Creating an Inset
The inset is a detail of the spectrum that is shown duplicated at a higher resolution.
You can add as many insets to a page as you like. The inset is simply a plot. Instead of creating an inset,
you can create two or more independent plots with the commands of the menu View > Split Plot.
While the term inset means “plot inside the plot”, there are no conceptual differences between insets,
subplots and the main plot. At any time, however, only one plot is active -
the one currently acting as the main plot.
The Split... commands, like any other command, are applied to the active plot.
How to Create an Inset:
- Choose Tools > Monitor.
- Select the region that will be depicted. Initially you will see a new window, not an inset. The title of the window reports the central frequency of the selected region, which can still be modified. The monitor tool is still active, but not necessary. If you are satisfied with the current selection, you can choose Tools > Pointer.
- Resize the monitor window and place it over the main window at the same location where you want the inset to stay. The monitor window should not cover the margins of the main window.
- Choose View > Fix Inset. This transforms the monitor window into an inset.
An inset of a 2-D spectrum may look different because any top and left margins present in the monitor window are removed. If you want to preview the final inset in the monitor window exactly as it will appear, reduce or remove the margins around the main plot. - An inset cannot be manipulated directly, but can be promoted to the status of main plot. The main plot can be manipulated in all the usual ways. Press the 7 or 9 keys to promote all the insets, one at a time, to the status of main plot. The old main plot enters a dormant state (it is just another inset), until it is promoted back to its original status.
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To verify which plot is the main one, press 8.
A colored frame appears around it. Press 8 again to hide the frame.
The framed inset can be deleted with View > Remove This Plot. If you hide the frame, the same command becomes “Remove Insets”.
It is possible to enclose any inset, and the main plot as well, in a permanent frame.
This frame has the same color as the scales and includes them.
To display the frame, open the dialog Format > Axes and Scales,
select the panel “Unit” and
turn on the option Clipping Box.
These boxes have the useful property of restricting drawing operations to the area enclosed by the box.
In other words, the portions of the spectrum that would go outside the frame are hidden.
The inset is not a picture, but a live object. To appreciate this, try changing the phase of a spectrum containing insets.
Related Topics
Working with a Navigation Window