[Ifeffit] An Ifeffit question.

[Bruce Ravel]

On Friday 18 May 2007, Christian Lange wrote:
> I am using "your" Athena and so on-software package for the evaluation
> of my XAS-measurements. So far everything is working fine, but i have
> one problem. The plots of this "graphics window" are a bit inconvenient
> if it comes to a publication, because I cannot change line styles,
> colors and so on. Or at least I don't know how to do this.
>
> That's why I want to ask you, whether it is possible to get the data for
> the fourier transform plots in some sort of ASCII-format to import it in
> Origin. Maybe with some file jiggling at the DOS prompt level?


Hi Christian,

This is a good question for the Ifeffit mailing list, so I am taking
the liberty of CCing my answer there.

This should be answered in the FAQ -- it certainly is frequently asked
in my email!

I completely agree that the plots made by pgplot are not pretty enough
for publication and I suspect that Matt would not argue either.  We
use pgplot because it works well within the context of Ifeffit,
because it is free and redistributable, and because it works
equivalently on Windows, Unix, and the Mac.  Matt and I both prefer to
spend our limited time making good XAS software -- neither of us
really felt particularly inclined to make and maintain publication
quality plotting software.  There are, after all, plenty of excellent
packages out there for making beautiful plots.

The trick, then, is the link between Athena and your favorite plotting
package. In the File menu, there are a number of option for exporting
data into plain-text, column-data files.  These can then be imported
easily into your favorite plotting program.  The File menu options
from "Save mu(E)" through "Save chi(q)" will save the current data
group (i.e. the one highlighted in the groups list and the one whose
parameters are currently on display in the main window).  The mu(E)
file, for instance, contains columns for energy data, background, I0,
pre-edge line, and post-edge polynomial.  You can import these columns
into your favorite plotting program and have your way with them.  The
chi(R) file, as another example, has columns of R, real part,
imaginary part, magnitude, phase, and back-transform window in R.

Below those options is a submenu labeled "Save marked groups as
data".  The idea there is to save column data file where each column
contains the data from a marked group (i.e. the ones with the little
purple button in the groups list clicked).  There are options for
saving data in this way in each of the plotting spaces.

Finally, it is possible to have some control over how the plots are
made.  In the Settings menu, select "Edit preferences".  Then open up
the Plot branch by clicking on its little plus sign.  The options c0
through c9 and the linetypes option might be of interest to your.
Nothing among the preferences will magically make pgplot prettier, but
it may help you visualize your data.

HTH,
B

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-- 
 Bruce Ravel  ---------------------------------------------- bravel at anl.gov

 Molecular Environmental Science Group, Building 203, Room E-165
 MRCAT, Sector 10, Advanced Photon Source, Building 433, Room B007

 Argonne National Laboratory         phone and voice mail: (1) 630 252 5033
 Argonne IL 60439, USA                                fax: (1) 630 252 9793

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