BAXTER_A@wehi.dn.mu.oz (12/18/90)
A new beta version of MULTIPLOT is now available. The binary for the
file Multiplot and new documentation has been uploaded to comp.bin.amiga.
The rest of the Multiplot distribution is also required to make full use
of the new beta version.
CHANGES SINCE XLNc
NOTE: Multiplot is now Workbench 2.0 compatible. This required an
alteration in the PLT-handler which is a modification of the handler
distributed in PLT 1.3b.
Bug fix: The great one would visit if Multiplot was started with no
data file and then the left mouse button was clicked any where on
the screen without first pasting data.
Bug fix: An error in the event loop has been corrected, resulting in
improved responsiveness.
Bug fix: The ILBM saves included cross-hairs.
Bug fix: The plot would not be redrawn if the Edit Text window was
closed by hitting the return key.
Bug fix: The first attempt to paste with an empty clipboard would
result in an "insufficient memory" error instead of a "nothing to
paste" error.
Bug fix: The dynamic allocation of memory for pastes is now bullet
Bug fix: The point size range listed in the How to Plot window is
now correctly referred to as 0-20.
Bug fix: The tf_Accessors count for the default font is now
correctly handled.
Bug fix: Multiple accesses of the same font are now made to the
same font structure in memory instead of copying it to a new
location.
Bug fix: Extra Text was offset 1/2 character down and 1 character
to the right of the correct location in HP-GL output.
Bug fix: The error message generated by attempting to save an
HPGL file to a disk and whipping the disk out of the drive at the
last moment has been corrected.
Bug fix: A compiler dependent bug in the way strings were accessed
has been corrected.
Bug fix: The aspect ratio of plots exported to CAD programs was
inconsistent.
Bug fix: No data was plotted in the HPGL output if one or both
axes were reversed.
New feature: A Print Setup menu option has been added to allow
orientation, position and scale of the printed graph to be set
interactively from within Multiplot.
New feature: A print spool has been added, so that a graph may be
printed while further work is done within Multiplot, or the program
may be quit without interrupting the print.
New feature: A print preview has been added.
New feature: It is now possible to move, delete or edit a data point.
A data point may be selected in SELECT mode by holding down the
Ctrl key and clicking the left mouse button near the point. Data
points may be group selected (Shift-Ctrl-LMB), or edited by double
clicking.
New feature: Asymetric error bars are supported. Single direction
error bars can be defined in the data file or created interactively
from within Multiplot.
New feature: Multiple objects of different types can now be group
selected. For example, data points and legends can be group selected
and dragged together.
New feature: The EDIT/Undelete feature when used to undelete a
deleted legend will now recreate the link between data set and text.
New feature: It is now possible to edit, move and delete axis values.
New feature: The routines for finding selected text have been
optimised to allow the inclusion of much greater numbers of text
objects with relatively little slow down in response time.
New feature: Linear plots now compensate for log axes making
exponential, log and log/log fits available.
New feature: Open B-Splines have been added as a method of data
smoothing.
New feature: Polynomial line fits from 1st to 5th order have been
added.
New feature: The recalculation of screen locations for data is now
only performed if some change to the scaling of the relevant axis
has been made. This results in faster screen refreshes.
New feature: A curve reader has been added. The coordinates of any
point can be obtained by holding down the Alt key and clicking the
left mouse button with the pointer or cross hairs over the point of
interest.
New feature: Postscript output is now supported.
New feature: Encapsulated postscript output is now supported.
New feature: The HP-GL output has been upgraded to HP-GL/2 and
includes imbedded PCL commands to directly support the HP
LaserJet III.
New feature: Minor tics can be included on the axes.
New feature: Logarithmic axes are now supported.
Style Change: The FUNCTIONS/Smooth data set menu option now
has two subitems: Filter which calculates running means of points
over a designated window; and Interpolate which adds intermediate
points utilising modified b-splines.
Style Change: The menu option FUNCTIONS/exponential fit has been
removed. the same function is available by selecting
FUNCTIONS/linear fit when the X axis is linear and the Y axis
logarithmic.
Style Change: Axis and formulae values are now a fixed number of
significanr figures rather than the idiosyncratic system used
previously.
Style Change: The maximum axis value and its tic are now drawn.
Style Change: A box is no longer drawn around the legends in a
graph with box axes and a right margin.
Style Change: Low memory error handling has been improved.
Style Change: The CUSTOM PLOT window has been redesigned to
make selections easier, improve appearence on 1 bit plane screens,
and use less chip RAM.
Style Change: A clearer, larger font is used for all screen text. This
makes the reading of menus a great deal easier. I recommend the
inclusion of Topaz.11 in the WB1.3 Fonts: directory. Note that this
is unnecessary with WB2.0 because Topaz.11 is in ROM.
Other changes: The *AUTOSCRIPT* format has been changed to
accommodate the extra information required for new features. The
new format is backwards compatible with the old version with the
exception of tic number which will not be read from a Multiplot
XLNc file.
CONCLUSION
Multiplot was the first intuitive Data plotting program for the
Amiga. It has since been joined by a number of other programs which
enable the display of experimental data but is unrivalled for ease of use,
stability and flexibility. It allows extremely rapid visualisation of
experimental data with a wide selection of output formats. It does a
simple job, but does it well. If you have suggestions, questions, bug finds,
please write:
Dr Alan G Baxter,
Walter & Eliza Hall Institute,
c/o Post Office,
Royal Melbourne Hospital,
Parkville 3053,
AUSTRALIA
WEHI::Baxter_A Baxter_A@wehi.dn.mu.oz.au
Baxter_A@wehi.dn.mu.oz.au@MUNNARI.OZ.AU
wehi.dn.mu.oz!BAXTER_A@harvard.edu
Ph (03) 380 9206xanthian@zorch.SF-Bay.ORG (Kent Paul Dolan) (12/19/90)
Congratulations on the asymmetric error bars; flexible error bars with a variety of center symbols was the was the one feature most mentioned as lacking and so preventing the use of commercial presentation graphics software for scientific charting use, when I questioned a pair of Geophysical Society members on their way to a convention as I flew to interview with my (now former) presentation graphics employer. Kent, the man from xanth. <xanthian@Zorch.SF-Bay.ORG> <xanthian@well.sf.ca.us>
hill@evax.arl.utexas.edu (Adam Hill) (12/19/90)
So where can we FTP it from?? Tad has said that he is having disk space
crunch so it wont get out on cas.binaries for a while. How about that old
standby abcfd20.larc.nasa.gov.
--
adam hill
hill@evax.arl.utexas.edu Make Up Your Own Mind.. AMIGA!
Amiga... Multimedia NOW
Most Common Phrase at DevCon '90 - "Shhhhhhh.." U3364521@ucsvc.ucs.unimelb.edu.au (Lou Cavallo) (12/19/90)
G'day,
Adam Hill (hill@evax.arl.utexas.edu ) writes:
* So where can we FTP it from?? Tad has said that he is having disk space
* crunch so it wont get out on cas.binaries for a while. How about that old
* standby abcfd20.larc.nasa.gov.
Seems to be there for me. (As per 19-Dec that is).
I'm in Australia btw and so is the author but that doesn't matter right?
* adam hill
yours truly,
Lou Cavallo.vincelee@tornado.Berkeley.EDU (Vincent H. Lee) (12/20/90)
What I want to know is: Does Multiplot now work correctly with overscan? I have a grossly overscanned WB, and Multiplot seems to interpret my machine as being in PAL, so that about one-third of my graph is cut off. (this is with the previous version) thanks -vince