\usepackage{tikz}
\usetikzlibrary{automata,arrows,topaths}
\let\oldepsilon\epsilon
\renewcommand{\epsilon}{\varepsilon}
\begin{document}
\begin{tikzpicture}[>=stealth',node distance=1.5cm,semithick,auto]
\node (l) {$\cdots$};
\node[state] (q1) [right of=l] {$1$};
\node[state] (q2) [right of=q1] {$2$};
\node[state] (q3) [above right of=q2] {$3$};
\node[state] (q4) [right of=q3] {$4$};
\node[state] (q5) [below right of=q2] {$5$};
\node[state] (q6) [right of=q5] {$6$};
\node[state] (q7) [below right of=q4] {$7$};
\node[state] (q8) [right of=q7] {$8$};
\node (r) [right of=q8] {$\cdots$};
\path[->] (l) edge node {} (q1)
(q1) edge node {$\epsilon$} (q2)
edge [bend right=60] node[swap] {$\epsilon$} (q8)
(q2) edge node {$\epsilon$} (q3)
edge node {$\epsilon$} (q5)
(q3) edge node {a} (q4)
(q4) edge node {$\epsilon$} (q7)
(q5) edge node {b} (q6)
(q6) edge node {$\epsilon$} (q7)
(q7) edge node {$\epsilon$} (q8)
edge [in=90,out=90,above] node {$\epsilon$} (q2)
(q8) edge node {} (r);
\end{tikzpicture}
\end{document}
distance=2cm,to the edge options. – percusse Jan 21 '13 at 02:30looseness=1.5edge options will also work – hpesoj626 Jan 21 '13 at 02:34