[R] "figure margins too large" issue

Marc Schwartz marc_schwartz at comcast.net
Wed Sep 10 04:28:34 CEST 2008


It is not the default setting for par("mar") that changed.

There are other device specific changes that occurred in 2.7.0,
including, for some devices (eg. pdf and bitmap), the default device
dimensions.

See the bullets in the NEWS file under "SIGNIFICANT USER-VISIBLE
CHANGES" and "GRAPHICS CHANGES" for 2.7.0. It could be something subtle,
having to do with any font/symbol selections and/or sizes (eg. cex.*).

You still did not provide a small reproducible example, which would
better help us help you. The fundamental error message suggests that you
need to either reduce one or more of the par("mar") settings to reduce
the margin size, increase the device dimensions, or alter some other
attribute. This is further complicated if you might be using layout() or
par(mfrow/mfcol) to create a matrix of plots.

Regards,

Marc

on 09/09/2008 09:05 PM Hui-Yi Chu wrote:
> Thank you Marc,
> I have checked two versions following your suggestions and the default
> setting of mar in both versions are same to each other as
> c(5,4,4,2)+0.1. Besides, I dont change any default settings about the
> graphics devices.
> For more info, following is my two sessions of R.
> 
> *1.*
> R version 2.6.2 (2008-02-08)
> i386-pc-mingw32
> 
> locale:
> LC_COLLATE=English_United States.1252;LC_CTYPE=English_United
> States.1252;LC_MONETARY=English_United
> States.1252;LC_NUMERIC=C;LC_TIME=English_United States.1252
> 
> attached base packages:
> [1] stats     graphics  grDevices utils     datasets  methods   base    
> 
> 
> 
> *2.*
> R version 2.7.2 (2008-08-25)
> i386-pc-mingw32
> 
> locale:
> LC_COLLATE=English_United States.1252;LC_CTYPE=English_United
> States.1252;LC_MONETARY=English_United
> States.1252;LC_NUMERIC=C;LC_TIME=English_United States.1252
> 
> attached base packages:
> [1] stats     graphics  grDevices utils     datasets  methods   base    
>  
> 
> Thank you in advance!!
> Hui-Yi
> 
> On Tue, Sep 9, 2008 at 9:04 PM, Marc Schwartz <marc_schwartz at comcast.net
> <mailto:marc_schwartz at comcast.net>> wrote:
> 
>     on 09/09/2008 05:19 PM Hui-Yi Chu wrote:
>     > Hi everyone,
>     >
>     > I updated R from 2.6.2 to 2.7.2 recently but keep getting the
>     error "figure
>     > margins too large" when plot pictures which never happened to me
>     when using
>     > 2.6.2. <http://2.6.2.> After googling and searching the mailing
>     list, I still have no idea
>     > how to optimize it. One of my packages fixed bugs in 2.7.2
>     version, so that
>     > I have to use it. Any suggestions are really appreciated!!!
>     >
>     > Best regards,
>     > Hui-Yi Chu
> 
>     There were substantial changes in the graphics devices for 2.7.0.
>     <http://2.7.0.> More
>     information here:
> 
>      https://svn.r-project.org/R/branches/R-2-7-branch/NEWS
> 
>     and review the sections for 2.7.0 and newer, which now includes 2.7.2
>     patched.
> 
>     Without knowing your OS and which graphics device you are using and
>     having an issue with, preferably along with sample (working) code that
>     reproduces the issue, it will be difficult to know the exact source of
>     the problem.
> 
>     A first place to start however would be to see ?par and review 'mar'.
>     You will likely need to adjust either the default values or any adjusted
>     values you have in your code.
> 
>     HTH,
> 
>     Marc Schwartz
> 
>



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