DPlot

The first and most important thing you need to know about DPlot is that it is not a tool for the regular user. As it is a powerful graphing software, it is meant for engineers, scientists, students, and anyone else who needs a tool to create graphs. Use the application to create top quality graphs – a large variety of graphs as a matter of fact.

You can install DPlot on top of a PC powered by anything from Windows 7 down to the quite old Windows 95. To do so, you will have to download a 10.4MB installation file and run it. A setup wizard will show up when you run the file and ask you to choose between a Full installation (DPlot example graphics, image export plugins, image import plugins, and WAV audio export), Compact installation, and Custom installation. It will also ask you to choose the installation directory, pick if you want a desktop shortcut, and select if you want to associate DPlot with .grf and grfz files.

The DPlot's interface has a main pane that displays the graph you’re working on. At the top there are numerous buttons associated with various pieces of functionality DPlot has to offer. Above those buttons there’s a traditional File Menu. The interface is simple enough for a novice to immediately feel at home, so it should not pose a problem to a scientist or an engineer.

The functionality though, or better yet, understanding what you can do with the DPlot application, may pose a problem, even to a scientist or engineer. That is why when you launch the application you are invited to load some example plots (please note that the examples are available only if you go with a Full installation or with a Custom installation and check the examples). There are 12 examples in all; they will be displayed as a grid on DPlot’s interface. You can view each graph example and if you’re curious how they were made, click the link underneath “How was this graph created?” – it’s in the upper left hand corner. These examples will help you better understand what you can achieve with DPlot. To complement the examples, there’s a detailed Help File.

Once you understand how to use DPlot, you can graph and manipulate 1, 2, 3 and 4D data, create contour plots of 3 and 4D data, and use data from a variety of sources to create presentation-quality graphs. To make sure your graphs capture the audience’s attention, you can put a custom background; with DPlot, you can pick a BMP, GIF, JPG, PNG, or TIF image and use it as the background from your 2D plots. Speaking about images, if you’re going to create a graph for your company, you can put the company’s logo on 2D plots.

You have 30 days to go through the long list of DPlot features and assess the powerful graphing functionality it has to offer. Please note that the trial will put a watermark on the output and will keep reminding you to get a license.

Anyone who wants a powerful tool to create graphs is very well advised to get DPlot.