Pattern Placeholder - Parameters and Examples

suppressPackageStartupMessages({
  library(dplyr)
  library(ggplot2)
  library(ggpattern)
})

placeholder - Filling with an image placeholder

Array-based patterns allow the user to specify an RGBA that should be displayed in the geom.

Getting the correct sized image such that it takes up the full space without being distorted can be a time-consuming task.

The placeholder pattern takes out this drudgery by fetching exactly the correct sized image to fit the space. These images come from image placeholder sites which are most often used by web-developers as a stand-in for a final image while they are developing a new site.

placeholder options

Aesthetic	Description	Default
pattern_type	Image source	‘kitten’
pattern_alpha	Alpha	NA
pattern_aspect_ratio	Override aspect ratio	NA
pattern_key_scale_factor	Additional scale factor for legend	1

placeholder option pattern_type

The following is a list of all the pattern_type values which are valid. If unspecified or unknown, then ggpattern will use pattern_type = 'kitten'.

If you would like only greyscale images, append bw to the name, e.g. to display only black and white kittens use pattern_type = 'kittenbw'.

Click the link to see an example of each placeholder generator

• ‘kitten’ - kitten
• ‘picsum’ - random picture from picsum
• ‘murray’ - bill murray
• ‘cage’ - nicholas cage
• ‘bear’ - bears
• ‘seagal’ - steven seagal
• ‘placeholder’ - placeholder.com
• ‘dummy’ - image showing dimensions
• ‘flickr’ - random picture from flickr
• ‘beard’ - beards
• ‘lorempixel’ - lorempixel
• ‘placeimg’ - random pic from placeimg.com
• ‘keanu’ - Keanu

All placeholder names are available in ggpattern::placeholder_names.

Example Data

#~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
# Simple testing data
#~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
df1 <- data.frame(
  trt     = c("a", "b", "c"), 
  outcome = c(2.3, 1.9, 3.2),
  stringsAsFactors = FALSE
)

Example: pattern = 'placeholder' - pattern_type = 'bear'

ggplot(df1, aes(trt, outcome)) +
  geom_col_pattern(
    aes(fill = trt), 
    pattern      = 'placeholder', 
    pattern_type = 'bear',
    colour       = 'black'
  ) +
  theme_bw(15) +
  labs(
    title    = "ggpattern::geom_col_pattern()",
    subtitle = "pattern='placeholder', pattern_type='bear'"
  ) +
  theme(legend.position = 'none') +
  coord_fixed(ratio = 1/2)

Example: pattern = 'placeholder' - pattern_type = 'bear' with pattern_alpha

ggplot(df1, aes(trt, outcome)) +
  geom_col_pattern(
    aes(fill = trt), 
    pattern       = 'placeholder', 
    pattern_type  = 'bear',
    pattern_alpha = 0.5,
    colour        = 'black'
  ) +
  theme_bw(15) +
  labs(
    title    = "ggpattern::geom_col_pattern()",
    subtitle = "pattern='placeholder', pattern_type='bear'"
  ) +
  theme(legend.key.size = unit(1.5, 'cm')) +
  coord_fixed(ratio = 1/2)

Example: pattern = 'placeholder' - pattern_type = 'picsum'

ggplot(mtcars) +
  geom_density_pattern(
    aes(x = mpg, group = as.factor(cyl)),
    pattern      = 'placeholder',
    pattern_type = 'picsum'
  ) +
  theme_bw(15) +
  theme(legend.position = 'none') +
  labs(
    title    = "ggpattern::geom_col_pattern()",
    subtitle = "pattern='placeholder', pattern_type='picsum'"
  ) +
  coord_fixed(ratio = 80)

Example: pattern = 'placeholder' - pattern_type = 'dummy'

ggplot(df1, aes(trt, outcome)) +
  geom_col_pattern(
    aes(fill = trt), 
    pattern       = 'placeholder', 
    pattern_type  = 'dummy',
    colour        = 'black'
  ) +
  theme_bw(15) +
  labs(
    title    = "ggpattern::geom_col_pattern()",
    subtitle = "pattern='placeholder', pattern_type='dummy'"
  ) +
  theme(legend.position = 'none') +
  coord_fixed(ratio = 1/2)

Example: pattern = 'placeholder' - pattern_type = 'kitten'

#~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
# Example data for pie chart
#~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
df2 <- data.frame(
  group = factor(c("Cool", "But", "Use", "Less"), levels = c("Cool", "But", "Use", "Less")),
  value = c(10, 20, 30, 40)
)

ggplot(df2, aes(x="", y = value, pattern_angle = group))+
  geom_bar_pattern(
    pattern      = 'placeholder',
    pattern_type = 'kitten',
    pattern_aspect_ratio = 1,
    width        = 1,
    stat         = "identity",
    colour       = 'white',
    size         = 2
  ) +
  coord_polar("y", start=0) +
  theme_void(15) +
  theme(legend.position = 'none') +
  labs(
    title    = "ggpattern::geom_col_pattern()",
    subtitle = "pattern='placeholder', pattern_type='kitten'"
  )