Many times you might want to track a certain population that is defined by a complex gating formula. Color dot plots seem like the ideal way of doing this, but currently color dot plots default to tracking individual regions in a color and do not let you define a color for complex regions. However, some simple configuration allows you to obtain the desired result.

By default, a color dot plot shows the region colors if there are no overlays. If there are overlays, the dot colors reflect the overlay colors. In order to track a complex population, create two overlays that are from the same data file. The steps below give a detailed explanation:

1) Assume you have two regions defined on forward and side scatter like in the example below

Notice that the region defined by 1 AND 2 is dithered between the two region colors. However, lets say you wanted to track that population in its own color.

2) Create a new plot with the data and add that same data file as an overlay.

You can see that the color is dithered equally between them, showing that there is a lot of overlap between the two populations (as there should be, since it is the same data set).

3) Go to the Format Screen and on the General tab turn dithering off.

4) Go to the Overlays tab and enter 1A2 as the Gate Formula for overlay #2.

5) Now if you press OK, the region that is defined by 1A2 will be completely red.