https://github.com/thomasp85/fawkes
An R Interface to the AxiDraw plotter
https://github.com/thomasp85/fawkes
axidraw-plotter graphics pen-plotter rstats
Last synced: about 1 year ago
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An R Interface to the AxiDraw plotter
- Host: GitHub
- URL: https://github.com/thomasp85/fawkes
- Owner: thomasp85
- License: other
- Created: 2019-10-04T11:58:43.000Z (over 6 years ago)
- Default Branch: master
- Last Pushed: 2023-12-11T12:58:41.000Z (over 2 years ago)
- Last Synced: 2025-03-18T10:12:32.185Z (about 1 year ago)
- Topics: axidraw-plotter, graphics, pen-plotter, rstats
- Language: R
- Homepage: https://fawkes.data-imaginist.com
- Size: 1.98 MB
- Stars: 26
- Watchers: 4
- Forks: 2
- Open Issues: 2
-
Metadata Files:
- Readme: README.Rmd
- License: LICENSE
- Code of conduct: CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md
Awesome Lists containing this project
README
---
output: github_document
---
```{r, include = FALSE}
knitr::opts_chunk$set(
collapse = TRUE,
comment = "#>",
fig.path = "man/figures/README-",
out.width = "100%"
)
```
# fawkes 
[](https://github.com/thomasp85/fawkes/actions)
[](https://www.tidyverse.org/lifecycle/#maturing)
This package provides an R API to control the [AxiDraw pen plotter](https://axidraw.com).
Under the hood it interfaces with the [AxiDraw Python API](https://axidraw.com/doc/py_api/)
and provides more or less the same possibilities. More interesting, though, is
that it also provides integration with the standard R plotting system through
a graphic device (`axi_dev()`) that translates plotting instructions from e.g.
base and grid graphics to plotter movement.
## Installation
fawkes is pretty niche by its very nature and it is unlikely that it will be
submitted to CRAN. This should not be conflated with it not being ready for use.
The current version can be installed directly from github using devtools:
```{r install, eval=FALSE}
# install.packages('devtools')
devtools::install_github('thomasp85/fawkes')
```
## Examples
It is difficult to showcase the use of a piece of software meant to communicate
with a pen plotter virtually. `axi_svg()` provides access to the svg plotting
capabilities build into the python API, and `axi_manual()` wraps the interactive
mode. More interesting from R is the `axi_dev()` that opens up a graphic device
that sends instructions to the plotter. The device comes with a lot of batteries
included and will e.g. ensure stroking of the requested width by drawing
multiple offsetted lines, draw fill with hatching, ask for pen change when the
colour changes, and optimise the travel path to improve plotting speed. All of
this is impossible to show directly, but fawkes also provides `ghost_dev()` that
uses the exact same routines as `axi_dev()` but collects the instructions and
lets you preview them.
```{r}
library(fawkes)
library(ggplot2)
p <- ggplot(mtcars) +
geom_point(aes(disp, mpg)) +
facet_wrap(~ gear) +
theme_bw(base_size = 6) +
theme(
plot.background = element_blank(),
panel.background = element_blank()
)
gd <- ghost_dev('A6', portrait = FALSE, margins = 5, ignore_color = TRUE)
p
invisible(dev.off())
gd$preview()
```
It is also possible to see the movement when the pen is raised
```{r}
gd$preview(plot_air = TRUE)
```
This makes it easy to quickly assess the efficacy of the automatic path
optimisation:
```{r}
gd <- ghost_dev('A6', portrait = FALSE, margins = 5, ignore_color = TRUE,
optimize_order = 'none')
p
invisible(dev.off())
gd$preview(plot_air = TRUE)
```
## Limitations
As can be seen from the plots above, there is currently no text support in
fawkes. This shortcoming is likely to change as I improve the text and font
support in R in general. Further, there is no way to plot raster images, a
limitation that is pretty much guarantied with a pen plotter.
## Code of Conduct
Please note that the 'fawkes' project is released with a
[Contributor Code of Conduct](CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md).
By contributing to this project, you agree to abide by its terms.