How can I crop manipulator from a plot

Question

I wanted to know how can I crop a Manipulator from a plot. the code for plot is

   a=  With[{z1 = .25, z2 = 1, x = 1}, 
   Manipulate[
  PopupWindow[
Graphics[
 DiscretePlot[Sin[a t], {t, 0, 2 Pi, Pi/6}, ExtentSize -> Full, 
  ImageSize -> Scaled[x], AspectRatio -> z1/z2]], {a}], 
OpenerView[{"Vertical", Control[{{a, 1, "Manipulator"}, 1, 30}]}], 
ControlPlacement -> Bottom]]    

I have tried using Export and Import functions and it is working fine

 ImageCrop[Import[Export["test.gif", a, "Graphics"]], 90]

But, I wanted to know some other way to do this as I think Export and Import takes a lot of time in execution.

Answer 1

You could assign the Graphics part to a variable:

With[{z1 = .25, z2 = 1, x = 1},     
  Manipulate[   
     PopupWindow[ 
        graphOut = Graphics[DiscretePlot[Sin[a t], {t, 0, 2 Pi, Pi/6}, 
                            ExtentSize -> Full, ImageSize -> Scaled[x], 
                            AspectRatio -> z1/z2]
                   ], 
       {a}
     ],  
     OpenerView[{"Vertical", Control[{{a, 1, "Manipulator"}, 1, 30}]}],   
     ControlPlacement -> Bottom
  ]
]

You can now use graphOut to produce the plot anywhere you like.

Answer 2

In the top right corner of the Manipulate there is a button marked +. If you press this a popup menu appears. One of the options is "Paste SnapShot" which will paste a snapshot of the current setting in the form of a DynamicModule. Running this code will produce the image without the controllers and the panel.