gcube
gcube's recent releases are all packaging metadata, not simulation code
Comparison · Analytics
fillpattern vs regfusionr
A side-by-side editorial comparison of fillpattern and regfusionr — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.
Shared themes:r-package
fillpattern vs regfusionr: at a glance
What is fillpattern?
Pattern fills for ggplot2, hardened against the ways users write sizes
fillpattern provides pattern fills — stripes, bricks, dots — for ggplot2 and base R graphics, aimed at figures that must stay legible in greyscale or to colour-blind readers. The 1.0.3 release is mostly defensive: size modifier strings ending in a colon no longer swap width for height, modify_size() reports invalid units instead of crashing and understands in, inches and cm, and a background colour bug in scale_fill_pattern() is fixed. The minimum R version rises to 4.2.0 for recent graphics engine features.
What is regfusionr?
Registration fusion mapping goes bidirectional, and a vertex-indexing bug that silently returned wrong coordinates is fixed
regfusionr maps coordinates between volumetric brain templates (MNI152, Colin27) and the fsaverage surface. After four dormant years it returned in July 2026 with a release that fixes a coordinate-indexing bug, unblocks a previously disabled function, and completes the template-by-method matrix so all four combinations answer point queries. It also breaks compatibility by switching to the standard FREESURFER_HOME environment variable.
fillpattern vs regfusionr: editorial side-by-side
fillpattern
0.0ANALYTICS
Pattern fills for ggplot2, hardened against the ways users write sizes
◆ Current state
fillpattern provides pattern fills — stripes, bricks, dots — for ggplot2 and base R graphics, aimed at figures that must stay legible in greyscale or to colour-blind readers. The 1.0.3 release is mostly defensive: size modifier strings ending in a colon no longer swap width for height, modify_size() reports invalid units instead of crashing and understands in, inches and cm, and a background colour bug in scale_fill_pattern() is fixed. The minimum R version rises to 4.2.0 for recent graphics engine features.
◆ Where it's heading
Development is slow and entirely reactive to how the string-based size interface fails. The pattern across releases is the same: a user hits an edge — very small fill areas in 1.0.2, malformed unit strings in 1.0.3 — and the fix is either a graceful fallback or a clearer error. Leaning on R's newer graphics engine rather than reimplementing pattern rendering keeps the package small at the cost of raising its version floor.
◆ Prediction
Expect further releases to stay in the same register: parsing and validation fixes for the size and unit interface, with the pattern set itself unlikely to change.
regfusionr
3.8ANALYTICS
Registration fusion mapping goes bidirectional, and a vertex-indexing bug that silently returned wrong coordinates is fixed
◆ Current state
regfusionr maps coordinates between volumetric brain templates (MNI152, Colin27) and the fsaverage surface. After four dormant years it returned in July 2026 with a release that fixes a coordinate-indexing bug, unblocks a previously disabled function, and completes the template-by-method matrix so all four combinations answer point queries. It also breaks compatibility by switching to the standard FREESURFER_HOME environment variable.
◆ Where it's heading
The package moved from a partial implementation to a complete one in a single release. Before this, vol_coords_to_fsaverage returned coordinates indexed by query position rather than by vertex index — results that looked plausible and were wrong — and fsaverage_to_vol was guarded behind a stop(). Both are now resolved, and the new Colin27 and MNI152 convenience functions make the mapping bidirectional. The sibling package haze shipped a maintenance release 56 minutes later, marking this as a coordinated sweep across the maintainer's neuroimaging stack.
◆ Prediction
With the four template-by-method combinations closed and the coordinate bug fixed, the next release is more likely to be CRAN-adjacent packaging or documentation than new mapping capability.
Alternatives to fillpattern and regfusionr
Other Analytics products tracked by Sparkpulse, ranked by recent ship velocity. Each card links to a full editorial trajectory and lets you pivot into a head-to-head comparison with either fillpattern or regfusionr.
cubist
The R port of Quinlan's Cubist gets reproducibility fixes, not new modelling
ggstats
ggstats keeps widening what a coefficient or Likert plot can be
ecodive
ecodive rebuilt itself into a broad diversity-metric library, breaking as it went
simStateSpace
State-space data simulation for R, filled in one function at a time
rollama
rollama turns a local-LLM wrapper into an instrument for reproducible annotation
See all fillpattern alternatives → · See all regfusionr alternatives →
Recent activity from fillpattern and regfusionr
Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.
- 18d agoregfusionrVersion 0.3.0 -- vol_to_fsaverage, many convenience functions and fixes ⚡
- 6mo agofillpatternSize string parsing fixed; invalid units now report instead of crash
- 2y agofillpatternSmall fill areas no longer crash; min_size falls back to solid
- 2y agofillpatternfillpattern 1.0.1
- 4y agoregfusionrv0.2.0 -- surface to volume data projection
- 4y agoregfusionrv0.1.0: Initial release
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between fillpattern and regfusionr?
Both compete on the same themes — r-package — within Analytics. regfusionr is currently shipping more aggressively (velocity 3.8 vs 0.0), with 1 editorial sparks in the last 30 days against 0. See the at-a-glance table above for a side-by-side breakdown of velocity, recent sparks, and editorial themes.
Is fillpattern better than regfusionr?
Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. regfusionr is currently shipping more aggressively (velocity 3.8 vs 0.0), with 1 editorial sparks in the last 30 days against 0. For your specific use case, the alternatives sections above list other Analytics products to evaluate alongside.
What are the best alternatives to fillpattern?
Top fillpattern alternatives in Analytics are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "fillpattern alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/fillpattern for the full list with editorial commentary on each.
What are the best alternatives to regfusionr?
Top regfusionr alternatives in Analytics are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "regfusionr alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/regfusionr for the full list with editorial commentary on each.