https://github.com/thebioengineer/camcorder
Record plots generated during an R session and replay as a gif!
https://github.com/thebioengineer/camcorder
Last synced: 7 months ago
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Record plots generated during an R session and replay as a gif!
- Host: GitHub
- URL: https://github.com/thebioengineer/camcorder
- Owner: thebioengineer
- License: other
- Created: 2020-08-05T15:21:17.000Z (over 5 years ago)
- Default Branch: main
- Last Pushed: 2024-01-12T16:07:06.000Z (almost 2 years ago)
- Last Synced: 2025-04-10T01:15:02.891Z (7 months ago)
- Language: R
- Homepage: https://thebioengineer.github.io/camcorder/
- Size: 44.8 MB
- Stars: 210
- Watchers: 4
- Forks: 7
- Open Issues: 9
-
Metadata Files:
- Readme: README.Rmd
- License: LICENSE
Awesome Lists containing this project
- awesome-ggplot2 - camcorder
README
---
output: github_document
---
```{r, echo = FALSE}
knitr::opts_chunk$set(
collapse = TRUE,
comment = "#>",
warning = FALSE,
message = FALSE
)
```
# camcorder 
[](https://app.codecov.io/gh/thebioengineer/camcorder?branch=main)
[](https://github.com/thebioengineer/camcorder/actions/workflows/R-CMD-check.yaml)
`{camcorder}` is an an R package to track and automatically save graphics generated with `{ggplot2}` that are created across one or multiple sessions with the eventual goal of creating a GIF showing all the plots saved sequentially during the design process.
After installation, the package enables you to:
- save a ggplot automatically every time you run `ggplot()` in any format with given specifications
- generate a GIF that showcases every step of the design process using those image files
- inspect the ggplot output directly with your specifications in the RStudio IDE—you'll get what you see[^f1]
[^f1]: In case you are saving to PDF, the file will automatically open in your default PDF viewer.
## Installation
Currently {camcorder} is only available on GitHub, and can be installed using the following command.
```{r install, eval=FALSE}
# install.packages("camcorder")
remotes::install_github("thebioengineer/camcorder")
```
## Goal End Product
The idea of tracking your plots as part of your development process and generating a making-of movie was popularized by two contributors to this project: Georgios Karamanis and Cédric Scherer. They have wowed the R community weekly with their "how its made" videos. Below are a few examples of the goal end products.
TidyTuesday 2020/28
by Cédric Scherer
TidyTuesday 2020/15
by Georgios Karamanis
## How To
To get started, load {camcorder} and initialize recording using the `gg_record()` function.
This function has several options, such as where to save the recordings, device to use to save the recordings, and the height/width of the image to create. By default it will save to a temporary directory so recordings will go away once the R session is closed.
```{r setup}
library(ggplot2)
library(camcorder)
gg_record(
dir = file.path(tempdir(), "recording100"), # where to save the recording
device = "png", # device to use to save images
width = 4, # width of saved image
height = 6, # height of saved image
units = "in", # units for width and height
dpi = 300 # dpi to use when saving image
)
```
Once the recorder is initialized, any ggplot that is made and printed will be automatically (or *automagically*[^f2]) recorded.
[^f2]: A previous typo but actually it fits quite well.
```{r plots-plots-plots, results = "hide"}
ggplot(mtcars, aes(x = mpg, y = hp)) +
geom_point()
ggplot(mtcars, aes(x = mpg, y = hp)) +
geom_point(aes(shape = as.factor(gear)))
ggplot(mtcars, aes(x = mpg, y = hp)) +
geom_point(aes(color = as.factor(gear)))
ggplot(mtcars, aes(x = mpg, y = hp)) +
geom_point(aes(color = as.factor(gear))) +
geom_path()
ggplot(mtcars, aes(x = mpg, y = hp)) +
geom_point(aes(color = disp)) +
geom_smooth()
ggplot(mtcars, aes(x = mpg, y = hp)) +
geom_smooth() +
geom_point(aes(color = disp))
ggplot(mtcars, aes(x = mpg, y = hp)) +
geom_smooth() +
geom_point(aes(color = disp)) +
scale_color_viridis_c() +
theme_light()
ggplot(mtcars, aes(x = mpg, y = hp)) +
geom_smooth() +
geom_point(aes(color = disp)) +
scale_color_viridis_c() +
theme_light() +
labs(
title = "MPG vs Horse Power!",
subtitle = "Power and economy, the classic compromise!"
)
ggplot(mtcars, aes(x = mpg, y = hp)) +
geom_smooth() +
geom_point(aes(color = disp)) +
scale_color_viridis_c() +
theme_light(base_family = "Roboto Mono") +
labs(
title = "MPG vs Horse Power!",
subtitle = "Power and economy, the classic compromise!"
)
ggplot(mtcars, aes(x = mpg, y = hp)) +
geom_smooth() +
geom_point(aes(color = disp)) +
scale_color_viridis_c() +
theme_light(base_family = "Roboto Mono") +
labs(
title = "MPG vs Horse Power!",
subtitle = "Power and economy, the classic compromise!",
x = "Efficiency (Miles/Gallon)",
y = "Power (Horsepower)",
color = "Displacement\n(Cubic Inch)"
)
```
If at any point, that you want to save your plots in a different format than what the recorder was initialized with this can be done through the `gg_resize_film()` function. This will set the size and dpi of all plots going forward.
```{r resize}
gg_resize_film(
height = 4,
width = 6,
units = "in",
dpi = 350
)
```
```{r plots-plots-plots-2, results = "hide"}
ggplot(mtcars, aes(x = mpg, y = hp)) +
geom_smooth() +
geom_point(aes(color = disp)) +
scale_color_viridis_c() +
theme_light(base_family = "Roboto Mono") +
labs(
title = "MPG vs Horse Power!",
subtitle = "Power and economy, the classic compromise!",
x = "Efficiency (Miles/Gallon)",
y = "Power (Horsepower)",
color = "Displacement\n(Cubic Inch)"
) +
theme(
plot.title.position = "plot",
plot.title = element_text(face = "bold")
)
ggplot(mtcars, aes(x = mpg, y = hp)) +
geom_smooth() +
geom_point(aes(color = disp)) +
scale_color_viridis_c() +
theme_light(base_family = "Roboto Mono") +
labs(
title = "MPG vs Horse Power!",
subtitle = "Power and economy, the classic compromise!",
x = "Efficiency (Miles/Gallon)",
y = "Power (Horsepower)",
color = "Displacement\n(Cubic Inch)"
) +
theme(
plot.title.position = "plot",
plot.title = element_text(face = "bold"),
panel.background = element_rect(colour = "turquoise", fill = "turquoise")
)
```
Finally, to generate the final GIF, use the `gg_playback()` function.
The user can define:
- where the final GIF gets saved by setting the `name` argument,
- duration of the first and last images with `first_image_duration` or `last_image_duration`
- delay between frames in seconds with `frame_duration`
```{r create-gif, eval=FALSE}
gg_playback(
name = file.path(tempdir(), "recording", "vignette_gif.gif"),
first_image_duration = 5,
last_image_duration = 15,
frame_duration = .4,
image_resize = 800
)
```
Once rendering is complete, a GIF is opened in your viewer.
