ezLecture Graphing with IGOR
Channel: Ashley Carter
Date: 2012-09-02

ezLecture:  Graphing with IGOR
Music: Jiony, Not Found (Invisible)

Here we will learn how to graph in IGOR. Step 1 is to create the plot. In IGOR go to the "Window" tab and select "New Graph." Then select the y values and the x values. Click "Do it." This produces a plot.

Step 2 is to add axis labels to the graph. To modify the axis double click on the axis. In the dialog box select the "Axis Label" tab. Choose the font and font size. To make the label bold go to "Special," "Style," "Bold." Enter the label. Here we have set the bottom axis. To set the left axis copy the text and paste into the "Axis Label" tab for the "left" axis. We can see the changes as we go because we have checked "Live Update." Click "Do it" to keep the changes.

Step 3 is to modify the graph axes. There are many possibilities. Here I will show you some steps that I think improve the look of the graph. Again we double click the axes. In "Axis" we uncheck "Axis standoff" and turn on the "Mirror Axis" for both axes. In "Ticks and Grids" we select the location as "Inside" and set the "Major" tick length to 4. In "Auto/Man Ticks" we can turn off auto ticks and set our own "Computed Manual Ticks." In "Axis Range" we can turn off the auto range and enter in our own Manual range. Remember to click "Do it" to keep all of these changes.

Step 4 is to modify the trace appearance. To do this we double click on the trace. A dialog appears that allows us to set the trace "Mode." Let's choose "Lines and Markers." We can also change the trace color. To update the graph click "Do it."

Step 5 is to capture the graph preferences that way you don't have to set all of these properties every time. There are a couple of ways to do this. In the first way we will open a new graph. Then we will copy all of the commands that we used to make the previous graph. Paste them into the command line and hit enter. The graph updates. An easier method is to go to "Graph" and "Capture Graph Prefs." In the dialog check the features you would like to capture and click "Capture Prefs." When you open a new graph your graph is automatically generated with the correct preferences.

 That's it!