Plotly Implementation

Introduction

Plotly, also known by its URL, Plot.ly,[1] is a technical computing company headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, that develops online data analytics and visualization tools. Plotly provides online graphing, analytics, and statistics tools for individuals and collaboration, as well as scientific graphing libraries for Python, R, MATLAB, Perl, Julia, Arduino, and REST [1].

Geometry visualization within geovar is handled by Plotly. Features of interest include:

• Interactive, web-based plotting
• Offline plotting (users do not need to register) [2]
• Static image export (support many formats, including: PNG and SVG) [3]

---

Installation

NOTES:

• You must have Python 3.x installed
• The following instructions only apply to Windows systems... for now...

0. Python prerequisites

   NOTE: Some of these requirements may have been completed previously

   • Open Windows command prompt with administrator permissions
   • Move to the Python 3.x directory
   • Enter the following command

     python -m pip install --upgrade pip
     python -m pip install numpy
     python -m pip install numpy-stl
     python -m pip install plotly
     

1. Download and install Node.js

   NOTE: Node.js will install the npm package, needed to install orca and psutil

2. Install orca

   • Open Windows command prompt with administrator permissions
   • Enter the following command

     npm install -g [email protected] orca
     

3. Install psutil

   • Open Windows command prompt with administrator permissions
   • Move to the Python 3.x directory
   • Enter the following command

     python -m pip install psutil
     

---

References

1. Plotly
2. Plotly - Offline Plotting
3. Plotly - Static Image Export