Re: circle plot symbol

[davidf(at)dfanning.com (David Fanning)]

Craig Markwardt (craigmnet@cow.physics.wisc.edu) writes:
> 
> refik@rsmas.miami.edu (Refik Orhun) writes:
> 
> 
> > Hi Folks,
> > 
> > First of all, you have quite an impressive news group.  
> > Well, I Have a simple question.  How do I code a circle as a symbol in a
> > plot ?  All the symbols in my plots so far are squares, diamonds and
> > triangles, i.e. codes 2, 3, 4, etc...
> > 
> > Can anybody tell me the number or code for a "simple circle" to use
> > in PSYM= ?
> 
> I don't think a circle symbol exists, but I'm sure I will be
> corrected.  You can use the following procedure to define a circle as
> the "user" symbol, symbol 8.  You call it either as plain "circsym" or
> as "circsym, /filled" to get a filled circle.  Then you can say,
> "plot, ..., psym=8"
> 
> pro circsym, _EXTRA=extra
>   theta=findgen(26)*0.251327412
>   usersym, cos(theta), sin(theta), _EXTRA=extra
> end
> 
> I believe somebody has a big library of these kinds of user-defined
> symbols.

The problem with this solution (and I've used it myself)
is that as often as not the "circles" show up as ellipses. :-)

For a really good circle procedure, I like to use TVCIRCLE
from the NASA Goddard library. It does the data coordinate
correction for you so that circles always show up as circles.
You can read more about circles in this article on my web
page:

   http://www.dfanning.com/tips/make_circle.html

Cheers,

David
-- 
David Fanning, Ph.D.
Fanning Software Consulting
Phone: 970-221-0438 E-Mail: davidf@dfanning.com
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