8.1.17 Adding plot marks to a line plot

To emphasize the specific data points it is possible to add plot marks at each data point. Plot marks can be either

Simple shapes, (e.g. square, circle, cross, etc)
Arbitrary images loaded from a file
One of the built-in images

You access the plot mark through the "mark" instance variable in the plot, as in

 
 $lineplot->
mark->SetColor("red"
);

To choose between the different plot marks you call the PlotMark::SetType() method with the correct define to choose the plot type you want to use.

The simple shape type of plot marks are

MARK_SQUARE
MARK_UTRIANGLE
MARK_DTRIANGLE
MARK_DIAMOND
MARK_CIRCLE
MARK_FILLEDCIRCLE
MARK_CROSS
MARK_STAR
MARK_X
MARK_LEFTTRIANGLE
MARK_RIGHTTRIANGLE
MARK_FLASH

To specify an arbitrary image you use the special define

MARK_IMG

In this case you must also specify a image file name and an optional scaling constant. For example as in


  $lineplot->mark->
SetTYPE(
MARK_IMG,
"myimage.jpg",
1.5);

If you want to use one of the built-in images the following images are available. Please note that not all images are available in all possible colors. The available colors for each image is listed below.

The following shape (the first class) plot marks are available

MARK_SQUARE, A filled square
MARK_UTRIANGLE, A triangle pointed upwards
MARK_DTRIANGLE, A triangle pointed downwards
MARK_DIAMOND, A diamond
MARK_CIRCLE, A circle
MARK_FILLEDCIRCLE, A filled circle
MARK_CROSS, A cross
MARK_STAR, A star
MARK_X, An 'X'
MARK_FLASH, A "flash" shape
MARK_IMAGE, Use the image specified with the filename and scale as the second and third argument as the mark.

For the second class (built-in images) the following table list the different images as well as what color they are available in. For the built-in images you specify the color with the second argument.

Note that some of the images are available in different sizes. The reason is that even though you can scale them by the third argument there is a visual degradation to scale an image larger than it's original size since some pixels needs to be interpolated. Reducing the size with a scale < 1.0 gives much better visual apperance.

The scaling works with both GD 1 and GD 2 but with GD 2 the quality of the scaling is much better.

Built-in images and available colors:

Type	Description	Colors
MARK_IMG_PUSHPIN, MARK_IMG_SPUSHPIN	Push-pin image	'red','blue','green','pink','orange'
MARK_IMG_LPUSHPIN	A larger Push-pin image	'red','blue','green','pink','orange'
MARK_IMG_BALL, MARK_IMAGE_SBALL	A round 3D rendered ball	'bluegreen','cyan','darkgray','greengray', 'gray','graypurple','green','greenblue','lightblue', 'lightred','navy','orange','purple','red','yellow'
MARK_IMAGE_MBALL	A medium sized round 3D rendered ball	'blue','bluegreen','brown','cyan', 'darkgray','greengray','gray','green', 'greenblue','lightblue','lightred', 'purple','red','white','yellow'
MARK_IMAGE_LBALL	A large sized round 3D rendered ball	'blue','lightblue','brown','darkgreen', 'green','purple','red','gray','yellow','silver','gray'
MARK_IMAGE_SQUARE	A 3D rendered square	'bluegreen','blue','green', 'lightblue','orange','purple','red','yellow'
MARK_IMG_STAR	A 3D rendered star image	'bluegreen','lightblue','purple','blue','green','pink','red','yellow'
MARK_IMG_DIAMOND	A 3D rendered diamond	'lightblue','darkblue','gray', 'blue','pink','purple','red','yellow'
MARK_IMG_BEVEL	A 3D rendered bevel style round ring	'green','purple','orange','red','yellow'

Below we give two examples of images using these features.

Figure 27: Using an arbitrary image as plot mark [src]

Figure 28: Using the built-in images [src]

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