diff --git a/DESCRIPTION b/DESCRIPTION
index 78f4dd7..ff55fdc 100644
--- a/DESCRIPTION
+++ b/DESCRIPTION
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 Type: Package
 Package: Isinglandr
 Title: Landscape Construction and Simulation for Ising Networks
-Version: 0.1.1
+Version: 0.1.1.9000
 Authors@R: c(
     person("Jingmeng", "Cui", , "jingmeng.cui@outlook.com", role = c("aut", "cre"),
            comment = c(ORCID = "0000-0003-3421-8457")),
@@ -46,4 +46,4 @@ Suggests:
 Encoding: UTF-8
 LazyData: true
 Roxygen: list(markdown = TRUE)
-RoxygenNote: 7.2.2
+RoxygenNote: 7.3.0
diff --git a/NEWS.md b/NEWS.md
index 4b551e4..a3276f0 100644
--- a/NEWS.md
+++ b/NEWS.md
@@ -1,3 +1,8 @@
+# Development version
+
+- Bug-fix for `make_3d_Isingland()`:
+	- The function now allow character values for the `x` and `y`	arguments.
+
 # Isinglandr 0.1.1
 
 - Bug-fix for the Shiny app (`shiny_Isingland_MDD()`):
diff --git a/R/landscape.R b/R/landscape.R
index c57a246..a9e8354 100644
--- a/R/landscape.R
+++ b/R/landscape.R
@@ -190,7 +190,8 @@ plot.2d_Isingland_matrix <- function(x, ...) {
 #'
 #' @inheritParams make_2d_Isingland
 #' @param x,y Two vectors specifying the indices or the names of the
-#' nodes for two categories.
+#' nodes for two categories. If they are character vectors, the names
+#' should match the row names of the `thresholds` matrix.
 #'
 #' @seealso [make_2d_Isingland()] for the algorithm.
 #'
@@ -207,6 +208,15 @@ make_3d_Isingland <- function(thresholds, weiadj, x, y, beta = 1, transform = FA
   l_2d <- make_2d_Isingland(thresholds, weiadj, beta, transform)
   d <- l_2d$dist_raw
 
+  if (is.character(x)) {
+  	if (!all(x %in% row.names(thresholds))) stop("The names in x are not found in the row names of the thresholds matrix.")
+    x <- which(row.names(thresholds) %in% x)
+  }
+  if (is.character(y)) {
+  	if (!all(y %in% row.names(thresholds))) stop("The names in y are not found in the row names of the thresholds matrix.")
+    y <- which(row.names(thresholds) %in% y)
+  }
+
   ## summarize based on the number of symptoms in the groups x & y
   d_sum <- d %>%
     dplyr::rowwise() %>%
diff --git a/man/make_3d_Isingland.Rd b/man/make_3d_Isingland.Rd
index ecb6e2e..42bf939 100644
--- a/man/make_3d_Isingland.Rd
+++ b/man/make_3d_Isingland.Rd
@@ -13,7 +13,8 @@ of the Ising network. If you have an \code{IsingFit} object estimated using
 (\verb{<IsingFit>$thresholds} and \verb{<IsingFit>$weiadj}).}
 
 \item{x, y}{Two vectors specifying the indices or the names of the
-nodes for two categories.}
+nodes for two categories. If they are character vectors, the names
+should match the row names of the \code{thresholds} matrix.}
 
 \item{beta}{The \eqn{\beta} value for calculating the Hamiltonian.}