plotting program

future-ex-pc-userfuture-ex-pc-user
Posted:
in Mac Software edited January 2014
Hi,

I'm searching for a good plotting program (it should offer a good graphical layout, and it should be more userfriendly than excel). Any ideas?

The second part of my problem is more difficult. I have to use files made by Origin. Do you know a program which can read them? It would be sufficient if I had access to the raw data-tables.

Thanks

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 2
    dutch peardutch pear Posts: 588member
    Hey there,



    I was in the same situation you are. Firstly, to my knowledge there is no osX software that can directly open origins file formats (.opj files). To access your origin data in osX you will firstly need to export your data from origin to a tab or comma delimited text file.

    A very good equivalent to origin is IMO the excellent igor pro. It can produce some really great graphics and is very powerfull. Be warned though that igor is very different than origin and does have a pretty steep learning curve involving learning how to create and use scripts to automate your analyses and graphs. Once you get the hang of it, the scripting power of igor will really pay off big time though.



    Another thing you might want to consider is to keep using origin by running it in a windows virtual machine. I use parallels desktop on my macbook and run origin from that to open my old files. It's fast enough for my needs.



    Hope this helps.
  • Reply 2 of 2
    mr. memr. me Posts: 3,221member
    There are numerous plotting apps available for the Mac. Most are much less expensive than Origin.



    If you like Origin, then freeware QtiPlot is an Origin clone. It is based on the Qti frameworks which are also a free download.



    My favorite app is KaleidaGraph. I have switched some of my Windows-using colleagues to the Windows version. It has about 95% of the functionality of Igor Pro, but is substantially less expensive. I'm betting that this app can do everything that you need.



    DeltaGraph is the standard for presentation-quality graphs. It does 2-D and 3-D graphs for business, science, and engineering. It may be even more powerful than KaleidaGraph for slightly more money.



    pro Fit sports a powerful Pascal-based scripting language, which allows you to extend the functionality of the app. It is available as a download for about $100 US. If you can't do it in pro Fit, then it can't be done.



    Aabel and Chartsmith are also plotting apps in the Origin mold.



    You may find links to this apps on VersionTracker.com or MacUpdate.com.
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