in reply to GD vs. gnuplot

I've used GD (in PHP) for plotting graphs. It's not too bad . There are put-pixel and draw-line type functions.

I've only used GnuPlot once and that involved feeding it a text file of values to plot if I recall correctly. Read the docs though because I don't know how else you can use it.

Also maybe check out imagemagick.

Update: OH right the whole reason I posted.
1) check the quality settings in GD's JPEG functions (also maybe use PNG instead).
2) I did a contract that involved generating thumbnails. The client wasn't impressed with GD's or ImageMagick's results even with sharpen and unsharp filters. In the end he generated them via a script in Photoshop. If you're on Linux maybe check out the GIMP which can be scripted in Scheme (maybe perl, I'm not sure).

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Re^2: GD vs. gnuplot
by SciDude (Friar) on Aug 10, 2004 at 02:01 UTC

    May I ask why you did not use Tk?

    Recently for amusement I was looking for a simple way to plot geometrical shapes (polygons, regular solids, pyramids) in the form of a bzflag world map using perl. The thought experiment took me far and wide through various incantations of mesa, openGL/Perl, Glut, Perl SDL, and more. In the end I kept trying options and finding errors and horrible bugs eventually coming full circle (pun intended) back to Perl/Tk.

    You may find some examples of interest using Tk:

    1. TkGnuPlot
    2. Data visualization using Perl/Tk
    3. Some great examples at The Ultimate (well, not quite) Perl/Tk Page!!!
    4. Graphing examples from The Perl Journal: Perl and the Tk Extension

    Some code (corrected from non-working code found in Advanced Perl Programming) always makes a nice point: 

    #!/usr/bin/perl -w

use Tk;
$top = MainWindow->new();
$canvas = $top->Canvas(width => 600, height => 490)->pack();
# Draw a set of circles along an archimedean spiral
# The centers of these circles move along the spiral 
# (radius of spiral = constant * theta)

    [download]
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    SciDude
    The first dog barks... all other dogs bark at the first dog.
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      Thanks, SciDude. I'm not looking for an interactive program for which Tk would be a choice. I'd prefer no user interaction at all. All I want is to generate images (jpg,png) from some simple intuitive descriptions.
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