9.3.7.23 The (Plot Details) Pattern Tab


The Pattern tab provides controls to customize the fill pattern, border of regions, shape, transparency and gradient fill for following graph types:

  • 2D Plots:
Pattern 2D.png Pattern 2D 01.png
Column/ 2D Bar/ Area/Pie/Waterfall Box Chart
Please note, once you set Fill Area under Curve to Fill to next data plot - Above Below Colors in Line tab of Plot Details dialog, two separate pattern tabs Pattern_Above and Pattern_Below will appear to let you customize the above and below area separately.
  • 3D Plots:
Pattern 3D 1.png Pattern 3D 2.png
3D Bar / 3D Wall / 3D Ribbon 3D Waterfall

Border

Connect
(3D Waterfall only)

Specify a line connection type.

For details on connection types, see Connect.

Color

Specify a border color.

For help with color controls, see Customizing Data Plot Colors.

Style

Select a line style. For Box chart, there is a ... button after the drop-down list, you can click it to open the Custom Dash line dialog to customize the dash style.

Width

Select or enter a border line width. Line width is measured in points, where 1 point=1/72 inch.

Show Side Lines
(3D Waterfall only)

Show the side lines on the waterfall graph. Once this check box is checked, the Show Baseline check box will be available.

Show Baseline
(3D Waterfall only)

Show the baseline on the waterfall graph.
Please note that the baseline position can be set to Zero or the minimun of the Y axis value. It is controlled by the Base Place at option in the Outline tab.

Note: You can customize Origin's dash patterns by editing the Origin Dash Lines group on the Graph tab of the Options dialog box (Preferences: Options).

Fill

Color

Specify a fill color. Select None to display a transparent fill. For help with color controls, see Customizing Data Plot Colors. When Auto is selected, Origin uses a lighter version of the Border Color for the fill color.

Colormap to(2D Box Chart only)

For grouped box chart, you can use this option to colormap the fill color for the boxes with the column label row. Auto means using the column index to colormap the fill color.

Please note, when Colormap to is selected, Fill Color option will be unavailable.

Pattern (2D Graphs and 3D Bar only)

Specify how to fill the pattern using the Pattern Chooser which is similar with the Color Chooser.

Pattern Chooser.png

You can add your own custom fill patterns to the pattern gallery (hint: they are added to the end of the list). Open your User Files Folder (UFF) and create a /Patterns folder, then add sub-folders for /Geology and /Normal. Save an EMF file of your custom pattern to the appropriate sub-folder (e.g. /Patterns/Geology). Your custom pattern will now appear in the gallery.

Single tab: apply single pattern to all points of all grouped plots

Select a pattern from the default pattern list, Normal or Geology, to fill all columns, bars, pie wedges or areas.

Once you choose Geology, the controls below will appear to allow customize the pattern: Pattern Geology Controls.png

There are two modes to apply the selected pattern(s): Stretch and Proportional:

  • Select Stretch to stretch the pattern to fill the whole current area. In this mode, you are only allowed to set the X/Y Offset to shift the pattern, especially for the asymmetric pattern.
  • Select Proportional to fill area by selected pattern(s) with original aspect ratio. In this mode, you can scale in/out the pattern by setting X Scale and shift the pattern horizontally by setting X offset.

By Points tab: apply a pattern list to all points of current plot periodically

With the options in this tab, you can

  • Specify a dataset to vary the fill pattern for all columns, bars, pie wedges ,etc. of current plot.
  • Select a starting pattern to fill all columns, bars, pie wedges , etc. sequentially with default pattern list.
  • Select an existing pattern list to fill all columns, bars, pie wedges , etc. of current plot sequentially.


Any selection in this tab will trigger the Pattern List tab.

By Plots tab: apply a pattern increment list to all plots been grouped

This tab is only available for grouped plots. Select a pattern increment list to vary the grouped plots.

Pattern Color (2D Graphs and 3D Bar only)

When a pattern is selected from the Pattern list, the Pattern Color button is available. Clicking this button will open the color chooser which can be used to set color(s) for selected pattern(s).

When Auto is selected, Origin uses a lighter version of the Border Color button setting for the pattern color.

Width (2D Graphs only)

Specify the width of the lines in the fill pattern. Line width is measured in units of points, where 1 point=1/72 inch.

