About PlotTool / Basic Usage / Q & A
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About PlotTool

PlotTool is a graph drawing application for Macintosh. This application was first open to the public on Feb. '97. At the beginning it was freeware and included only basic functions. But after that it has been formed into the curent version as shareware, including some new functions step by step.

This home page provodes some usefull infomation, which consists of introdution, basic usage, samples, Q&As and so on, for PlotTool's users or the people who intend to use it. Please let me know if you have any comments or suggestions regarding my home page .

Overview

PlotTool is a graph drawing application for engineering. You can easily create graphs from data that are measured through some experimentation. Also, some useful functions and tools are prepared for modifying graphs, analyzing data, calculating expressions and creating other types of objects.

Principal functions

• PlotTool supports only numerical plotting. You can create three kinds of graphs, linear, log and semi-log, with it. It provides 21 types of symbols and 12 types of lines for drawing a graph.
• For creating graphs PlotTool uses the data that are read from text files or entered from the keyboard.
• PlotTool can calculate any numerical expressions including mathematicalfunctions. After that, the calculation results can also be used for creating graphs.
• Using the Auto Scale function, you can easily obtain proper scales of a graph.
• Regression Analysis gets regression curves for a group of plotting data using the method of least squares. You can choose one from five regression curve types, linear, quadratic, logarithmic, exponential and power. In addition to drawing regression curves, the coefficients of them can also be drawn as Text objects onto a document.
• Besides the Graph objects, you can create the Text, Line, Rect, Oval, Regend and PICT objects on documents. ( The PICT objects are created only by copying and pasting from other applications. )
• Direct Plot allows you to enter data for a graph that was already created. The entered data are plotted onto the graph with a particular symbol one after another. Changing scales, saving a document and others are also available while doing Direct Plot. Of course, you can cancel (undo) a plot that has already drawn one by one.
• You can create multiple graphs at once. (Multi-graph function)
• In addition to PlotToolユs unique format, PlotTool supports the PICT format ( with resolution up to 300 dpi ) as an output file format.
• PlotTool supports high resolution printing.
• Axis Value Reading Tool allows the cursor to read a pair of axis values on a Graph object. The values are displayed on the Tools palette.

New functions for version 1.5

(New functions)

• (Double Y Axis) Double Y Axis realizes that two deferent Y scale data are drawn on the same graph.
• (File reading function fread() added in Calc.f(x)) If the fread() function is inserted into an expression, you can convert pure data to plotting ones.
• (Changing line widths and arrows of the Line objects) 3 types of line widths and arrows are prepared. Arrows can be attached on both sides or the end of the Line objects.
• (Regend) The Regend objects can be drawn at their positions on a graph with related data labels.
• (Rect and Oval tools) Using the Rect or Oval tool creates the Rect or Oval objects. The line widths of thease objects can also be changed as well as the Line objects can.
• (Background colors for objects) For Most all the objects their background colors are available.

(Improvement)

• Foreground colors can be applied to all the objects except the PICT ones. They can be changed by selecting a color from a floating palette.
• Click Mag Tool(to change scales quickly) works for each scale(X, Y1, Y2) separately.
• In the expression field of Calc.f(x) you can put expressions with more than one line.
• The number of plotting data is increased up to eight groups of plotting data.
• If the 'K' header parameters of input data include 0(zero), the corresponding row data become ineffective. ( Before plotting, you can exclude the unnecessary row data. )
• On the Japanese system the messages of the alert dialogs are written in Japanese. ( On the English system, they are written in English. )

System requirement

PlotTool is created with FAT binary codes including Power PC native ones. It requires the following system environment.

• 68k Macintosh with 68030 processor or better / Power Macintosh.
• System 7.1 or later. PlotTool's normal operation is checked under the following environment.
• SE/30 / System7.1.
• PowerMac 8500 /132 / System 7.5.5, KanjiTALK 7.5.3, MacOS 8.5.1