Cricket Graph and ChemIntosh replacements
By UKW at Wed, Oct 18 2006 11:06am |
As a research associate in a lab doing flavonoid research, I have relied on good old Cricket Graph and Chemintosh forever. With my new MacBook Pro, alas, they don't work. What is the general experience in getting replacement software for those applications? Should be easy to use and not too expensive. ChemDraw? ChemWindow (BioRad)? DeltaGraph?
Suggestions
I don't know what you need for graphing -- you might check:
* ChartSmith
* DeltaGraph
* Kaleidagraph
There's actually a thread about CricketGraph here.
As for drawing, I really think ChemDraw is the best. There basically isn't any competition on the Mac that I know of. The new version has some biological templates which you might like. I'm pretty sure there's a free trial.
-Geoff
ChemDraw
ChemDraw from Cambridgesoft is by far the best drawing package, especially for publication quality drawings. In fact a number of journals require it.
There are a couple of java applications, Marvin and JChempaint come to mind but I still think they need to do a bit to catch up with ChemDraw.
DeltaGraph
I haven't had a need to use DeltaGraph since it was ported to OSX (I don't have the funds to upgrade from my old Classic version, nor have I needed it), but I think it would be a good choice.
So far I've been able to get by with Excel 2004 for all my charting needs, or MATLAB for certain things.
You might want to look into OmniGraffle Pro for a general drawing app... I constantly get compliments on my manuscript figures which I do exclusively in OmniGraffle.
Although not intel native
Although not intel native yet, Prism 4 is definitely worth a look.
1. It is completely cross platform. Looks almost identical on mac and PC.
2. Great integration of data, graph and statistical analysis
3. Produces very high quality 2D plots, publication quality.
I am currently using it in my macbook pro without any hiccups at all.
For drawing, as mentioned by another person, Omnigraffle is fantastic - you may have to create a few templates for whatever you might use in your field. But it is a snap to do in Omni. Worth a try.
DataGraph can import Cricket
DataGraph can import Cricket Graph data files (either through the import menu action or by dragging the file onto the table).
DataGraph creates publication quality graphs, and contains many common statistical/post-processing actions such as function fits, histograms and box plots. For function fits, you can type in your own expression such as Michaelis-Menten and more general Hill functions. You can also do non-parametrized fits using LOESS, and kernel density estimation when drawing histograms.
You can even use DataGraph from scripting languages using the command line action.
The graphs look nice, and you can tweak them extensively. In some ways it is aimed to fill the void left by Cricket Graph in that it should be quick and easy to create graphs that look professional. In many ways it is significantly beefier and contains a lot of modern visualization methods and design principles. But my hope is that I managed to do that without making the application hard to use for new users and people that don't need all of that power on a daily basis.
DataGraph has been discussed on this site quite a bit, but since this thread just got a fresh post I decided to chime in.
David
Lost without CricketGraph
rocdoc69
Like many users, I am a huge fan of CricketGraph because of the intuitive ease of use, and also the lack of umpteen add-on facilities which I never needed and don't want. It's such a neat little bit of software and it still does two things that were critical for me, which other programs fail on.
One, it allows me to specify PRECISELY the size of the plot, down to fractions of a mm, which means I can use it to plot downhole log data at exactly 1:50 or 1:200 scale to match other scaled plots. Try doing that in Excel ......no, honestly, don't even try!
Two, I can copy the charts to clipboard and then paste into FreeHand 2-D drafting files as objects which I can then freely edit, group, ungroup using normal FreeHand tools, just like any other part of the drawing. Try this with DeltaGraph, Chartsmith, etc. and all you get is a big fat rectangle with intersecting diagonal lines. For this reason, I STILL have a Mac running OS9, solely to create charts which I can import into FreeHand or other comparable drafting packages.
I'd buy and use another graphing package if I could get one to do these two things for me, but I'd still miss CricketGraph for being a stunning little program that did all I wanted, very intuitively and without being a bloated pile of code.
Ken
Well DataGraph can certainly
Well DataGraph can certainly allow you to specify the size exactly in terms of pixels, mm/cm, inches. You can set the axis locations exactly.
Regarding copy-paste. I believe that Cricket Graph copied the graph as a PICT, and FreeHand understood that. DataGraph copies the figure as a pdf and tiff, and Illustrator is able to understand this since it is able to parse pdf files.
But chances are that you can do the tweaks you want in DataGraph.
Code bloat is always going to be relative. I think that DataGraph is pretty lean. DataGraph has a lot more features than other plot programs, and is not trying to clone Excel in terms of UI. If you feel that it is hard to use and have a constructive criticism I would love to hear about it (there is a feedback entry in the Help menu).
David