Save the orientation of a RGL plot3d() plot

Question

I have a 3D plot using RGL. I would like to make identical plots using color to highlight the distribution of some variable. To do this I would like to have identical plots, how do I find and set the orientation of a plot?

Once I make a preliminary plot, I move it around to find a nice display angle and I would like to save that angle and incorporate it into future plotting scripts. Anyone have a suggestion on how to do this?

library(rgl)
plot3d(iris) 
#play with the plot to find a good angle
#save the angle for future plots

Crinose

try pp <- par3d(no.readonly=TRUE); ...; par3d(pp) – Patriciapatrician

also - is there a good way to hardcode it - i,e, save pp as a variable that I can incorporate into a future script without recalculating? – Crinose

Also check out ?rgl.viewpoint – Greenleaf

Thanks James. I could imagine taking the output of the par3D() call and hardcoding the view into my script using rgl.viewpoint - great tip. – Crinose

Answer 1

Ben's comment basically answers your question; this just applies expand.dots to what he wrote ;)

## In an inital session:

library(rgl)
plot3d(iris) 

## Now move the image around to an orientation you like

## Save RGL parameters to a list object
pp <- par3d(no.readonly=TRUE)

## Save the list to a text file
dput(pp, file="irisView.R", control = "all")

.......

## Then, in a later session, to recreate the plot just as you had it:

library(rgl)
pp <- dget("irisView.R")
plot3d(iris)
par3d(pp)

Lamina

It's safer to use control="all" in the dput() line, as that saves all of the deparsing information and ensures that the result of dget works. – Shaylynn

Without control="all" I got an error incorrect number of dimensions, because dget() incorrectly flattened the userMatrix to a list. – Shaylynn

@AssadEbrahim -- Thanks for noting that! I just edited the answer incorporate your suggested improvement. – Bissell