I am using ggplot2 library and am working with the qplot command I know I can save my output as an anti-aliased image file by using the following command after my qplot
ggsave(file="filename.png")
But how about my LCD display? is there any way to see a plot on the monitor as anti-aliased grpah?
On Windows, there is no built-in anti-aliasing. I don't know whether it is planned for future releases or not. You can get a Cairo-based graphics device from either the cairoDevice or Cairo packages; however, you will need to install GTK+ first:
Download and install Gtk+ 2.12.9 Runtime Environment Revision 2 from http://gladewin32.sourceforge.net/
Another option would be to use Java-based graphics through JGR (http://jgr.markushelbig.org/). Also a Qt-based device is under development, I think.
Ok, I just checked. I was wrong in my earlier comment. From help(x11) where a lot of detail is available -- the new Cairo-based devices do have anti-aliasing available:
x11 package:grDevices R Documentation
X Window System Graphics
Description:
‘X11’ starts a graphics device driver for the X Window System (version 11). This can only be done on machines/accounts that have access to an X server. ‘x11’ is recognized as a synonym for ‘X11’.Usage:
X11(display = "", width, height, pointsize, gamma, bg, canvas, fonts, xpos, ypos, title, type, antialias) X11.options(..., reset = FALSE)Arguments:
[...]
fonts: X11 font description strings into which weight, slant and size will be substituted. There are two, the first for fonts 1 to 4 and the second for font 5, the symbol font. See section ‘Fonts’.[...]
antialias: for cairo types, the typeof anti-aliasing (if any) to be used. One of ‘c("default", "none", "gray", "subpixel")’.[...]
Details:
The defaults for all of the arguments of ‘X11’ are set by ‘X11.options’: the ‘Arguments’ section gives the ‘factory-fresh’ defaults. The initial size and position are only hints, and may not be acted on by the window manager. Also, some systems (especially laptops) are set up to appear to have a screen of a different size to the physical screen. Option ‘type’ selects between two separate devices: R can be built with support for neither, ‘type = "Xlib"’ or both. Where both are available, types ‘"cairo"’ and ‘"nbcairo"’ offer * antialiasing of text and lines. * translucent colours. * scalable text, including to sizes like 4.5 pt. * full support for UTF-8, so on systems with suitable fonts you can plot in many languages on a single figure (and this will work even in non-UTF-8 locales). The output should be locale-independent. ‘type = "nbcairo"’ is the same device as ‘type="cairo"’ without buffering: which is faster will depend on the X11 connection. Both will be slower than ‘type = "Xlib"’, especially on a slow X11 connection as all the rendering is done on the machine running R rather than in the X server. All devices which use an X11 server (including the ‘type = "Xlib"’ versions of bitmap devices such as ‘png’) share internal structures, which means that they must use the same ‘display’ and visual. If you want to change display, first close all such devices.[...and more...]