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symboldetails

Ploticus plotting procs that render data points use "symboldetails" specifications for controlling the shape, color, and other details of the data points.

Syntax: settings are separated from each other by space, but settings themselves contain no embedded whitespace. Also, the entire specification must be on one line.

Data points are either vector-based or "direct pixel" (2.33+). It is also possible to use a small PNG or JPEG image as the data point. Note: All changes made herein for 2.33 are back compatible - no changes should be necessary to existing applications.

Examples

An example symboldetails specification: shape=pixcircle style=solid color=blue

A script example that generates various data point symbols: symbols2

The first two rows show the new direct pixel data points, in solid and outline styles. These are available in ploticus 2.33+ when rendering on raster devices (GD and X11). The third row shows the vector-based data points that have always been available. Note that the new type is sharper and more uniform, while the old type offer more options including fill+outlined and spoke styles, and unlimited size.

Settings

shape=s

To get direct pixel data points s can be one of these shapes: pixcircle pixsquare pixdiamond pixtriangle pixdowntriangle.

To get vector-based data points s can be one of: circle square diamond triangle downtriangle pentagon lefttriangle righttriangle nicecircle. A triangle points up; a downtriangle points down, etc. A circle has 12 points; a nicecircle has 20.

We recommend using the pix* shapes for ongoing development. These give better-looking data points for typical applications, and fall back to the vector equivalents on non-raster output devices.

style=s

For direct pixel data points s may be either outline (the default), or solid (solid color). The color setting controls both the outline and fill colors.

For vector-based data points s may be one of: outline (the default), solid (solid color), fill+outline (solid color with an outline of a different color), or spokes (like the spokes of a wheel). The fill+outline style requires that fillcolor and linecolor also be set; otherwise data point color can be controlled using the color setting.

Note: fill and filled are equivalent to solid and can still be used as a style setting.

radius=r

where r is the radius of the symbol in inches or cm. Direct-pixel data points can be rendered in sizes from radius=0.01 to about radius=0.1. Vector-based data points can be rendered in any size.

color=color

The color to use for the symbol. This may be used for any style of data point except for fill+outlined (where separate fillcolor and linecolor settings are required).

fillcolor= color

The fill color for fill+outlined data points.

linecolor= color

The outline color for fill+outlined data points.

linewidth=linewidth

the linewidth to use for the lines in vector-based data points. See linedetails

imgfile=name

If specified, a PNG/GIF/JPEG image will be loaded and displayed as the data point symbol. name is the file name of an image. Note: If generating PNG/GIF/JPEG, the image type must be the same type as your resulting image; with SVG image type doesn't matter.

imgwidth=n
imgheight=n

The width and height of the imgfile image in image pixels, or the width and height you want the image to be displayed.

imgscale=sx[,sy]

scale factor to apply to the imgfile symbol. Discontinued in version 2.40... use imgwidth and imgheight instead.

Illustration of new direct pixel data points

pixpts

This illustrates the available shapes, sizes, and styles of the new direct pixel data points.