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Plot

Plot arbitrary numeric values from topic message paths.

When playing back local or remote data files, this panel will preload the data belonging to the specified topic message paths for the whole playback timeline. Current playback time is indicated by a vertical gray bar.

add series

Settings

General

fielddescription
Sync with other plotsSync to other Plot panels with a timestamp-based x-axis
Legend
PositionPosition of the legend in relation to the chart (Floating, Left, Top)
Show legendDisplay the legend
Show valuesShow the corresponding y value next to each series in the legend (either at the current playback time or at a point on user hover)
Y Axis
Show labelsDisplay label for the y-axis
MinFixed minimum value for y-axis
MaxFixed maximum value for y-axis
X Axis
ValueValue plotted on x-axis; a timestamp, an index or a message path
Show labelsDisplay label for the x-axis
MinFixed minimum value for x-axis
MaxFixed maximum value for x-axis
Range (seconds)Width of the panel viewport as it follows playback (in seconds); time series only
Series
Message pathMessage path containing Y values for the series
LabelLabel displayed in the legend for the series
ColorColor used to plot the series
TimestampTimestamp used for message ordering (Receive Time or Header Stamp)

User interactions

Use the "X" next to each data series in the plot legend to remove the series.

Use the panel settings to add, edit, or remove data series.

add series

Y-Axis

Using message path syntax, specify the path to the y-axis data you want to plot. Alternatively, enter a number to add a horizontal line at that value.

If you enter a message path that points to multiple values (e.g. /some_topic/some_array[:].x), the plot will display a scatter plot of points at each x-axis tick.

Each series can be configured to display a descriptive label via the Label field in settings.

Plot panel settings

X-Axis

There are 3 possible values for the x-axis:

  • Incoming message timestamp
  • Y-axis value indices
  • Data at a user-specified message path

All Plot panels with a time-based x-axis will automatically be synced with each other – when a user pans or zooms in one time-based Plot panel, all other time-based Plot panels will pan or zoom accordingly to maintain the same viewport.

Timestamp

By default, the panel plots y-values against incoming messages' timestamp. It is possible to specify whether the timestamp is taken from a message's receive time or header stamp in each series' details menu. All Plot panels with timestamp x-axes in a given layout will be kept in sync for easy comparison.

plot with timestamp x-axis

Index

In this mode, adding message path /some_topic.some_array as a new line in the plot will chart that array's values against their respective indices. For example, if /some_topic.some_array contained the values [5, 10, 15], the resulting points on the chart would be [0, 5], [1, 10], and [2, 15].

This plots just the data from the latest tick, and should always point to an array of values.

plot with index x-axis

Message path

Using message path syntax, specify the path to the x-axis data you want to plot, e.g. /some_topic.position.x. You can choose to plot data from just the most recent tick ("msg path (current)") or from all matching messages throughout playback ("msg path (accumulated)").

plot with path x-axis - current

plot with path x-axis - accumulated

Click into the details menu for each data series in the legend to configure that series' line color and timestamp ordering method.

Scroll to zoom, and drag to pan. By default, scrolling will zoom horizontally only. To zoom vertically, hold v while scrolling. To zoom horizontally and vertically at the same time, hold b while scrolling. Click the "reset view" button or double-click the panel to reset to the original viewport.

Hover over any point on the plot to see its details in a tooltip. You'll see a vertical yellow bar appear, as well as a corresponding yellow marker at the same on the playback timeline. Click to seek playback to the yellow marker on the timeline.

Click the download icon in the top left to download the plotted data as a .csv file.

Math modifiers

The following Math functions are available to append to your Plot panel's message paths:

  • .@abs
  • .@acos
  • .@asin
  • .@atan
  • .@ceil
  • .@cos
  • .@derivative
  • .@log
  • .@log1p
  • .@log2
  • .@log10
  • .@negative
  • .@round
  • .@sign
  • .@sin
  • .@sqrt
  • .@tan
  • .@trunc

Note that .@derivative will not work with scatter plots (i.e. message paths that point to an array of values for each x-axis tick).

See the Javascript Math documentation for more details.

Shortcuts

  • Scroll – Zoom in and out horizontally
  • v + Scroll – Zoom in and out vertically
  • b + Scroll – Zoom in and out both horizontally and vertically