ggblend-package: Blending and compositing for ggplot2

In ggblend: Blending and Compositing Algebra for 'ggplot2'

Blending and compositing for ggplot2

Description

ggblend is an R package that adds support for R 4.2 blend modes (e.g. "multiply", "overlay", etc) to ggplot2.

Details

The primary support for blending is provided by the blend() function, which can be used to augment ggplot2::ggplot() layers/geoms or lists of layers/geoms in a ggplot2::ggplot() specification.

For example, one can replace something like this:

df |>
  ggplot(aes(x, y)) +
  geom_X(...) +
  geom_Y(...) +
  geom_Z(...)

With something like this:

df |>
  ggplot(aes(x, y)) +
  geom_X(...) +
  geom_Y(...) |> blend("multiply") +
  geom_Z(...)

In order to apply a "multiply" blend to the layer with geom_Y(...).

Package options

The following global options can be set using options() to modify the behavior of ggblend:

• "ggblend.check_blend": If TRUE (default), blend() will warn if you attempt to use a blend mode not supported by the current graphics device, as reported by dev.capabilities()$compositing. Since this check can be unreliable on some devices (they will report not support a blend mode that they do support), you can disable this warning by setting this option to FALSE.

• "ggblend.check_affine_transform": If TRUE (default), affine_transform() will warn if you attempt to use a blend mode not supported by the current graphics device, as reported by dev.capabilities()$transformation. Since this check can be unreliable on some devices (they will report not support a blend mode that they do support), you can disable this warning by setting this option to FALSE.

Author(s)

Maintainer: Matthew Kay [e-mail] (ORCID) [copyright holder]

See Also

Useful links:

• https://mjskay.github.io/ggblend/

• https://github.com/mjskay/ggblend

• Report bugs at https://github.com/mjskay/ggblend/issues

ggblend documentation built on Nov. 5, 2025, 7:07 p.m.