Dynamically scaling axes during a matplotlib ArtistAnimation - matplotlib

Question

It appears to be impossible to change the y and x axis view limits during an ArtistAnimation, and have the frames replayed with different axis limits.
The limits seem to fixed to those set last before the animation function is called.
In the code below, I have two plotting stages. The input data in the second plot is a much smaller subset of the data in the 1st frame. The data in the 1st stage has a much wider range.
So, I need to "zoom in" when displaying the second plot (otherwise the plot would be very tiny if the axis limits remain the same).
The two plots are overlaid on two different images (that are of the same size, but different content).
import matplotlib
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
import matplotlib.animation as animation
import matplotlib.image as mpimg
import random
# sample 640x480 image. Actual frame loops through
# many different images, but of same size
image = mpimg.imread('image_demo.png')
fig = plt.figure()
plt.axis('off')
ax = fig.gca()
artists = []
def plot_stage_1():
# both x, y axis limits automatically set to 0 - 100
# when we call ax.imshow with this extent
im_extent = (0, 100, 0, 100) # (xmin, xmax, ymin, ymax)
im = ax.imshow(image, extent=im_extent, animated=True)
# y axis is a list of 100 random numbers between 0 and 100
p, = ax.plot(range(100), random.choices(range(100), k=100))
# Text label at 90, 90
t = ax.text(im_extent[1]*0.9, im_extent[3]*0.9, "Frame 1")
artists.append([im, t, p])
def plot_stage_2():
# axes remain at the the 0 - 100 limit from the previous
# imshow extent so both the background image and plot are tiny
im_extent = (0, 10, 0, 10)
# so let's update the x, y axis limits
ax.set_xlim(im_extent[0], im_extent[1])
ax.set_ylim(im_extent[0], im_extent[3])
im = ax.imshow(image, extent=im_extent, animated=True)
p, = ax.plot(range(10), random.choices(range(10), k=10))
# Text label at 9, 9
t = ax.text(im_extent[1]*0.9, im_extent[3]*0.9, "Frame 2")
artists.append([im, t, p])
plot_stage_1()
plot_stage_2()
# clear white space around plot
fig.subplots_adjust(left=0, bottom=0, right=1, top=1, wspace=None, hspace=None)
# set figure size
fig.set_size_inches(6.67, 5.0, True)
anim = animation.ArtistAnimation(fig, artists, interval=2000, repeat=False, blit=False)
plt.show()
If I call just one of the two functions above, the plot is fine. However, if I call both, the axis limits in both frames will be 0 - 10, 0 - 10. So frame 1 will be super zoomed in.
Also calling ax.set_xlim(0, 100), ax.set_ylim(0, 100) in plot_stage_1() doesn't help. The last set_xlim(), set_ylim() calls fix the axis limits throughout all frames in the animation.
I could keep the axis bounds fixed and apply a scaling function to the input data.
However, I'm curious to know whether I can simply change the axis limits -- my code will be better this way, because the actual code is complicated with multiple stages, zooming plots across many different ranges.
Or perhaps I have to rejig my code to use FuncAnimation, instead of ArtistAnimation?

Answer 1

FuncAnimation appears to result in the expected behavior. So I'm changing my code to use that instead of ArtistAnimation.
Still curious to know though, whether this can at all be done using ArtistAnimation.