Split violin plot with ggplot2

Question

I'd like to create a split violin density plot using ggplot, like the fourth example on this page of the seaborn documentation.

Here is some data:

set.seed(20160229)

my_data = data.frame(
    y=c(rnorm(1000), rnorm(1000, 0.5), rnorm(1000, 1), rnorm(1000, 1.5)),
    x=c(rep('a', 2000), rep('b', 2000)),
    m=c(rep('i', 1000), rep('j', 2000), rep('i', 1000))
)

I can plot dodged violins like this:

library('ggplot2')

ggplot(my_data, aes(x, y, fill=m)) +
  geom_violin()

But it's hard to visually compare the widths at different points in the side-by-side distributions. I haven't been able to find any examples of split violins in ggplot - is it possible?

I found a base R graphics solution but the function is quite long and I want to highlight distribution modes, which are easy to add as additional layers in ggplot but will be harder to do if I need to figure out how to edit that function.

Answer 1

Or, to avoid fiddling with the densities, you could extend ggplot2's GeomViolin like this:

GeomSplitViolin <- ggproto("GeomSplitViolin", GeomViolin, 
                           draw_group = function(self, data, ..., draw_quantiles = NULL) {
  data <- transform(data, xminv = x - violinwidth * (x - xmin), xmaxv = x + violinwidth * (xmax - x))
  grp <- data[1, "group"]
  newdata <- plyr::arrange(transform(data, x = if (grp %% 2 == 1) xminv else xmaxv), if (grp %% 2 == 1) y else -y)
  newdata <- rbind(newdata[1, ], newdata, newdata[nrow(newdata), ], newdata[1, ])
  newdata[c(1, nrow(newdata) - 1, nrow(newdata)), "x"] <- round(newdata[1, "x"])

  if (length(draw_quantiles) > 0 & !scales::zero_range(range(data$y))) {
    stopifnot(all(draw_quantiles >= 0), all(draw_quantiles <=
      1))
    quantiles <- ggplot2:::create_quantile_segment_frame(data, draw_quantiles)
    aesthetics <- data[rep(1, nrow(quantiles)), setdiff(names(data), c("x", "y")), drop = FALSE]
    aesthetics$alpha <- rep(1, nrow(quantiles))
    both <- cbind(quantiles, aesthetics)
    quantile_grob <- GeomPath$draw_panel(both, ...)
    ggplot2:::ggname("geom_split_violin", grid::grobTree(GeomPolygon$draw_panel(newdata, ...), quantile_grob))
  }
  else {
    ggplot2:::ggname("geom_split_violin", GeomPolygon$draw_panel(newdata, ...))
  }
})

geom_split_violin <- function(mapping = NULL, data = NULL, stat = "ydensity", position = "identity", ..., 
                              draw_quantiles = NULL, trim = TRUE, scale = "area", na.rm = FALSE, 
                              show.legend = NA, inherit.aes = TRUE) {
  layer(data = data, mapping = mapping, stat = stat, geom = GeomSplitViolin, 
        position = position, show.legend = show.legend, inherit.aes = inherit.aes, 
        params = list(trim = trim, scale = scale, draw_quantiles = draw_quantiles, na.rm = na.rm, ...))
}

And use the new geom_split_violin like this:

ggplot(my_data, aes(x, y, fill = m)) + geom_split_violin()

Answer 2

Note: I think the answer by jan-glx is much better, and most people should use that instead. But sometimes, the manual approach is still helpful to do weird things.

---

You can achieve this by calculating the densities yourself beforehand, and then plotting polygons. See below for a rough idea.

