knitr::include_graphics: safe way to read from the project directory? - r

Question

I am trying to make a RMarkdown report using bookdown::html_document2 to create numbered Fig. 1, Fig. 2, ... across the whole document. Here, I am using both the R-generated and the external figures. I have found that using include_graphics() will help to generate a proper Fig. X numbers, also including in numbering the external figures.
To get the script to work, I am declaring the root.dir = rprojroot::find_rstudio_root_file('C:/myRproject')) while my external figures are located within C:/myRproject/inImg. But in this case, R cannot find my external images anymore? Why is this and how can I properly claim the paths for my R Markdown input, and for external figures? Thank you!
Example:
---
title: "My awesome title"
author: "me"
date: "`r Sys.Date()`"
output:
bookdown::html_document2:
toc: true
toc_depth: 3
knit: (function(input, ...) {
rmarkdown::render(
input,
output_dir = "../outReports",
output_file = file.path("../outReports", glue::glue('test_{Sys.Date()}'
)))
})
---
```{r setup, include=FALSE}
knitr::opts_chunk$set(echo = FALSE, tidy = TRUE, tidy.opts = list(comment = FALSE), message = F, warning = F)
knitr::opts_chunk$set(fig.width=6, fig.height=3)
library(knitr)
library(png)
```
```{css, echo=FALSE}
p.caption {
font-size: 0.8em;
}
```
```{r setup-root}
knitr::opts_knit$set(root.dir = rprojroot::find_rstudio_root_file('C:/myRproject'))
```
```{r read-libs, eval = TRUE, echo=FALSE, include = FALSE, warning = FALSE, error = FALSE }
# rm(list=ls())
getwd()
#### Source paths and functions -----------------------------------------------
source('myPaths.R') # already this one I can't find within the directory?
# Read pictures as part of teh R chunks
library(knitr)
library(png)
# Read Input data -------------------------------------------------------------------
#getwd()
load(file = "outData/dat1.Rdata")
```
## Including Plots
You can also embed plots, for example:
```{r, out.width = "50%", fig.cap = 'Add fig from internet'}
include_graphics("https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/2e/MC_Drei-Finger-Faultier.jpg/330px-MC_Drei-Finger-Faultier.jpg")
```
```{r add-extern-plot2, fig.cap = 'my numbered caption'}
# All defaults
img1_path <- "C:/myRproject/inImg/my_extern_fig.png"
img1 <- readPNG(img1_path, native = TRUE, info = TRUE)
attr(img1, "info")
include_graphics(img1_path)
```