Introduction to mypaintr

mypaintr is a package for creating artistic sketch-like plots in R. It has three components:

  • An R interface to the libmypaint library, which lets you create and import Mypaint brushes. There’s a mypaint_device() graphics device.
  • R functions to draw lines and shapes with a “rough”, hand-drawn look.
  • ggplot2 geoms and theme elements, so you can use Mypaint brushes and hand-drawn paths in ggplot graphs

Here are some demos.

library(mypaintr)
knitr::knit_hooks$set(mypaint = knitr_mypaint_hook(res = 288))

knitr::opts_chunk$set(
  collapse = TRUE,
  comment = "#>",
  fig.ext = "png",
  fig.width = 7,
  fig.height = 5,
  out.width = "75%"
)

palette("Dark 2")

To use mypaintr from the command line, open the mypaint_device() graphics device:

mypaint_device("output.png")

Close the device with dev.off() to print your plot to the output file.

Brushes

With the device active, you can use normal plot, grid and ggplot commands. You can also customize how lines and fills are drawn, using brushes.

Brushes are from the mypaint-brushes package, which you can install via your package manager (e.g. apt or brew).


set_brush("tanda/pencil-8b")
#> Warning in system2(pkg_config_bin, c("--variable=brushesdir",
#> "mypaint-brushes-2.0"), : running command ''/usr/bin/pkg-config'
#> --variable=brushesdir mypaint-brushes-2.0 2>/dev/null' had status 1 and error
#> message 'Function not implemented'
barplot(VADeaths, beside = TRUE, col = palette.colors(5), border = NA,
        cex.names = 0.8)

If you want different plot elements to look different, you can use set_brush() between calls. Here we set the brush to NULL to print an axis using (close to) standard R graphics:


set_brush("classic/charcoal")
#> Warning in system2(pkg_config_bin, c("--variable=brushesdir",
#> "mypaint-brushes-2.0"), : running command ''/usr/bin/pkg-config'
#> --variable=brushesdir mypaint-brushes-2.0 2>/dev/null' had status 1 and error
#> message 'Function not implemented'
barplot(VADeaths, axes = FALSE, 
        beside = TRUE, col = palette.colors(5), border = NA,
        cex.names = 0.8)
set_brush(NULL)
axis(side = 2, at = seq(0, 60, 20))

Good brushes

Not all Mypaint brushes work well with mypaintr (yet). Here are some brushes that I’ve found good to use, i.e. neither too crazy nor too similar to standard R:

  • classic/charcoal
  • classic/coarse_bulk_1 (and _2 and _3)
  • classic/dry_brush
  • classic/ink_blot
  • classic/ink_eraser
  • classic/kabura
  • classic/pen
  • classic/pencil
  • classic/slow_ink
  • classic/textured_ink
  • deevad/2B_pencil
  • deevad/4H_pencil
  • deevad/chalk
  • deevad/spray2
  • Dieterle/HalfToneCMY#1
  • Dieterle/Pencil-_Left_Handed
  • Dieterle/Posterizer
  • experimental/bubble
  • experimental/track
  • experimental/pixelblocking
  • experimental/sewing
  • experimental/small_blot
  • experimental/spaced-blot
  • experimental/speed_blot
  • experimental/subtle_pencil
  • experimental/track
  • kaerhon_v1/inkster_l
  • ramon/2B_pencil
  • ramon/B-pencil
  • ramon/P._Shade
  • ramon/Pastel_1
  • ramon/Pen
  • ramon/Sketch_1
  • ramon/Thin_Pen
  • tanda/acrylic-05-paint
  • tanda/charcoal-01
  • tanda/charcoal-03
  • tanda/charcoal-04
  • tanda/marker-01
  • tanda/marker-05
  • tanda/oil-06-paint
  • tanda/pencil-2b
  • tanda/pencil-8b

Hands

The other way to customize plotting is to set the “hand”. While brushes change what is plotted along a given path, hands change the path itself, by adding jitter, multiple lines and other human-like quirks:

set_hand(human_hand())
barplot(VADeaths, beside = TRUE, col = NA, cex.names = 0.8)

set_hand(hand(bow = 0, wobble = 0.01, multi_stroke = 2))
barplot(VADeaths, beside = TRUE, col = NA, cex.names = 0.8)

Combining brushes and hands, you can turn any R graphics into a sketch.


