Creating multi-plot figures

I make almost all my figures for publication in IGOR and then save the graphics to load in to my paper without using an intermediate program. I set the width and height so the figure is the exact size I want. The problem I have is doing this for a figure that has more than one sub figure (a figure a, figure b, ...). I can get around this by creating more axis and drawing them only on a fraction of the plot area, allowing me to create a grid of plots. This works ok, but not perfect (I can't figure out how to have a line plot and a category plot in the same figure this way and labeling each figure is more time consuming). The other way I tried is creating a Layout and adding all the plots there and then save that as a graphic, but I have been unable to set the exact size of the graphic I want; however, the saved graphic is trimmed to just include the objects on the layout I can use a page sized layout and then just make all my figures fit inside the size that I want, not as user friendly but works. As a last alternative I use power point and just load in all the figures, change the page size to the size I want the figure, position everything and save it as whatever format I want, but I don't like having to use power point.

What do others do when making a multi-plot figure in igor?




[quote]I can't figure out how to have a line plot and a category plot in the same figure this way[/quote]

You can do this but you need separate axes for the category plot. Here is an example:
Make/N=3 data = p
Make/N=3/T category = {"A", "B", "C"}
Display data
ModifyGraph axisEnab(left)={0,0.45}
AppendToGraph/L=left2/B=bottom2 data vs category
ModifyGraph axisEnab(left2)={0.55,1},freePos(left2)=0,freePos(bottom2)={0,left2}


[quote]but I have been unable to set the exact size of the graphic I want[/quote]

You can set a custom page size using the Page Setup dialog.

[quote]the saved graphic is trimmed to just include the objects on the layout[/quote]

This is the default behavior. You can use the marquee tool to specify the area of the layout that you want to export. Then choose File->Save Graphics. The Save Graphics dialog generates a /W flag based on the marquee. The resulting SavePICT command will export just the specified part of the layout.

Yet another option is subwindows. Execute:
DisplayHelpTopic "Embedding and Subwindows"

This has a learning curve but might be the simplest solution in the end because each subwindow acts like a separate graph.
The subwindow looks promising. Is there a way to select the subwindow from the command line. Say I have a command ModifyGraph mirror(bottom)=0 that I want to apply to g0 but g1 is selected, can I select g0 or specify the ModifyGraph goes to g0 from a function call?

Thanks
Use the ModifyGraph /W flag:
String target = "Graph0#G0"
ModifyGraph /W=$target . . .


For details:
DisplayHelpTopic "Subwindow Syntax"