How to use R to build bubble charts with gradient fills

Question

I use R code below to build bubble chart.

pdf(file='myfigure.pdf',height=10,width=13)
y<-c(123,92,104,23,17,89,13)
x<-c(11,45,24,50,18,7,2)
size<-c(1236,1067,1176,610,539,864,1026)
radius<-sqrt(size/pi)
col<-c(2,2,3,4,5,5,6)
name<-c("Acura", "Alfa Romeo","AM General","Aston Martin Lagonda","Audi","BMW","Bugatti")

symbols(x,y,  circles=radius,fg="white",bg=col,ylim=c(-20,140))
text(x, y, name, cex=1.5,font=4)
dev.off()

enter image description here But I want the bubbles with 3d surface, say gradient fills and shadow. like the chart below.

Anyone knows how to use R to release it? Thanks!

Thanks for all the suggestions.While finally I tried a silly way by drawing multiple circles from dark to light to make it gradient filled. Any suggestions to make it better? Thanks! enter image description here

makeTransparent<-function(someColor, alpha)
{
 newColor<-col2rgb(someColor)
 apply(newColor, 2, function(curcoldata){rgb(red=curcoldata[1], green=curcoldata[2],                                          blue=curcoldata[3],alpha=alpha,maxColorValue=255)})
}

pdf(file='myfigure.pdf',height=10,width=13)
y<-c(123,92,104,23,17,89,13)
x<-c(11,45,24,50,18,7,2)
size<-c(1236,1067,1176,610,539,864,1026)
radius<-sqrt(size/pi)
col<-c(2,2,3,4,5,5,6)
name<-c("Acura", "Alfa Romeo","AM General","Aston Martin Lagonda","Audi","BMW","Bugatti")


x2<-c()
y2<-c()
circles<-c()
bg<-c()
fg<-c()

num<-30
radius_min<-0.3
alpha_min<-40
alpha_max<-180

for (i in 1:num){

x2<-c(x2,x)
y2<-c(y2,y)
circles<-c(circles,radius*(radius_min+(i-1)*(1-radius_min)/num))
bg<-c(bg,makeTransparent(col,alpha=alpha_max-(i-1)*(alpha_max-alpha_min)/num))
if(i!=num){fg<-c(fg,makeTransparent(col,alpha=alpha_max-(i-1)*(alpha_max-alpha_min)/num))}else{fg<-c(fg,rep('white',length(x)))}


}




symbols(x2,y2,circles=circles,fg=fg,bg=bg)
text(x, y, name, cex=1.5,font=4)
dev.off()

If you like that kind of effect, R might not be the right tool for you. The graphics capabilities in R were designed + built by people who really dislike that sort of thing, so while it may be possible, I suspect it won't be convenient. — joran, Jul 23 '12 at 19:22
@Joran your point is well taken but it is an interesting query, and though I may never use it would still be interesting to see a solution (for impressing some corporate boss who does like this sort of thing). — Tyler Rinker, Jul 23 '12 at 21:02
@TylerRinker Interesting-ness is a matter of opinion, but I certainly didn't mean to suggest it's a bad question. Just trying the save the OP some time in case a different tool would be more appropriate. — joran, Jul 23 '12 at 21:22
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/11058072/create-an-arrow-with-gradient-color , http://stackoverflow.com/questions/8109610/methods-adding-excel-like-features-to-r-plots are some places to start ... you might also be able to get the 3d effect by building a 'real' 3D plot with `rgl`, then rotating the perspective to 2D ... — Ben Bolker, Jul 23 '12 at 21:25
perhaps the googleVis package might be useful and specifically gvisBubbleChart might be your answer if you want to impress...and if you have a timeframe element then gvisMotionChart...just look at the demo for potential capabilities. — h.l.m, Jul 24 '12 at 01:20
You can also just export to PDF or SVG and then use something like Inkscape to fill in gradients. — nico, Jul 24 '12 at 19:17
Maybe you can transpose the answer to [that recent question](http://stackoverflow.com/a/11810691/1451109) to your problem. — plannapus, Aug 09 '12 at 06:53

score 6 · Accepted Answer · edited May 23 '17 at 12:09

Here is a solution (inspired by @Edward's solution for this question):

#First your data:
y<-c(123,92,104,23,17,89,13)
x<-c(11,45,24,50,18,7,2)
size<-c(1236,1067,1176,610,539,864,1026)
radius<-sqrt(size/pi)
col<-c(2,2,3,4,5,5,6)
name<-c("Acura", "Alfa Romeo","AM General","Aston Martin Lagonda","Audi","BMW","Bugatti")

#Then a simple function to draw a circle based on its center and its radius:
circle <- function (r, x0, y0, col){
    t <- seq(0, 2 * pi, by = 0.01)
    x <- r * cos(t) + x0
    y <- r * sin(t) + y0
    lines(x, y, col=col)
    }

#This is a smoothing factor:
sm <- 500

#The asp parameter is important here since we are actually drawing the circles and not plotting some circle symbols: if asp is not equal to 1 they will appear as ellipse.
plot(x,y,type="n",asp=1)

#This can probably be vectorized but I'm not a good vectorizer so if anyone wants to  give it a try:
for(j in 1:length(x)){
    radius[j]*sm:1/sm -> radiuses
    colorRampPalette(c(palette()[col[j]], "white"))->col_grad
    col_grad(length(radiuses))->colx
    for(i in 1:length(radiuses)){circle(radiuses[i], x[j], y[j], col=colx[i])}
    }

text(x, y, name, cex=1.5,font=4)

See ?colorRampPalette for more information on how this function works.

enter image description here

Edit: with shadows

 offset<-c(2,-2) #Offset of the shadow circles
 library(scales) #For function alpha

 plot(x,y,type="n",asp=1)

 for(j in 1:length(x)){
     radius[j]*sm:1/sm -> radiuses
     colorRampPalette(c(palette()[col[j]], "white"))->col_grad
     col_grad(length(radiuses))->colx
     for(i in 1:length(radiuses)){circle(radiuses[i], x[j]+offset[1], y[j]+offset[2], col=alpha("grey90",0.1))} #the alpha, the nuance of grey can be tweaked with obviously for the desired effect
     for(i in 1:length(radiuses)){circle(radiuses[i], x[j], y[j], col=colx[i])}
     }

 text(x, y, name, cex=1.5,font=4)

enter image description here

Indeed (by adding an offset to x and y) but since the lighter area is at the center of my "spheres" the light is perpendicular to the screen so the shadow should be hidden by the sphere itself and therefore not be seen at all in all logic :) — plannapus, Aug 09 '12 at 07:51
Maybe you could imagine there's another weak light source in one of the corners, resulting in a light shadow. :) — Roman Luštrik, Aug 09 '12 at 07:54
Here are some shadows! They can be reinforced by augmenting the alpha or lowering the nuance of grey. And you can obviously apply a gradient to it by the same process as for the color gradient of the spheres themselves. — plannapus, Aug 09 '12 at 08:07

How to use R to build bubble charts with gradient fills

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