Vertical gradient fill of area between a curve and zero.

shade.R

shade <- function(x, y, col, n=500, xlab='x', ylab='y', ...) {
  # x, y: the x and y coordinates
  # col: a vector of colours (hex, numeric, character), or a colorRampPalette
  # n: the vertical resolution of the gradient
  # ...: further args to plot()
  plot(x, y, type='n', las=1, xlab=xlab, ylab=ylab, ...)
  e <- par('usr')
  height <- diff(e[3:4])/(n-1)
  y_up <- seq(0, e[4], height)
  y_down <- seq(0, e[3], -height)
  ncolor <- max(length(y_up), length(y_down))
  pal <- if(!is.function(col)) colorRampPalette(col)(ncolor) else col(ncolor)
  # plot rectangles to simulate colour gradient
  sapply(seq_len(n),
         function(i) {
           rect(min(x), y_up[i], max(x), y_up[i] + height, col=pal[i], border=NA)
           rect(min(x), y_down[i], max(x), y_down[i] - height, col=pal[i], border=NA)
         })
  # plot white polygons representing the inverse of the area of interest
  polygon(c(min(x), x, max(x), rev(x)),
          c(e[4], ifelse(y > 0, y, 0), 
            rep(e[4], length(y) + 1)), col='white', border=NA)     
  polygon(c(min(x), x, max(x), rev(x)),
          c(e[3], ifelse(y < 0, y, 0), 
            rep(e[3], length(y) + 1)), col='white', border=NA)      
  lines(x, y)
  abline(h=0)
  box()  
}

Examples

xy <- curve(sin, -10, 10, n = 1000)
shade(xy$x, xy$y, c('white', 'blue'), 1000)

xy <- curve(dnorm(x, 0, 1), -5, 5)
shade(xy$x, xy$y, heat.colors, 1000)