Get densities

library(dplyr)
pdat <- my_data %>%
  group_by(x, m) %>%
  do(data.frame(loc = density(.$y)$x,
                dens = density(.$y)$y))

Flip and offset densities for the groups

pdat$dens <- ifelse(pdat$m == 'i', pdat$dens * -1, pdat$dens)
pdat$dens <- ifelse(pdat$x == 'b', pdat$dens + 1, pdat$dens)

Plot

ggplot(pdat, aes(dens, loc, fill = m, group = interaction(m, x))) + 
  geom_polygon() +
  scale_x_continuous(breaks = 0:1, labels = c('a', 'b')) +
  ylab('density') +
  theme_minimal() +
  theme(axis.title.x = element_blank())

Result

Answer 3

It is now possible to do this with the introdataviz package using the geom_split_violin function, which makes it really easy to create these plots. Here is a reproducible example:

set.seed(20160229)
my_data = data.frame(
  y=c(rnorm(1000), rnorm(1000, 0.5), rnorm(1000, 1), rnorm(1000, 1.5)),
  x=c(rep('a', 2000), rep('b', 2000)),
  m=c(rep('i', 1000), rep('j', 2000), rep('i', 1000))
)

library(ggplot2)
# devtools::install_github("psyteachr/introdataviz")
library(introdataviz)

ggplot(my_data, aes(x = x, y = y, fill = m)) +
  geom_split_violin()

^{Created on 2022-08-24 with reprex v2.0.2}

As you can see, it creates a split violin plot. If you want more information and a tutorial of this package, check the link above.

Answer 4

@jan-jlx's solution is wonderful. For densities with thin tails, I'd like to insert a little space between the two halves of the violin so the tails are easier to tell apart. Here's a slight modification of @jan-jlx's code to do this, borrowing the nudge parameter from the gghalves package:

GeomSplitViolin <- ggplot2::ggproto(
    "GeomSplitViolin",
    ggplot2::GeomViolin,
    draw_group = function(self,
                          data,
                          ...,
                          # add the nudge here
                          nudge = 0,
                          draw_quantiles = NULL) {
        data <- transform(data,
                          xminv = x - violinwidth * (x - xmin),
                          xmaxv = x + violinwidth * (xmax - x))
        grp <- data[1, "group"]
        newdata <- plyr::arrange(transform(data,
                                           x = if (grp %% 2 == 1) xminv else xmaxv),
                                 if (grp %% 2 == 1) y else -y)
        newdata <- rbind(newdata[1, ],
                         newdata,
                         newdata[nrow(newdata), ],
                         newdata[1, ])
        newdata[c(1, nrow(newdata)-1, nrow(newdata)), "x"] <- round(newdata[1, "x"])

        # now nudge them apart
        newdata$x <- ifelse(newdata$group %% 2 == 1,
                            newdata$x - nudge,
                            newdata$x + nudge)

        if (length(draw_quantiles) > 0 & !scales::zero_range(range(data$y))) {

            stopifnot(all(draw_quantiles >= 0), all(draw_quantiles <= 1))

            quantiles <- ggplot2:::create_quantile_segment_frame(data,
                                                             draw_quantiles)
            aesthetics <- data[rep(1, nrow(quantiles)),
                               setdiff(names(data), c("x", "y")),
                               drop = FALSE]
            aesthetics$alpha <- rep(1, nrow(quantiles))
            both <- cbind(quantiles, aesthetics)
            quantile_grob <- ggplot2::GeomPath$draw_panel(both, ...)
            ggplot2:::ggname("geom_split_violin",
                             grid::grobTree(ggplot2::GeomPolygon$draw_panel(newdata, ...),
                                            quantile_grob))
        }
    else {
            ggplot2:::ggname("geom_split_violin",
                             ggplot2::GeomPolygon$draw_panel(newdata, ...))
        }
    }
)

geom_split_violin <- function(mapping = NULL,
                              data = NULL,
                              stat = "ydensity",
                              position = "identity",
                              # nudge param here
                              nudge = 0,
                              ...,
                              draw_quantiles = NULL,
                              trim = TRUE,
                              scale = "area",
                              na.rm = FALSE,
                              show.legend = NA,
                              inherit.aes = TRUE) {

    ggplot2::layer(data = data,
                   mapping = mapping,
                   stat = stat,
                   geom = GeomSplitViolin,
                   position = position,
                   show.legend = show.legend,
                   inherit.aes = inherit.aes,
                   params = list(trim = trim,
                                 scale = scale,
                                 # don't forget the nudge
                                 nudge = nudge,
                                 draw_quantiles = draw_quantiles,
                                 na.rm = na.rm,
                                 ...))
}

Here's a plot I get with geom_split_violin(nudge = 0.02).