Analysis in R: Shall we make a Raincloud? The “ggrain” package

This is an introduction to a package that creates a “Raincloud” that uses a combination of boxplot, half-violin and point plots to represent data.

The commands of the “ggplot2” package are available, making it easy to customise the appearance.

Package version is 0.0.2. Checked with R version 4.2.2.

Install Package

Run the following command.

#Install Package
install.packages("ggrain")

Example

See the command and package help for details.

#Loading the library
library("ggrain")

###Create Data#####
#Install the tidyverse package if it is not already there
if(!require("tidyverse", quietly = TRUE)){
  install.packages("tidyverse");require("tidyverse")
}

set.seed(1234)
n <- 100
TestData <- tibble(Group = sample(paste0("Group ", 1:2), n, replace = TRUE),
                   Time_1 = rnorm(n) - 1.5,
                   Time_2 = rnorm(n),
                   Time_3 = rnorm(n) - 1.5,) %>%
  rowid_to_column("ID") %>%
  pivot_longer(!c(Group, ID), names_to = "Time", values_to = "Value")
########

###Creating Raincloud: geom_rain command#####
#Used in conjunction with ggplot2
ggplot(TestData, aes(x = Time, y = Value,
                     fill = Group, color = Group)) +
  #geom_rain command
  geom_rain(
    #How to plot a boxplot,violinplot: raine.side option
    #right: "r",left: "l",flanking: "f",
    #1-by-1 flanking: "f1x1",2-by-2 flanking: "f2x2"
    rain.side = "f",
    
    #Connect point plot with line based on indicator: id.long.var option
    id.long.var = "ID", 
    
    #Specify color based on point plot index: cov option
    #Invalid if color is specified with the point.args option
    cov = "ID",
    
    ###Start_Formatting options for each plot#####
    #pointplot: point.args option
    point.args = list(color = "red", size = 1.5,
                      alpha = 0.45),
    #boxplot: boxplot.args option
    boxplot.args = list(color = "black",
                        outlier.shape = TRUE),
    #violinplot:violin.args option
    violin.args = list(color = "green", alpha = 0.75),
    #id.long.var: line.args option
    line.args = rlang::list2(color = "blue", size = 0.5,
                             alpha = 0.3),
    ###End_Formatting options for each plot#####
    
    ###Start_Positioning options for each plot#####
    #Some raine.side options are invalid for "f1x1" and "f2x2#
    #pointplot: point.args.pos option
    point.args.pos = list(position = position_jitter(width = 0.04,
                                                     height = 0)),
    #boxplot: boxplot.args.pos option
    boxplot.args.pos = list(width = 0.1,
                            #Using the position_dodgenudge command from the ggpp package
                            #Each axis is 0-based, 2Group in the example,
                            #x=c(Time1:Group1 position, Time2:Group2 position,...)
                            position = ggpp::position_dodgenudge(x = c(-.13, -.13,
                                                                       -.10, .10,
                                                                       .13, .38))),
    #violinplot: violin.args.pos option
    violin.args.pos = list(width = 0.4,
                           #Using the position_nudge command from the ggplot2 package
                           position = position_nudge(x = c(rep(-.2, 256*2),
                                                           rep(-.38, 256*2),
                                                           rep(-.2, 256*2),
                                                           rep(.2, 256*2),
                                                           rep(.15, 256*2),
                                                           rep(.45, 256*2)))),
    #id.long.var: line.args.pos option
    line.args.pos = list(position = position_jitter(width = 0.04,
                                                    height = 0)),
    ###End_Positioning options for each plot#####
    ) -> BaseRaincloud

#Check
BaseRaincloud

###Adjusting the appearance of BaseRaincloud with the ggplot2 command#####
BaseRaincloud +
  #boxplot,violinplot change fill color
  scale_fill_manual(values = c("lightblue", "yellow")) +
  #Hide legend
  guides(fill = "none", color = "none") +
  #Apply Theme
  theme_dark() + 
  #Coord flip
  coord_flip()
########

Output Example

・geom_rain command

・Adjusting the appearance of BaseRaincloud with the ggplot2 command#

I hope this makes your analysis a little easier !!