Question

I have a large chart with many data points. When I create the qplot in R, the chart is auto-fitted to the window. Even if I maximize the window, the chart is still too small and details are lost. I would like to save it as a large PNG and then look at certain areas at 1:1 resolution with an image viewer (as I cannot zoom in easily in R). Rendering the chart for a range of the values is not really convenient, I’d like to have one PNG and scroll around and discuss it with my peers, rather than pre-generating a bunch of subgraphs.

Is this possible? I kind of expect to be so, but some help would be appreciated (I’ve recently started with R so am still finding my way around).

Thank you.

Answer 1

One way would be:

myfile <- tempfile()                   # portable across OSs
pdf(file=myfile, height=20, width=20)  # 20x20 inches, adjust at will
plot(....)                             # or print(....) for lattice + ggplot2
dev.off()                              # finalize and close file
cat("Look at", myfile, "\n")

and now inspect the chart in the temp. file just created with a proper pdf viewer allowing you to zoom at will.