set_brush("classic/marker_small")
#> Warning in system2(pkg_config_bin, c("--variable=brushesdir",
#> "mypaint-brushes-2.0"), : running command ''/usr/bin/pkg-config'
#> --variable=brushesdir mypaint-brushes-2.0 2>/dev/null' had status 1 and error
#> message 'Function not implemented'
set_hand(human_hand(xtilt = 0.5, ytilt = -0.2))

plot(mpg ~ hp, data = mtcars, col = factor(mtcars$gear))
legend("topright", legend = 3:5, title = "Gears", col = 1:3, 
       horiz = TRUE, bg = "transparent", inset = 0.05, pch = 1)

Rough lines and polygons

There is one glitch with hands: borders and fills don’t always match up. Below, both rectangle border and fills are plotted roughly, but the random roughness is computed separately for each of them.


set_hand(human_hand())
plot.new()
plot.window(c(0, 10), c(0, 10))
rect(2, 2, 8, 8, col = "orange", border = "black", lwd = 2)

The draw_rough_* functions do two useful things:

  • They always fill roughly drawn shapes correctly.
  • They can be used with any graphics device.

The next chunks use knitr’s standard "png" device.

knitr::opts_chunk$get("dev")
#> [1] "png"

plot.new()
plot.window(c(1, 10), c(1, 10))
draw_rough_polygons(c(2, 4, 6), c(4, 2, 6), col = "red", hand = human_hand())
draw_rough_rect(8, 4, 5, 8, col = "blue3", fill_pattern = hatch(), hand = human_hand())

draw_rough_arrows(1, 9, 8, 9, col = "grey40", hand = human_hand())

Control lines and fills with the hand argument:


plot.new()
plot.window(c(1, 10), c(1, 10))

my_hand <- hand(wobble = 0.01, multi_stroke = 2)
draw_rough_polygons(c(2, 4, 6), c(4, 2, 6), col = "red", hand = my_hand)
draw_rough_rect(8, 4, 5, 8, col = "blue3", hand = my_hand, fill_pattern = hatch())

draw_rough_arrows(1, 9, 8, 9, col = "grey40", hand = my_hand)

Here’s a demo of the bow and wobble parameters on an ordinary png device:



plot(c(-0.01, 0.11), c(-0.01, 0.11), type = "n", 
     xlab = "bow", ylab = "wobble", 
     mar = rep(0.1, 4))

for (wobble in 0:5 * 0.02) for (bow in 0:5 * 0.02) {
  my_hand <- hand(wobble = wobble, bow = bow)
  draw_rough_rect(
    bow - 0.008, wobble - 0.008,
    bow + 0.008, wobble + 0.008,
    hand = my_hand,
    col = "red"
  )
}

Pattern Fills

Use the fill_pattern argument to fill a polygon using hand-sketched lines. mypaintr knows four ways to do this. Again, these work with base graphics devices via the draw_rough_* functions:


plot(0:10, 0:10, type = "n")
hand <- human_hand()
draw_rough_rect(0, 1, 4, 5, col = "blue", hand = hand, 
                fill_pattern = hatch())
draw_rough_rect(0, 6, 4, 10, col = "green4", hand = hand,
                fill_pattern = crosshatch())
draw_rough_rect(6, 1, 10, 5, col = "red3", hand = hand,
                fill_pattern = zigzag())
draw_rough_rect(6, 6, 10, 10, col = "grey30", hand = hand,
                fill_pattern = jumble())
text(c(2, 2, 8, 8), c(0.5, 5.5, 0.5, 5.5), 
     labels = c("hatch", "crosshatch", "zigzag", "jumble"))

Rough drawing and mypaint_device

You can still use the draw_rough_* functions with mypaint_device active. This lets you use both hands and brushes.

The next chunk also shows how to use different brushes for stroke and fill:


plot(1:10, 1:10, type = "n")

set_brush("classic/ink_blot", type = "fill")
#> Warning in system2(pkg_config_bin, c("--variable=brushesdir",
#> "mypaint-brushes-2.0"), : running command ''/usr/bin/pkg-config'
#> --variable=brushesdir mypaint-brushes-2.0 2>/dev/null' had status 1 and error
#> message 'Function not implemented'
set_brush(NULL, type = "stroke")
my_hand <- hand(wobble = 0.01, multi_stroke = 2)

draw_rough_polygons(c(2, 4, 6), c(4, 2, 6), col = "red", hand = my_hand)

set_brush("ramon/Pen")
#> Warning in system2(pkg_config_bin, c("--variable=brushesdir",
#> "mypaint-brushes-2.0"), : running command ''/usr/bin/pkg-config'
#> --variable=brushesdir mypaint-brushes-2.0 2>/dev/null' had status 1 and error
#> message 'Function not implemented'
draw_rough_rect(8, 4, 5, 8, col = "blue3", hand = my_hand, fill_pattern = hatch())

draw_rough_arrows(1, 9, 8, 9, col = "grey40", hand = my_hand)

ggplot2

Here’s what you don’t want to do:


library(ggplot2)
mypaint_device("output.png")

set_hand(hand())
set_brush("classic/dry_brush")

ggplot(diamonds) + 
  geom_bar(aes(cut, fill = cut)) + 
   theme_minimal()

This will produce a graph, but:

  • We probably want to have some elements, e.g. grid lines, look “normal”. Here, everything will be hand-drawn.
  • Rendering the white plot background rectangle(s) by brush will be slow.

