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ggsave() with width only

11 messages · Jeff Newmiller, Duncan Murdoch, Adam Wysokiński +1 more

Ivan Calandra
# 
Dear useRs,

I produce several independent ggplot2 plots and I would like to save 
them to a fixed width (for publications), but the height (and therefore 
aspect ratio) is different from plot to plot.

How can I save my plots with ggsave() supplying only a fixed width but 
without knowing the height nor the aspect ratio? If I specify the width 
only, the plots are truncated in width because the aspect ratio is not 
correct.

Thank you for the tip!
Ivan
Jeff Newmiller
# 
I use an rmarkdown file to generate consistent output figures and tables for html or Word. I just use Rnw files directly if I am generating LaTeX. I do not use R files for building output... and I never use ggsave. So you might consider altering your approach to bypass the question entirely.
On September 6, 2021 7:03:46 AM PDT, Ivan Calandra <calandra at rgzm.de> wrote:

  
    

      
      
    

  


  


      

    

    

      
      

        


  

        

      Ivan Calandra
    

    

      
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Thank you Jeff for your answer.

I do use rmarkdown but I do not write papers completely with it. I do 
output a report in HTML but I also like to export the plots as PDF so 
that I can edit them (using Inkscape or similar) if and as needed.
And because I like to have both the HTML report including plots and 
extra plots as PDF, I cannot use pdf(). That's why I use ggsave().

Or am I missing something?

Ivan

--
Dr. Ivan Calandra
Imaging lab
RGZM - MONREPOS Archaeological Research Centre
Schloss Monrepos
56567 Neuwied, Germany
+49 (0) 2631 9772-243
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Ivan_Calandra

        
On 06/09/2021 16:24, Jeff Newmiller wrote:

            

      
      
      
    

  
  


  


      

    

    

      
      

        


  

        

      Jeff Newmiller
    

    

      
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I don't always use rmarkdown to write papers either, but you can capture figures from it. I avoid hand editing figures like the plague of irreproducibility. But sometimes you get stuck in an approach... I cannot answer your original post, but wanted to point out that it may not actually be necessary to answer it if you change your approach.

        
On September 6, 2021 7:29:34 AM PDT, Ivan Calandra <calandra at rgzm.de> wrote:

            

      
      
      
    

        

  
    

      
      
    

  


  


      

    

    

      
      

        


  

        

      Ivan Calandra
    

    

      
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Yes Jeff, you are right. I hate manually editing figures too, but 
sometimes I find it's still the easiest way (e.g. when you submit your 
paper several times when journals have differing guidelines, or when you 
build figures from several (sub)plots + other images, or when you 
combine plots that a colleague has done in Python with your R plots). I 
have the impression that at some point, there is always something to 
edit by hand, no matter how much you've adjusted the graphical 
parameters and even if you use all possible tools available for ggplot2...

I have thought a lot about it and, as it is, I am not sure it would be 
worth the effort. I might be missing some arguments for it, but I would 
actually like someone to show me how it could look like - this might 
just be what I need to be convinced!

--
Dr. Ivan Calandra
Imaging lab
RGZM - MONREPOS Archaeological Research Centre
Schloss Monrepos
56567 Neuwied, Germany
+49 (0) 2631 9772-243
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Ivan_Calandra

        
On 06/09/2021 16:44, Jeff Newmiller wrote:

            

      
      
      
    

  
  


  


      

    

    

      
      

        


  

        

      Duncan Murdoch
    

    

      
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On 06/09/2021 11:06 a.m., Ivan Calandra wrote:

            

      
      
      
    

        
It's not much effort.  For example, the document below produces two PDF 
figures with different heights but the same width.    I called the 
document Untitled.Rmd, so the figures show up in 
Untitled_figures/figure-latex/fig1-1.pdf and 
Untitled_figures/figure-latex/fig2-1.pdf.

   ---
   title: "Untitled"
   author: "Duncan Murdoch"
   date: "06/09/2021"
   output:
     pdf_document:
       keep_tex: true
   ---

   ```{r setup, include=FALSE}
   knitr::opts_chunk$set(echo = TRUE)
   ```

   ```{r fig1, fig.width=2, echo=FALSE}
   library(ggplot2)
   ggplot(mtcars, aes(carb, gear)) +
     geom_point()
   ```

   ```{r fig2, fig.width=2, echo=FALSE}
   ggplot(mtcars, aes(carb, gear)) +
     geom_point() +
     coord_fixed()
   ```

  
  


  


      

    

    
6 days later

    

      
      

        


  

        

      Adam Wysokiński
    

    

      
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Hi,
Instead of ggsave(), use save_plot() from the "cowplot" package:

library(ggplot2)
library(cowplot)
x <- 1:10
y <- x^2
df <- data.frame(x, y)
p <- ggplot(df, aes(x, y)) + geom_point()
save_plot("/tmp/plot.png", p, base_aspect_ratio = 1, base_width = 5, 
base_height = NULL)

  
    

      
      
    

  


  


      

    

    

      
      

        


  

        

      Ivan Calandra
    

    

      
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Thank you Adam!

I'm a bit surprised that an extra package is needed for this, but why not!

Best,
Ivan

--
Dr. Ivan Calandra
Imaging lab
RGZM - MONREPOS Archaeological Research Centre
Schloss Monrepos
56567 Neuwied, Germany
+49 (0) 2631 9772-243
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Ivan_Calandra

        
On 13/09/2021 15:40, Adam Wysoki?ski wrote:

            

      
      
      
    

  
  


  


      

    

    
6 days later

    

      
      

        


  

        

      Ivan Calandra
    

    

      
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Dear Adam,

The function cowplot::save_plot() actually doesn't help in my case 
because I need to know the aspect ratio (which I don't in advance). If I 
knew the aspect ratio, I could calculate the height from the width or 
vice-versa, and then I could use ggplot2::ggsave().

I have found a workaround using the package patchwork: I put the plots 
together into one plot, that I save on an A4 page.

Best,
Ivan

--
Dr. Ivan Calandra
Imaging lab
RGZM - MONREPOS Archaeological Research Centre
Schloss Monrepos
56567 Neuwied, Germany
+49 (0) 2631 9772-243
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Ivan_Calandra

        
On 14/09/2021 9:17, Ivan Calandra wrote:

            

      
      
      
    

  
  


  


      

    

    

      
      

        


  

        

      Adam Wysokiński
    

    

      
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Dear Ivan,
I think you don't need to provide the aspect ratio, as this should work 
as well:

save_plot("/tmp/plot.png", p, base_width = 5, base_height = NULL)

  
    

      
      
    

  


  


      

    

    

      
      

        


  

        

      Ivan Calandra
    

    

      
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Dear Adam,

This would work indeed, but then the default aspect ratio (1.618) would 
be used. I could as well calculate the height from the width and aspect 
ratio. Unfortunately, this doesn't help me in my case (but as I said, I 
have found a workaround).

Thank you again.

Ivan

--
Dr. Ivan Calandra
Imaging lab
RGZM - MONREPOS Archaeological Research Centre
Schloss Monrepos
56567 Neuwied, Germany
+49 (0) 2631 9772-243
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Ivan_Calandra

Le 20/09/2021 ? 21:29, Adam Wysoki?ski via R-help a ?crit?: