Figure creation and reuse

Use these guides to create, export, and reuse Figure Composer figures. For complete figure examples, use the plotting gallery.

Creating and exporting a reusable figure

1. Open the source data in ImageTool Manager.

2. Right-click the required ImageTool rows and choose Add to Figure….

3. Set Action to New Figure and create the figure.

4. In Figure Composer, arrange the axes in Layout and add or edit the plotting operations in Recipe.

5. Check the rendered figure after each recipe change.

Exporting the figure

Set the output DPI, transparency, bounding box, and padding in the Export tab. Export the figure and inspect the saved file at its final display size.

Preserving the figure recipe

Save the Manager workspace to preserve the figure, recipe, and sources together. Use Copy Code when the source data already exists as Python variables. Use Copy Full Code in the Manager when the copied code must also recreate the recorded analysis inputs and operations.

Use Reusing a figure recipe with other data when the same layout and plotting operations must be applied to another dataset. Use Figure styles for a custom Matplotlib stylesheet.

Creating a figure before all source data is available

1. In ImageTool Manager, choose File ‣ New Empty Figure.

2. In Figure Composer, use Add… in the Sources tab to select ImageTool rows. You can also drag rows from the Manager into Figure Composer.

3. Configure the axes in Layout.

4. Add recipe steps and assign each data-dependent step to the required source.

5. Check the rendered figure after you add or replace a source.

Use this procedure when you must define the layout or plotting recipe before all source data is available. Save the Manager workspace to preserve the figure and its sources.

Reusing a figure recipe with other data

1. Open the existing Figure Composer figure and the replacement data in the same Manager.

2. Right-click the replacement ImageTool row and choose Add to Figure….

3. Select the target figure.

4. Set Action to Replace Source.

5. Select the source to replace and apply the change.

6. Inspect all axes for changed coordinate ranges, normalization, labels, and missing recipe inputs.

Use Add New Step when the data must be added as another plot. Use Add Source Only when the recipe will refer to the source in a later manual step.

Save the workspace under a new name when the original recipe and sources must remain available.

Installing a custom stylesheet

1. Open the shared Settings window.

2. Select Figure Composer.

3. In Stylesheets, choose Open Folder.

4. Copy the *.mplstyle file into that folder.

5. Choose Reload.

6. Select the stylesheet name without the .mplstyle suffix, then choose Add.

7. Open or refresh a figure. Check its fonts, line widths, dimensions, and export settings.

If the style is not available, confirm that the file is in the folder opened by Settings and that Matplotlib can parse it. See Styles and export settings for style and export precedence.