To only use brush elements for part of a ggplot, use mypaint_wrap(). Here’s a mypaint bar graph, but with a clean background and straight grid lines:


library(ggplot2)
# on the command line:
# mypaint_device("output.png")

ggplot(diamonds) + 
  mypaint_wrap(
    geom_bar(aes(cut, fill = cut)),
    brush = "classic/dry_brush",
    hand = hand()
  ) + 
  theme_minimal() 
#> Warning in system2(pkg_config_bin, c("--variable=brushesdir",
#> "mypaint-brushes-2.0"), : running command ''/usr/bin/pkg-config'
#> --variable=brushesdir mypaint-brushes-2.0 2>/dev/null' had status 1 and error
#> message 'Function not implemented'
#> Warning in system2(pkg_config_bin, c("--variable=brushesdir",
#> "mypaint-brushes-2.0"), : running command ''/usr/bin/pkg-config'
#> --variable=brushesdir mypaint-brushes-2.0 2>/dev/null' had status 1 and error
#> message 'Function not implemented'

You can also use the special geoms geom_mypaint_bar() and geom_mypaint_col(). As well as brushes and hands, these let you use fill patterns, like zigzag() and jumble().



ggplot(diamonds) + 
  geom_mypaint_bar(aes(cut, fill = cut, colour = cut), 
                   brush = "deevad/ballpen",
                   fill_pattern = zigzag(padding = 0.1),
                   hand = human_hand()) + 
   theme_minimal() 
#> Warning in system2(pkg_config_bin, c("--variable=brushesdir",
#> "mypaint-brushes-2.0"), : running command ''/usr/bin/pkg-config'
#> --variable=brushesdir mypaint-brushes-2.0 2>/dev/null' had status 1 and error
#> message 'Function not implemented'
#> Warning in system2(pkg_config_bin, c("--variable=brushesdir",
#> "mypaint-brushes-2.0"), : running command ''/usr/bin/pkg-config'
#> --variable=brushesdir mypaint-brushes-2.0 2>/dev/null' had status 1 and error
#> message 'Function not implemented'
#> Warning in system2(pkg_config_bin, c("--variable=brushesdir",
#> "mypaint-brushes-2.0"), : running command ''/usr/bin/pkg-config'
#> --variable=brushesdir mypaint-brushes-2.0 2>/dev/null' had status 1 and error
#> message 'Function not implemented'
#> Warning in system2(pkg_config_bin, c("--variable=brushesdir",
#> "mypaint-brushes-2.0"), : running command ''/usr/bin/pkg-config'
#> --variable=brushesdir mypaint-brushes-2.0 2>/dev/null' had status 1 and error
#> message 'Function not implemented'
#> Warning in system2(pkg_config_bin, c("--variable=brushesdir",
#> "mypaint-brushes-2.0"), : running command ''/usr/bin/pkg-config'
#> --variable=brushesdir mypaint-brushes-2.0 2>/dev/null' had status 1 and error
#> message 'Function not implemented'
#> Warning in system2(pkg_config_bin, c("--variable=brushesdir",
#> "mypaint-brushes-2.0"), : running command ''/usr/bin/pkg-config'
#> --variable=brushesdir mypaint-brushes-2.0 2>/dev/null' had status 1 and error
#> message 'Function not implemented'
#> Warning in system2(pkg_config_bin, c("--variable=brushesdir",
#> "mypaint-brushes-2.0"), : running command ''/usr/bin/pkg-config'
#> --variable=brushesdir mypaint-brushes-2.0 2>/dev/null' had status 1 and error
#> message 'Function not implemented'
#> Warning in system2(pkg_config_bin, c("--variable=brushesdir",
#> "mypaint-brushes-2.0"), : running command ''/usr/bin/pkg-config'
#> --variable=brushesdir mypaint-brushes-2.0 2>/dev/null' had status 1 and error
#> message 'Function not implemented'
#> Warning in system2(pkg_config_bin, c("--variable=brushesdir",
#> "mypaint-brushes-2.0"), : running command ''/usr/bin/pkg-config'
#> --variable=brushesdir mypaint-brushes-2.0 2>/dev/null' had status 1 and error
#> message 'Function not implemented'
#> Warning in system2(pkg_config_bin, c("--variable=brushesdir",
#> "mypaint-brushes-2.0"), : running command ''/usr/bin/pkg-config'
#> --variable=brushesdir mypaint-brushes-2.0 2>/dev/null' had status 1 and error
