Create Meme in R

special note for windows users

For windows users, you need to register your font before using it in R graphics (see discussion here).

if (.Platform$OS.type == "windows") {
    windowsFonts(
        Impact = windowsFont("Impact"),
        Courier = windowsFont("Courier")
    )
}

meme

Call meme to add meme captions:

library(meme)
u <- system.file("angry8.jpg", package="meme")
meme(u, "code", "all the things!")

The grammar of meme

Not that useful, just to mimic ggplot2:

mmplot(u) + mm_caption("calm down", "and RTFM",
                       color="purple")

meme_save: a meme version of ggsave

The meme output can be saved as an object, and can be exported to file using meme_save. meme_save helps user setting up the output figure aspect ratio and calls ggsave to export the figure:

u2 <- system.file("success.jpg", package="meme")
x <- meme(u2, "please", "tell me more")

outfile <- tempfile(fileext=".png")
meme_save(x, file=outfile)

plot method

Users can plot the meme output and change the caption or other parameters in real time.

plot(x, size = 2, "happy friday!", "wait, sorry, it's monday", color = "firebrick", font = "Courier")

+ method

Instead of using parameters in plot() explictely, Users can use + aes() to set the plot parameters:

x + aes(upper = "#barbarplots",
        lower = "friends don't let friends make bar plots",
        color = firebrick, font = Courier, size=1.5)

or using + list(). The following command will also generate the figure displayed above.

x + list(upper = "#barbarplots",
        lower = "friends don't let friends make bar plots",
        color = "firebrick", font = "Courier", size=1.5)

multi-language support

I didn’t do anything about it. Multi-language was supported internally. Just simply select a font for your language.

y <- meme(u, "卧槽", "听说你想用中文", font="STHeiti")
y

grid support

library(grid)
mm <- meme(u, "code", "all the things!", size=.3, color='firebrick', bgcolor=NULL)

grid.newpage()
pushViewport(viewport(width=.9, height=.9))
grid.rect(gp = gpar(lty="dashed"))

xx <- seq(0, 2*pi , length.out=10)
yy <- sin(xx)

for (i in seq_along(xx)) {
    vp <- viewport(x = xx[i]/(2*pi), y = (yy[i]-min(yy))/2, width=.05, height=.05)
    print(mm, vp = vp)
}

ggplot2 support

library(ggplot2)
library(ggimage)

d <- data.frame(x = xx, y = yy)
ggplot(d, aes(x, y)) + geom_line() +
    geom_subview(aes(x, y), data=d, subview=mm, width=.3, height=.15)

ggplot(d, aes(x, y)) +
    geom_subview(x = 0, y = 0, subview=mm+aes(size=3), width=Inf, height=Inf) +
    geom_point() + geom_line()

cowplot support

library(cowplot)
plot_grid(x, y, ncol=1, labels = c("A", "B"))

font support

In addition to the fonts installed on your system, there are many amusing fonts that are funny for meme, e.g. fonts on https://fontmeme.com/fonts/.

## import pokemon fonts
## downloaded from <https://fontmeme.com/fonts/pokmon-font/>
font_pokemon()

## font Pokemon_Hollow, Pokemon_Solid loaded...

u <- 'https://ravishly.com/sites/default/files/landscape-1456483171-pokemon2.jpg'
meme(u, "Pokemon", "pikachu i choose you!", font='Pokemon_Hollow')

meme(u, "Pokemon", "pikachu i choose you!", font='Pokemon_Solid', color='#FCCF00')

You can download fonts and pass the folder to font_import() to import the fonts so that they can be used to create meme.

## folder that contains bubble1 font
## downloaded from https://fontmeme.com/fonts/bubble-1-font/
dir <- system.file('fonts/bubble', package='meme')
font_import(dir)

## font bubble1 loaded...

meme(u, "the meme package", "is awesome!", font="bubble1")

Fonts imported by font_import() are not restricted in creating meme, you can use them in other visualization packages.

qplot(1:10, 1:10) + labs(title="meme is awesome") +
    theme(plot.title=element_text(family='bubble1', size=30, color='firebrick'))