Library/tool for drawing ternary/triangle plots [closed]

Answer 1

There is a R package named soiltexture. It's aimed at soil texture triangle plot, but can be customized for some aspects.

Answer 2

I just discovered a tool which uses Python/Matplotlib to generate ternary plots called wxTernary. It's available via http://wxternary.sourceforge.net/ -- I was able to successfully generate a ternary plot on the first try.

Answer 3

There seems to be an implementation at work here in gnuplot:
_{(source: ugm.ac.id)}

Answer 4

Find a vector drawing library and draw it from scratch if you can't find an easier way to do it.

Answer 5

A package I have authored in R has just been accepted for CRAN, webpage is www.ggtern.com:

It is based off ggplot2, which I have used as a platform. The driving force for me, was a desire to have consistency in my work, and, since I use ggplot2 heavily, development of the package was a logical progression.

For those of you who use ggplot2, use of ggtern should be a breeze, and, here is a couple of demonstrations of what can be achieved.

Produced with the following code:

# Load data
data(Feldspar)

# Sort it by decreasing pressure 
# (so small grobs sit on top of large grobs
Feldspar <- Feldspar[with(Feldspar, order(-P.Gpa)), ]

# Build and Render the Plot
ggtern(data = Feldspar, aes(x = An, y = Ab, z = Or)) + 
#the layer
geom_point(aes(fill = T.C, 
               size = P.Gpa, 
               shape = Feldspar)) + 
#scales
scale_shape_manual(values = c(21, 24)) + 
scale_size_continuous(range = c(2.5, 7.5)) + 
scale_fill_gradient(low = "green", high = "red") + 

#theme tweaks
theme_tern_bw()  + 
theme(legend.position      = c(0, 1), 
      legend.justification = c(0, 1), 
      legend.box.just      = "left") + 

#tweak guides
guides(shape= guide_legend(order   =1,
                           override.aes=list(size=5)),
       size = guide_legend(order   =2),
       fill = guide_colourbar(order=3)) +

#labels and title
labs(size = "Pressure/GPa", 
     fill = "Temperature/C") + 
ggtitle("Feldspar - Elkins and Grove 1990")

---

Contour plots have also been patched for the ternary environment, and, an inclusion of a new geometry for representing confidence intervals via the Mahalanobis Distance.

Produced with the following code:

ggtern(data=Feldspar,aes(An,Ab,Or)) +
  geom_confidence(aes(group=Feldspar,
                      fill=..level..,
                      alpha=1-..level..),
                      n=2000,
                  breaks=c(0.01,0.02,0.03,0.04,
                           seq(0.05,0.95,by=0.1),
                           0.99,0.995,0.9995),
                  color=NA,linetype=1) +
  geom_density2d(aes(color=..level..)) + 
  geom_point(fill="white",aes(shape=Feldspar),size=5) +  
  theme_tern_bw() + 
  theme_tern_nogrid() + 
  theme(ternary.options=element_ternary(padding=0.2),
                        legend.position=c(0,1),
                        legend.justification=c(0,1),
                        legend.box.just="left") +
  labs(color="Density",fill="Confidence",
   title="Feldspar - Elkins and Grove 1990 + Confidence Levels + Density") +
  scale_color_gradient(low="gray",high="magenta") +
  scale_fill_gradient2(low="red",mid="orange",high="green",
                       midpoint=0.8) +
  scale_shape_manual(values=c(21,24)) + 
  guides(shape= guide_legend(order   =1,
                             override.aes=list(size=5)),
         size = guide_legend(order   =2),
         fill = guide_colourbar(order=3),
         color= guide_colourbar(order=4),
         alpha= "none")

Answer 6

Created a very basic script for generating ternary (or more) plots. No gridlines or ticklines, but those wouldn't be too hard to add using the vectors in the "basis" array.

from pylab import *


def ternaryPlot(
            data,

            # Scale data for ternary plot (i.e. a + b + c = 1)
            scaling=True,

            # Direction of first vertex.
            start_angle=90,

            # Orient labels perpendicular to vertices.
            rotate_labels=True,

            # Labels for vertices.
            labels=('one','two','three'),

            # Can accomodate more than 3 dimensions if desired.
            sides=3,

            # Offset for label from vertex (percent of distance from origin).
            label_offset=0.10,

            # Any matplotlib keyword args for plots.
            edge_args={'color':'black','linewidth':2},

            # Any matplotlib keyword args for figures.
            fig_args = {'figsize':(8,8),'facecolor':'white','edgecolor':'white'},
        ):
    '''
    This will create a basic "ternary" plot (or quaternary, etc.)
    '''
    basis = array(
                    [
                        [
                            cos(2*_*pi/sides + start_angle*pi/180),
                            sin(2*_*pi/sides + start_angle*pi/180)
                        ] 
                        for _ in range(sides)
                    ]
                )

    # If data is Nxsides, newdata is Nx2.
    if scaling:
        # Scales data for you.
        newdata = dot((data.T / data.sum(-1)).T,basis)
    else:
        # Assumes data already sums to 1.
        newdata = dot(data,basis)

    fig = figure(**fig_args)
    ax = fig.add_subplot(111)

    for i,l in enumerate(labels):
        if i >= sides:
            break
        x = basis[i,0]
        y = basis[i,1]
        if rotate_labels:
            angle = 180*arctan(y/x)/pi + 90
            if angle > 90 and angle <= 270:
                angle = mod(angle + 180,360)
        else:
            angle = 0
        ax.text(
                x*(1 + label_offset),
                y*(1 + label_offset),
                l,
                horizontalalignment='center',
                verticalalignment='center',
                rotation=angle
            )

    # Clear normal matplotlib axes graphics.
    ax.set_xticks(())
    ax.set_yticks(())
    ax.set_frame_on(False)

    # Plot border
    ax.plot(
        [basis[_,0] for _ in range(sides) + [0,]],
        [basis[_,1] for _ in range(sides) + [0,]],
        **edge_args
    )

    return newdata,ax


if __name__ == '__main__':
    k = 0.5
    s = 1000

    data = vstack((
        array([k,0,0]) + rand(s,3), 
        array([0,k,0]) + rand(s,3), 
        array([0,0,k]) + rand(s,3)
    ))
    color = array([[1,0,0]]*s + [[0,1,0]]*s + [[0,0,1]]*s)

    newdata,ax = ternaryPlot(data)

    ax.scatter(
        newdata[:,0],
        newdata[:,1],
        s=2,
        alpha=0.5,
        color=color
        )
    show()