#> message 'Function not implemented'
#> Warning in system2(pkg_config_bin, c("--variable=brushesdir",
#> "mypaint-brushes-2.0"), : running command ''/usr/bin/pkg-config'
#> --variable=brushesdir mypaint-brushes-2.0 2>/dev/null' had status 1 and error
#> message 'Function not implemented'
#> Warning in system2(pkg_config_bin, c("--variable=brushesdir",
#> "mypaint-brushes-2.0"), : running command ''/usr/bin/pkg-config'
#> --variable=brushesdir mypaint-brushes-2.0 2>/dev/null' had status 1 and error
#> message 'Function not implemented'
#> Warning in system2(pkg_config_bin, c("--variable=brushesdir",
#> "mypaint-brushes-2.0"), : running command ''/usr/bin/pkg-config'
#> --variable=brushesdir mypaint-brushes-2.0 2>/dev/null' had status 1 and error
#> message 'Function not implemented'
#> Warning in system2(pkg_config_bin, c("--variable=brushesdir",
#> "mypaint-brushes-2.0"), : running command ''/usr/bin/pkg-config'
#> --variable=brushesdir mypaint-brushes-2.0 2>/dev/null' had status 1 and error
#> message 'Function not implemented'
#> Warning in system2(pkg_config_bin, c("--variable=brushesdir",
#> "mypaint-brushes-2.0"), : running command ''/usr/bin/pkg-config'
#> --variable=brushesdir mypaint-brushes-2.0 2>/dev/null' had status 1 and error
#> message 'Function not implemented'
#> Warning in system2(pkg_config_bin, c("--variable=brushesdir",
#> "mypaint-brushes-2.0"), : running command ''/usr/bin/pkg-config'
#> --variable=brushesdir mypaint-brushes-2.0 2>/dev/null' had status 1 and error
#> message 'Function not implemented'
#> Warning in system2(pkg_config_bin, c("--variable=brushesdir",
#> "mypaint-brushes-2.0"), : running command ''/usr/bin/pkg-config'
#> --variable=brushesdir mypaint-brushes-2.0 2>/dev/null' had status 1 and error
#> message 'Function not implemented'
#> Warning in system2(pkg_config_bin, c("--variable=brushesdir",
#> "mypaint-brushes-2.0"), : running command ''/usr/bin/pkg-config'
#> --variable=brushesdir mypaint-brushes-2.0 2>/dev/null' had status 1 and error
#> message 'Function not implemented'
#> Warning in system2(pkg_config_bin, c("--variable=brushesdir",
#> "mypaint-brushes-2.0"), : running command ''/usr/bin/pkg-config'
#> --variable=brushesdir mypaint-brushes-2.0 2>/dev/null' had status 1 and error
#> message 'Function not implemented'
#> Warning in system2(pkg_config_bin, c("--variable=brushesdir",
#> "mypaint-brushes-2.0"), : running command ''/usr/bin/pkg-config'
#> --variable=brushesdir mypaint-brushes-2.0 2>/dev/null' had status 1 and error
#> message 'Function not implemented'

To save your output, you can either use mypaint_device() and dev.off() as usual, or run ggsave("output.png", dev = mypaint_device). The latter has the advantage that you can preview your plot live, though it won’t have the mypaintr customizations until you save it.

Using mypaintr in knitr

Knitr replays graphics on its own device. To make this work while dynamically updating the device within chunks, you must install a special hook:

knitr::knit_hooks$set(mypaint = knitr_mypaint_hook())

Then in chunks where you use mypaint_device, you need to set chunk options mypaint=TRUE, fig.keep="none". You can set them for all chunks like this:

knitr::opts_chunk$set(
  mypaint = TRUE,
  fig.keep = "none"
)

Don’t set dev explicitly: the hook will do it for you.

One limitation is that you cannot produce more than one plot per chunk. If you need to do this, try setting the following chunk options:

dev='mypaint_device', fig.ext='png', fig.keep='high', mypaint=FALSE

this may work, so long as you don’t edit device options within a single plot.

Advanced hand control: pressure, speed and tilt

You can set pressure, speed, stylus x and y tilt, and stylus barrel rotation in hand(). Different brushes react in different ways to each of these.

