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API Reference: Themes

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API Reference: Themes

FastPlot includes a configurable theme system with 6 built-in presets, 3 color palettes, and full customization.

FastSenseTheme

Function that returns a theme struct. Not a class — returns a plain struct.

Usage

t = FastSenseTheme();                  % Returns 'default' preset
t = FastSenseTheme('dark');            % Named preset
t = FastSenseTheme('dark', 'FontSize', 14, 'LineWidth', 2.0);  % Preset with overrides
t = FastSenseTheme(struct('Background', [0 0 0]));  % Custom struct (merged with defaults)

Applying Themes

% At construction
fp = FastSense('Theme', 'dark');
fig = FastSenseGrid(2, 2, 'Theme', 'industrial');
dock = FastSenseDock('Theme', 'scientific');

% After construction
fp.Theme = FastSenseTheme('dark');
fp.reapplyTheme();

Built-in Presets

default

White background, standard MATLAB-like colors. Good for general use.

  • Background: white [1 1 1]
  • Axes: white
  • Grid: light gray, dotted
  • Font: Helvetica, 10pt
  • Palette: 7-color vibrant set

dark

Dark gray background with bright, high-contrast lines. Good for monitoring dashboards.

  • Background: dark gray [0.15 0.15 0.15]
  • Axes: slightly lighter [0.18 0.18 0.18]
  • Foreground: light gray [0.9 0.9 0.9]
  • Grid: gray, low alpha
  • Palette: bright neon-inspired colors

light

Soft white background with muted, comfortable colors. Good for long analysis sessions.

  • Background: off-white [0.98 0.98 0.98]
  • Axes: white
  • Grid: light, subtle
  • Palette: muted, softer tones

industrial

High contrast with engineering-style presentation. Good for plant monitoring.

  • Background: very dark [0.1 0.1 0.1]
  • Bold grid lines
  • Larger fonts
  • Palette: high-visibility colors

scientific

Publication-ready. Serif font, no grid, colorblind-safe palette.

  • Background: white
  • Font: Times New Roman (or serif)
  • No grid (GridStyle = 'none')
  • Palette: Wong (2011) colorblind-safe 7-color set
  • Thinner lines

ocean

Deep blue-green color scheme. Good for marine, environmental, or dark-themed dashboards.

  • Background: deep navy [0.05 0.12 0.18]
  • Axes: dark teal [0.07 0.16 0.24]
  • Foreground: cool gray-blue
  • Palette: cool-toned colors

Theme Fields

Field Type Default Description
Background 1x3 RGB [1 1 1] Figure background color
AxesColor 1x3 RGB [1 1 1] Axes background color
ForegroundColor 1x3 RGB [0.15 0.15 0.15] Text, tick labels, axis lines
GridColor 1x3 RGB [0.8 0.8 0.8] Grid line color
GridAlpha double 0.5 Grid transparency (0-1)
GridStyle char ':' Grid line style: '-', '--', ':', '-.', 'none'
FontName char 'Helvetica' Font family for labels and titles
FontSize double 10 Base font size for axis labels
TitleFontSize double 12 Title font size
LineWidth double 0.5 Default data line width
LineColorOrder Nx3 or char (7-color set) Color cycle matrix or palette name
ThresholdColor 1x3 RGB [0.8 0 0] Default threshold line color
ThresholdStyle char '--' Default threshold line style
ViolationMarker char 'o' Default violation marker shape
ViolationSize double 4 Default violation marker size (points)
BandAlpha double 0.1 Default band fill transparency

Color Palettes

LineColorOrder can be an Nx3 RGB matrix or one of these named palettes:

vibrant (default)

Bright, distinct colors optimized for dark and light backgrounds.

muted

Softer, desaturated colors for a professional look. Less eye strain.

colorblind

Wong (2011) colorblind-safe palette. 7 colors distinguishable by people with the most common forms of color vision deficiency. Used by the 'scientific' preset.

Usage:

t = FastSenseTheme('dark', 'LineColorOrder', 'colorblind');
t = FastSenseTheme('default', 'LineColorOrder', 'muted');

Custom palette:

myColors = [
    0.2 0.4 0.8;   % Blue
    0.8 0.2 0.2;   % Red
    0.2 0.7 0.3;   % Green
    0.9 0.6 0.1;   % Orange
];
t = FastSenseTheme('dark', 'LineColorOrder', myColors);

Theme Inheritance

Themes cascade with this priority (highest first):

Element override  >  Tile theme  >  Figure theme  >  'default' preset
  1. Element override — Color/LineWidth etc. passed directly to addLine(), addThreshold()
  2. Tile theme — setTileTheme() overrides for specific tiles
  3. Figure theme — Theme from FastSenseGrid or FastSense constructor
  4. default preset — Fills in any unspecified fields

Each level only needs to specify the fields it wants to change. Unspecified fields cascade from the next level.

Example — Cascading themes

% Figure uses dark theme
fig = FastSenseGrid(2, 2, 'Theme', 'dark');

% Tile 2 overrides just the background
fig.setTileTheme(2, struct('Background', [0.1 0.1 0.2]));

% Individual line overrides color
fp = fig.tile(1);
fp.addLine(x, y, 'Color', [1 0.5 0]);  % Orange, overrides theme palette

FastSenseDefaults

Global default configuration. All FastSense instances inherit these unless overridden.

% View current defaults (edit the function to change)
FastSenseDefaults()

Default Fields

Field Default Description
Theme 'default' Default theme preset
ThemeDir 'themes' Custom theme folder
Verbose false Diagnostics
MinPointsForDownsample 5000 Raw plotting threshold
DownsampleFactor 2 Points per pixel
PyramidReduction 100 Pyramid compression factor
DefaultDownsampleMethod 'minmax' Downsampling algorithm
XScale 'linear' Default X scale
YScale 'linear' Default Y scale
LiveInterval 2.0 Polling interval (seconds)
DashboardPadding [0.06 0.04 0.01 0.02] Dashboard edge padding
DashboardGapH 0.03 Horizontal tile gap
DashboardGapV 0.06 Vertical tile gap
TabBarHeight 0.03 Dock tab bar height

To reset cached defaults:

FastSense.resetDefaults();

Custom Theme Examples

Dark theme with large fonts

t = FastSenseTheme('dark', 'FontSize', 14, 'TitleFontSize', 18, 'LineWidth', 2.0);
fp = FastSense('Theme', t);

Publication-ready with custom colors

t = FastSenseTheme('scientific', ...
    'LineColorOrder', [0 0 0; 0.5 0.5 0.5; 0 0 0.8], ...
    'LineWidth', 1.0, ...
    'FontSize', 12);
fp = FastSense('Theme', t);

Minimal industrial theme

t = FastSenseTheme('industrial', 'GridAlpha', 0.1, 'BandAlpha', 0.08);
fig = FastSenseGrid(2, 2, 'Theme', t);

See Also

FastPlot Wiki

API Reference

Guides

Use Cases

Internals

Resources

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