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 9206
xanthian@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