Add lighting effects by darkening sides(3D Bars/Walls)

Check this check box to add lighting effects for the bars, by darkening the sides.

Gradient Fill

This group control is used to fill pattern colors gradually, available when Fill Color of current plot is set to any color.

Mode

Specify the gradient fill mode.

  • None: No gradient color change
  • One Color: One color changes from black to white gradually
  • Two Colors: The fill changes from one color to another gradually.
  • More Colors: The fill changes by a specified palette gradually.

By Y/Z Value

Once the mode More Colors is chosen, a check box By Y Value or By Z Value will appear.

By default, the gradient fill will be applied according to the Y maximum of current plot. Check the By Y Value or By Z Value box, the fill colors will change gradually according to the Y/Z value at each data point, along the Y axis direction or Z axis direction.

By Y Value GradientFill.png

For some special plot types, such as area plot, waterfall plot, this check box will not appear.

Lightness

This is available only when Mode is set to One Color. It is a slider used to set the lightness (in %) of the gradient fill color, varying from black to white.

2nd Color

This is available only when Mode is set to Two Colors. Select the second color used to create the gradient.
Note: For 2D graph, if you selected Two Colors as Mode, the 2nd Color control supports the color chooser with both Single and By Points tab; for 3D graph, if Mode is Two Colors, the 2nd Color control supports the color chooser with only Single tab.

For help with color controls, see Customizing Data Plot Colors.

Palette

This is available only when Mode is set to More Colors. Select a palette to apply the color change to the fill area.

Once the gradient fill with palette has been applied, you can click on the plot, use the Fill Color button on mini toolbar to select another palette from the palette list.

FillColor Palette MT.png

Direction

This is available when Mode is set to One Color, Two Colors or More Colors. It allows you to specify the direction along which the filled color gradually changes.

Once the By Y/Z Value has been chosen, only the direction Top Bottom and Bottom Top are available.

For the Radial Bar graph in a polar coordinate, Origin supports these for directions to fill color gradually:

  • Radial Inward:outer to inner
  • Radial Outward:inner to outer
  • Radial Center Out:"center" means bar center, "out" means the color changes from the center to the two radial edges.
  • Radial Center In:"center" means bar center, "in" means the color changes from the two radial edges to the center.

Transparency

Apply fill area transparency. Move the slider or enter an integer from 0 (no transparency) to 100 (full transparency).

When when you opt for Fill to next data plot - Above Below Colors on the Line tab, a second Pattern tab is added (Pattern_Below) and this tab has its own transparency control. Checking the Auto box (default) follows the transparency setting of the Pattern_Above tab.

Follow Line Transparency

For Fill Area and 2D Waterfall graphs, checking Follow Line Transparency forces filled area to follow the transparency setting of the Line.

Transparency for Fill Only

Apply the transparency above to the Fill only, the transparency of Border should be 0. It is supported in the column, bar, box and pie chart.

For Fill Area and 2D Waterfall graphs, this control is only available when you uncheck the Follow Line Transparency box.

Shape (3D Bars only)

Six bar shapes are applicable for 3D bar:

3D Bar Shape 01.png 3D Bar Shape 02.png 3D Bar Shape 03.png 3D Bar Shape 04.png 3D Bar Shape 05.png 3D Bar Shape 06.png
Prism/Box Cylinder Full Pyramid Partial Pyramid Full Cone Partial Cone
  • Prism/Box:Show the bar as prism/box.
  • Cylinder: Show the bar as cylinder.
  • Full Pyramid: Show the bar as full pyramid.
  • Partial Pyramid: Show the highest data point as a full pyramid and other data points as partial(clipped) pyramids.
  • Full Cone:Show the bar as full cone.
  • Partial Cone:Show the highest data point as a full cone and other data points as partial(clipped) cones.


With this Shape drop-down list, you can

  • Apply an individual shape for current plot.
  • Sequentially specify the shape of bars in current plot by incrementing through a list of shape, from a specified starting shape.
  • Uses a dataset of integer or categorical values that are indexed to shapes in a specific Shape List. More details, you can refer to this page.
  • Use the grouped shapes specified in the Group tab with Increment Editor for the grouped 3D XYY/XYZ bars.
Note: You can go to Outline tab to customize the bar width and Shape List tab to create/customize/load a shape list.

Preview

Origin displays your current tab settings in this view box.