Current Capabilities of GraphiC:
Since GraphiC is a library you need not limit yourself to the
'canned' plot types provided. With the lower level routines included you
can design new ways to display your data for maximum impact quite easily.
Following is a description of some of the major features included with
GraphiC.
GraphiC has the capability of generating many types of plots:
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linear x-y plots
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log-log plots
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linear contour plots
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3-D curves
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3-D surfaces
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3-D bars
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polar plots
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bar charts
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pie charts
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waterfall plots
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plume plots
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Smith charts
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error function plots
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polar contour plots
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wedge plots
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triangle contour plots
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error function plots
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statistical functions
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and more
Below are more detailed descriptions of some of the main features found
in GraphiC: Linear and log plots, Curves,
Vectors, Smoothing, Panel
filling, Contour plots, 3-D
Surfaces, Polar plots, Plume
plots, Bar charts, Pie charts,
Smith charts, Annotation,
Fonts, Cross hairs, Output
files, Post processing, Printers,
plotters, and video cards.
Linear and log plots
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All linear and log plots are self-scaling, but you may also specify your
own scales. Axis-crossing points may be specified by the user on linear
plots.
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log plots may be to any base and logarithmic axes need not start or end
on even decade values.
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An additional linear y axis, with a different scale may be positioned at
the right end of the x axis.
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axis labels may be oriented at any angle.
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String labels may be used.
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A windowing feature allows for cropping of a plot on a specified rectangular
boundary. A second plot may be drawn in this region. Scaling and positioning
of this second plot are automatic.
Curves
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Curves may be drawn in any of nine line types and in any of 232 different
colors.
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Thickening of any line may be specified. The beginning and end of a sequence
of continuous segments are square, and intermediate intersections are joined
smoothly.
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Markers may be placed every N datum points. Sixteen symbol types
are provided.
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Data may be represented by the points alone.
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x and/or y error bars may be inserted.
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A legend-box facility is provided for the style choices. The line styles
for the curves are automatically chosen from the sequence of styles in
the legend box.
Vectors
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Vectors may be drawn with several head styles on either or both ends.
Smoothing
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Facilities are included for cubic spline smoothing of either two dimensional
(2-D) or three dimensional (3-D) plots.
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An additional smoothing method using piece-wise linear regression is provided
for scattered data points.
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A data-smearing function is provided for smoothing jagged 2-D and 3-D plots.
Panel filling
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Fast panel filling is provided for figures with any number of sides and
holes up to the limit of computer memory. Filling may be done with solid
colors, 16 geometric patterns, 125 dithered patterns, or 248 RGB colors.
Contour plots
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Contour plots may be created from a matrix of points or from a function
which you define.
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The contour grid may have a resolution of up to 16k by 16k points.
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Contour plots may have every nth curve labeled.
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The line style and color may be specified for each level.
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The regions between two adjacent contours may be filled.
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Contour plots may be made from data scattered randomly in the x-y plane.
An interpolation algorithm along with cubic spline smoothing is used to
get values on a regularly spaced grid.
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Patch plots handle highly-discontinuous finctions.
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Polar contour plots<$Icontour plots;no labels on polar plots> can be
made with or without shaded contours.
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With provided macros you can flag missing data points which the contour
plotter will ignore.
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The (x,y) vectors may be retrieved for a given f(x, y).
3-D Surfaces
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3-D surfaces may be created from a matrix of points or from a function
which you define.
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The 3-D grid may have a resolution of up to 16k by 16k points.
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3-D surfaces have optional hidden line removal.
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Waterfall plots are supported.
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Either or both of the top and bottom sides of the surface may be shown.
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The two sides of the surface may be drawn in different colors.
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Mesh cells may be filled with any of the GraphiC pattern choices
with the pattern for each cell determined by the average height of the
cell, or the height may be filled at level contours.
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2-D plots may be superimposed on a 3-D plot. They may be positioned anywhere
in the x-y, x-z, or y-z
planes. With this facility, a contour plot can be displayed along with
the corresponding 3-D surface, or individual contours may be positioned
on the 3-D surface at the proper height.
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Vertical bars may be drawn in place of the wire-mesh pattern.
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Labels may be added at locations defined in user units.
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3-D surfaces may be made from data scattered randomly in the x-y
plane. An interpolation algorithm along with cubic spline smoothing is
used to obtain values on a regularly spaced grid.
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With provided macros, missing data points can be flagged. Grid points with
missing data are not used in the surface and a gap is created.
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Angled string labels for axes may be used.
Polar plots
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Polar plots have user-specified circular grid lines with string labels.
Labels are positioned below the zero-degree radial line.
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Radial line intervals are user controlled.
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Polar contour plots are available.
Plume plots
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Represent f(x, y) using scattered data points.
Bar charts
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Bar charts may have multiple sets of stacked bars or displaced bars.
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Bars may be filled with any of the standard fill patterns and colors.
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String labels may be used.
Pie charts
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Pie charts have automatically positioned legends.
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Individual slices may be filled with the standard selection of colors and
patterns, and they may be pulled out radially.
Smith charts
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The Smith chart is highly detailed. Provision is made for plotting impedance
points and reflection coefficients and for drawing lines at a constant
reflection coefficient.
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Data may be retrieved from the chart.
Annotation
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Plots can be annotated with the text in close-fitting protected regions.
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Text can be placed on the plot at a location specified in plot units, inches,
or pixel units.
Fonts
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A selection of high-resolution, proportionally spaced fonts is provided
including a large number of filled fonts.
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English fonts contain a full complement of European characters.
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As many as four fonts (user-controlled limit) can be active at any time
and can be intermixed as desired.
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You may control the height, character spacing and line spacing.
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Unlimited levels of super- and subscripts are supported, with a user-adjustable
size reduction and shift ratio.
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Plots containing only text are easily made.
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Letters may be widened, skewed, emboldened or colored.
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The filled fonts can be drawn with the filling option turned off to provide
outline fonts.
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PostScript fonts may be used on PostScript output devices.
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With the optional extension, GraphiC/PST, all of your Type I PostScript
and TrueType fonts may be used interchangeably with GraphiC fonts.
Cross hairs
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Cross hairs may be displayed and positioned with a mouse or the arrow keys.
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Any time after the axes are drawn, you may call curson() to display
the cross hairs on the screen. The current position is displayed in either
inches or in the units of your plot. You can then annotate the plot with
lines and labels in an interactive fashion.
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Values at selected points are saved in arrays which you can use for further
processing.
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The cross hairs can be used to follow a curve.
Pie charts
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Output is written to a disk file in extended 8192 X 6266 Tektronix 4105
format (TKF). It also may be viewed on the screen as it is being generated.
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TKF files can be converted to PostScript (levels 1 and 2), GEM, PIC, TIFF,
CGM, SCODL, HP-GL, and HP-GL2 file formats. Standard Tektronix 4014 and
4105 files can also be created. In addition, GraphiC can create
Windows metafiles and bitmaps.
Post processing
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While in the program that created it, a plot can be annotated with text
and lines.
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A program called PLAY.EXE allows replay of a TKF file at any later
time for zooming, printing and plotting.
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An insert mode allows a previously stored plot to be inserted in a window
of another plot.
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The zoom mode uses the cursor to select a region of the picture to be enlarged.
In a second mode, the cursor specifies a region into which the picture
is to be compressed.
Printers, plotters, and video cards
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In DOS GraphiC supports a wide range of video cards and printers.
Use this link to see a complete list of supported
devices.
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In Windows and OS/2 GraphiC uses the native video and printer drivers.
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