Hello Processing Forum,

I have been experimenting for about a week with Processing for Information Visualization and I'm very impressed with the results after a few evening hours.

My aim is to combine a 2D or even 3D warehouse visualization (very individual) with small charts (very standard like bar charts, line charts, sparklines) that get the dataset from a JDBC database. Now I'm stuck with integrating the output from JFreeChart into the 3D (OPENGL) context.

I've already managed to integrate a chart as BufferedImage like in this code snippet:

1. //Add jcommon-1.0.17.jar and jfreechart-1.0.14.jar to files (folder 'code')
   
2. JFreeChart chart;
   PImage chartImage;
   
   void setup(){
     size(300, 300);
    
     // create a dataset the chart is generated from
     DefaultPieDataset dataset = new DefaultPieDataset();
     dataset.setValue("Processing", new Integer(75));
     dataset.setValue("Other", new Integer(25));
   
     // create the chart from dataset and adjust visualization
     chart = ChartFactory.createPieChart(null, dataset, false, true, false);
     chart.setBorderVisible(false);
     chart.setBackgroundPaint(java.awt.Color.white) ;
     chart.removeLegend();
     chart.setAntiAlias(true);
     chart.setBorderPaint(java.awt.Color.white);
    
     PiePlot pp = (PiePlot) chart.getPlot();
     pp.setShadowXOffset(0);
     pp.setShadowYOffset(0);
     pp.setLabelLinksVisible(false);
     pp.setLabelGenerator(null);
     pp.setBackgroundAlpha(0);
     pp.setOutlineVisible(false);
   
     // create image from chart
     chartImage = new PImage(chart.createBufferedImage(300,300));
   }
   
   void draw(){
     // display chart image on screen
     image(chartImage, 0, 0);
   }
   
   

In OPENGL it shows up but of course as bitmap image. The GUI already offers a handle for scaling the drawing. Because the warehouse map is loaded as SVG image there's no distortion when scaling to a maximum level. In contrast the chart gets very pixelated.

Ok - I could generate a 5000 x 5000 px image and then scale it down.... hmmm...

So I'm wondering: Why at all transforming the JAVA2D objects into a BufferedImage instead of drawing directly into the graphics/rendering context of Processing? With perfect quality as vector graphic. How could I do that?

At the moment I'm experimenting with JAVA2D objects and Batik/SVG. Please see the extended code here:

1. import org.apache.batik.dom.GenericDOMImplementation;
   import org.apache.batik.svggen.SVGGraphics2D;
   import org.w3c.dom.*;
   import java.awt.geom.Rectangle2D;
   
   JFreeChart chart;
   PImage chartImage;
   PShape s;
   SVGGraphics2D svg;
   PGraphics pg;
   //PGraphicsJava2D pgj; - alternative for PGraphics?
   
   void setup(){
     size(300, 300);
    
     // create a dataset the chart is generated from
     DefaultPieDataset dataset = new DefaultPieDataset();
     dataset.setValue("Processing", new Integer(75));
     dataset.setValue("Other", new Integer(25));
   
     // create the chart from dataset
     chart = ChartFactory.createPieChart(null, dataset, false, true, false);
     chart.setBorderVisible(false);
     chart.setBackgroundPaint(java.awt.Color.white) ;
     chart.removeLegend();
     chart.setAntiAlias(true);
     chart.setBorderPaint(java.awt.Color.white);
    
     PiePlot pp = (PiePlot) chart.getPlot();
     pp.setShadowXOffset(0);
     pp.setShadowYOffset(0);
     //pp.setLabelPaint(java.awt.Color.red);
     pp.setLabelLinksVisible(false);
     pp.setLabelGenerator(null);
     //pp.setSectionPaint(java.awt.Color.red);
     // pp.setBaseSectionPaint(java.awt.Color.green);
     //pp.setForegroundAlpha(0.5f);
     pp.setBackgroundAlpha(0);
     pp.setOutlineVisible(false);
    
   
2.  // original BufferedImage approach
   
    // create image from chart
     chartImage = new PImage(chart.createBufferedImage(300,300));
    
   
3.  // SVG approach
   
     // Get a DOMImplementation and create an XML document
           DOMImplementation domImpl =
               GenericDOMImplementation.getDOMImplementation();
           Document document = domImpl.createDocument(null, "svg", null);
   
           // Create an instance of the SVG Generator
           svg = new SVGGraphics2D(document);
   
           // draw the chart in the SVG generator
           chart.draw(svg, new Rectangle2D.Double(0, 0, 400, 300), null);
          
          //use PShape - not possible
          //s = svg;
        
   
4.     // JAVA2D approach
   
        pg = createGraphics(80, 80, P3D);
          
   }
   
   void draw(){
    
   
5.   // original BufferedImage approach - SUCCESS
     // display chart image on screen
     image(chartImage, 0, 0);
   
   
6.   // SVG approach - FAILED
   
     //shape(s,0,0,30,30); - not possible to cast
   
   
7.  //JAVA2D approach - FAILED
   
   
   
   
   
     pg.beginDraw();
     //chart.draw( pg, new Rectangle2D.Double(0, 0, 400, 300)); - not possible to cast
     pg.endDraw();
   
     image(pg,50,50);
   }
    

I know that this is some kind of trial and error. If somebody could please give me a hint I'll dive into further ressources.

Thx a lot!