README.md

MakiePublicationTheme

My favourite settings for publication quality Makie.jl plots. This theme is for example used in Auth et. al., 2024.

The Makie demofigure for themes will look as follows:

using MakiePublicationTheme
using CairoMakie, Random # needed for demofigure

with_theme(publication_theme()) do
    f = demofigure()
end

Exporting figures with physical dimensions

MakiePublicationTheme.jl supplies helper functions in order to match physical figure and font sizes when saving figures.

using MakiePublicationTheme
using CairoMakie, Random

set_theme!(publication_theme())
update_theme!(fontsize=11) # use fontsize 11 instead of the default fontsize 10 here

size_cm = (12.0, 8.0)
dpi = 300
# size and px_per_unit will be used for setting correct sizes
size, px_per_unit = size_pixelgraphic(size_cm, dpi)

# set canvas size according to computed size
f = Figure(; size)

# fill the figure with a few things with font sizes
ax = Axis(f[1,1];
    xlabel = "xlabel in fontsize 11",
    ylabel = "ylabel in fontsize 11",
    title = "My 12cm x 8cm figure",
    )
fontsizes = 8:2:16
for (i, fontsize) in enumerate(fontsizes)
    text!(ax, 0, sum(i->fontsizes[i]/16, 1:i); text="Fontsize $fontsize", fontsize)
end
xlims!(ax, (-0.5, 1.0)); ylims!(ax, (0.0, 5))

# save figure that will have a resolution of 300dpi at 12cm x 8cm size
save("my_12x8cm_figure.png", f; px_per_unit)

Now the figure will have resolution of 300dpi when displayed at 12cm x 8cm. The font sizes then correspond to 11pt on the diagram axes and 16pt for the text labels in the figure.

Adapting the theme

The publication_theme() can be updated like any other Makie theme. For example changing the color palette that applies to line plots is done as follows:

using MakiePublicationTheme
using CairoMakie, Random # needed for demofigure

set_theme!(publication_theme())
update_theme!(palette = (color = Makie.to_colormap(:batlowKS),))

f = demofigure()