Pressure can vary over the whole stroke. Pass a “pressure profile” in to hand(pressure = ...). A pressure profile is a two-argument function which takes (t, turn) and returns a value between 0 and 1. t is the normalized progress through the stroke from 0 to 1. turn is higher for sharp turns and is between 0 and 1. There are three built-in pressure profiles: pressure_flat(), pressure_smooth() and pressure_human().


plot.new()
plot.window(c(0, 10), c(0, 11))

set_brush("classic/pen")
#> Warning in system2(pkg_config_bin, c("--variable=brushesdir",
#> "mypaint-brushes-2.0"), : running command ''/usr/bin/pkg-config'
#> --variable=brushesdir mypaint-brushes-2.0 2>/dev/null' had status 1 and error
#> message 'Function not implemented'

x <- seq(0.1, sqrt(10), length.out = 100)^2
y <- sin(seq(0, 10 * pi, length.out = 100)) * 0.6

text(0, 9.8, "pressure_flat()", adj = 0)
set_hand(hand(pressure = pressure_flat()))
lines(x, y + 9, lwd = 0.8, col = "red4")

text(0, 7.8, "pressure_smooth()", adj = 0)
set_hand(hand(pressure = pressure_smooth()))
lines(x, y + 7, lwd = 0.8, col = "red4")

text(0, 5.8, "pressure_human()", adj = 0)
set_hand(hand(pressure = pressure_human()))
lines(x, y + 5, lwd = 0.8, col = "red4")

text(0, 3.8, "pressure_human(taper = 1, start = 0, peak = 0.7)", adj = 0)
set_hand(hand(pressure = pressure_human(taper = 1, start = 0, peak = 0.7)))
lines(x, y + 3, lwd = 0.8, col = "red4")

text(0, 1.8, "pressure_human(turn_taper = 1, start = 0)", adj = 0)
set_hand(hand(pressure = pressure_human(turn_taper = 1, start = 0)))
lines(x, y + 1, lwd = 0.8, col = "red4")

Many brushes are affected by speed. Pass a speed profile in to hand(speed = ...); it uses the same (t, turn) arguments as pressure profiles, but returns a positive speed multiplier. speed_flat() keeps a constant speed, while speed_human() slows down near stroke endpoints and sharp turns. human_hand() uses speed_human() by default.


plot.new()
plot.window(c(0, 1.5), c(0, 7.5))
  
set_brush("deevad/chalk")
#> Warning in system2(pkg_config_bin, c("--variable=brushesdir",
#> "mypaint-brushes-2.0"), : running command ''/usr/bin/pkg-config'
#> --variable=brushesdir mypaint-brushes-2.0 2>/dev/null' had status 1 and error
#> message 'Function not implemented'

hands <- list(
  "speed_flat(0.25)" = hand(speed = speed_flat(0.25), pressure = pressure_human()),
  "speed_flat(2)" = hand(speed = speed_flat(2), pressure = pressure_human()),
  "speed_human()" = hand(speed = speed_human(), pressure = pressure_human()),
  "human_hand()" = human_hand()
)
x <- 0.5 + seq(0.07, 0.93, length.out = 180)
y <- 0.2 * sin(2 * pi * 2.1 * x)
ybase <- 7
col <- grDevices::adjustcolor("red4", alpha.f = 0.75)

for (i in seq_along(hands)) {
  label <- names(hands)[[i]]
  set_hand(hands[[i]])
  lines(x, y + ybase, lwd = 2.2, col = col)
  text(0, ybase, label, adj = 0)
  ybase <- ybase - 2
}

xtilt and ytilt affect how the “stylus” is tilted, which changes the shape of some brushes:


plot.new()
plot.window(c(0, 14), c(0, 50))
set_brush("classic/marker_fat")
#> Warning in system2(pkg_config_bin, c("--variable=brushesdir",
#> "mypaint-brushes-2.0"), : running command ''/usr/bin/pkg-config'
#> --variable=brushesdir mypaint-brushes-2.0 2>/dev/null' had status 1 and error
#> message 'Function not implemented'

x <- 4 + seq(0.1, sqrt(10), length.out = 100)^2
y <- sin(seq(0, 10 * pi, length.out = 100)) * 0.6
ybase <- 45

for (xtilt in c(0, 0.5, 1)) {
  for (ytilt in c(-0.5, 0, 0.5)) {
    set_hand(hand(xtilt = xtilt, ytilt = ytilt))
    lines(x, y + ybase, col = "red4")
    text(0, ybase, adj = 0,
         labels = paste("xtilt:", xtilt, " ytilt:", ytilt))
    ybase <- ybase - 5
  }
  
}

I don’t actually know any pens that respond to barrel rotation, but you could always make your own….