Better plotting than GD::Graph?

cormanaz has asked for the wisdom of the Perl Monks concerning the following question:

Howdy Bros. Can anyone recommend a plotting package that can be called from Perl that does nicer line graphs than GD::Graph::lines? I'm looking for something that uses dithering to avoid jaggy lines, allows nicer fonts, etc. A for-pay package would be a possibility if not too expen$ive.

Thx...Steve

UPDATE

Hey thanks for all the suggestions! lin0's pointer to the earlier thread led me to Chart Director. It costs 99 bux, is customizable enough to satisfy any graph geek, installs as a perl module, and makes some really slick graphs. Has good, fast support to boot. I don't know how software like XRTgraph manages to sell $3K/year licenses with competition like that...

Comment on Better plotting than GD::Graph?

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Re: Better plotting than GD::Graph? by lin0 (Curate) on Jun 19, 2007 at 16:17 UTC
Hi cormanaz, Sometime ago there was a discussion on Really slick Charts and Graphs. Maybe having a look at it would give you some ideas. Update:I just tried PLplot, it looks great. Before you try it, you can have a look at some examples. To call PLplot from Perl, you need to install PDL – The Perl Data Language. Cheers, lin0	[reply]
Re: Better plotting than GD::Graph? by planetscape (Chancellor) on Jun 19, 2007 at 16:55 UTC
Personally, I really like gnuplot. There are other ideas in the nodes below. Portable simple line graph module? Charting Modules Professional, "a-la-OpenOffice", 3D graphs develop animation and graphics creating graphs (YA) Q: re "which graphics module?" How to print/draw a network graph Real time data graphs. I'm also looking at SVG for a project of mine (An SVG Case Study: Integrated, Dynamic Avalanche Forecasting has some nice examples). HTH, planetscape	[reply]
Re: Better plotting than GD::Graph? by dmitri (Priest) on Jun 19, 2007 at 20:14 UTC
Check out Chart::Clicker. Here are the screen shots -- they are beautiful.	[reply]
Re: Better plotting than GD::Graph? by ChemBoy (Priest) on Jun 19, 2007 at 18:10 UTC
As far as fonts go, if you have Freetype support in GD, you can (I believe) use any TrueType font in GD::Graph—depending on what degree of "nice" you're looking for, that might be sufficient to your needs. For nicer-looking lines, you might take a look at this patch on RT—it isn't included in the current version, but I am (cough) reliably informed that it's supposed to be in the next one, and it seems like it would solve your jaggies problem handily. If God had meant us to fly, he would never have given us the railroads. --Michael Flanders	[reply]
Re: Better plotting than GD::Graph? by ultibuzz (Monk) on Jun 20, 2007 at 06:24 UTC
I use Chart Director, and im really happy with it, and all these ppl who are watching the graphs on our intranet. If u can produce RRD files(no prob with perl) u can also use the RRD tools for ure graphs. kd ultibuzz	[reply]