I am a recent migrant from Matlab to Python and have recently worked with Numpy and Matplotlib. I recoded one of my scripts from Matlab, which employs Matlab's contourf-function, into Python using matplotlib's corresponding contourf-function. I managed to replicate the output in Python, apart that the contourf-plots are not exacly the same, for a reason that is unknown to me. As I run the contourf-function in matplotlib, I get this otherwise nice figure but it has these sharp edges on the contour-levels on top and bottom, which should not be there (see Figure 1 below, matplotlib-output). Now, when I export the arrays I used in Python to Matlab (i.e. the exactly same data set that was used to generate the matplotlib-contourf-plot) and use Matlab's contourf-function, I get a slightly different output, without those sharp contour-level edges (see Figure 2 below, Matlab-output). I used the same number of levels in both figures. In figure 3 I have made a scatterplot of the same data, which shows that there are no such sharp edges in the data as shown in the contourf-plot (I added contour-lines just for reference). Example dataset can be downloaded through Dropbox-link given below. The data set contains three txt-files: X, Y, Z. Each of them are an 500x500 arrays, which can be directly used with contourf(), i.e. plt.contourf(X,Y,Z,...). The code that used was
plt.contourf(X,Y,Z,10, cmap=plt.cm.jet)
plt.contour(X,Y,Z,10,colors='black', linewidths=0.5)
plt.axis('equal')
plt.axis('off')
Does anyone have an idea why this happens? I would appreciate any insight on this!
Cheers,
Jussi
Below are the details of my setup:
Python 3.7.0
IPython 6.5.0
matplotlib 2.2.3
Matplotlib output
Matlab output
Matplotlib-scatter
Link to data set
The confusing thing about the matlab plot is that its colorbar shows much more levels than there are actually in the plot. Hence you don't see the actual intervals that are contoured.
You would achieve the same result in matplotlib by choosing 12 instead of 11 levels.
import numpy as np
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
X, Y, Z = [np.loadtxt("data/roundcontourdata/{}.txt".format(i)) for i in list("XYZ")]
levels = np.linspace(Z.min(), Z.max(), 12)
cntr = plt.contourf(X,Y,Z,levels, cmap=plt.cm.jet)
plt.contour(X,Y,Z,levels,colors='black', linewidths=0.5)
plt.colorbar(cntr)
plt.axis('equal')
plt.axis('off')
plt.show()
So in conclusion, both plots are correct and show the same data. Just the levels being automatically chosen are different. This can be circumvented by choosing custom levels depending on the desired visual appearance.
Related
Problem Statement
I'm attempting to add two patches -- a rectangle patch and a text patch -- to the same space within a 3D plot. The ultimate goal is to annotate the rectangle patch with a corresponding value (about 20 rectangles across 4 planes -- see Figure 3). The following code does not get all the way there, but does demonstrate a rendering issue where sometimes the text patch is completely visible and sometimes it isn't -- interestingly, if the string doesn't extend outside the rectangle patch, it never seems to become visible at all. The only difference between Figures 1 and 2 is the rotation of the plot viewer image. I've left the cmap code in the example below because it's a requirement of the project (and just in case it affects the outcome).
Things I've Tried
Reversing the order that the patches are drawn.
Applying zorder values -- I think art3d.pathpatch_2d_to_3d is overriding that.
Creating a patch collection -- I can't seem to find a way to add the rectangle patch and the text patch to the same 3D collection.
Conclusion
I suspect that setting zorder to each patch before adding them to a 3D collection may be the solution, but I can't seem to find a way to get to that outcome. Similar questions suggest this, but I haven't been able to apply their answers to this problem specifically.
Environment
macOS: Big Sur 11.2.3
Python 3.8
Matplotlib 3.3.4
Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3
The Code
Generates Figures 1 and 2 (not 3).
#! /usr/bin/env python3
# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
from matplotlib.patches import Rectangle, PathPatch
from matplotlib.text import TextPath
from matplotlib.transforms import Affine2D
import mpl_toolkits.mplot3d.art3d as art3d
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
from matplotlib.colors import Normalize
plt.style.use('dark_background')
fig = plt.figure()
ax = fig.gca(projection='3d')
cmap = plt.cm.bwr
norm = Normalize(vmin=50, vmax=80)
base_color = cmap(norm(50))
# Draw box
box = Rectangle((25, 25), width=50, height=50, color=cmap(norm(62)), ec='black', alpha=1)
ax.add_patch(box)
art3d.pathpatch_2d_to_3d(box, z=1, zdir="z")
# Draw text
text_path = TextPath((60, 50), "xxxx", size=10)
trans = Affine2D().rotate(0).translate(0, 1)
p1 = PathPatch(trans.transform_path(text_path))
ax.add_patch(p1)
art3d.pathpatch_2d_to_3d(p1, z=1, zdir="z")
ax.set_xlabel('x')
ax.set_xlim(0, 100)
ax.set_xticklabels([])
ax.xaxis.set_pane_color(base_color)
ax.set_ylabel('y')
ax.set_ylim(0, 100)
ax.set_yticklabels([])
ax.yaxis.set_pane_color(base_color)
ax.set_zlabel('z')
ax.set_zlim(1, 4)
ax.set_zticks([1, 2, 3, 4])
ax.zaxis.set_pane_color(base_color)
ax.set_zticklabels([])
plt.show()
This is a well-known problem with matplotlib 3D plotting: objects are drawn in a particular order, and those plotted last appear on "top" of the others, regardless of which should be in front in a "true" 3D plot.
See the FAQ here: https://matplotlib.org/mpl_toolkits/mplot3d/faq.html#my-3d-plot-doesn-t-look-right-at-certain-viewing-angles
My 3D plot doesn’t look right at certain viewing angles
This is probably the most commonly reported issue with mplot3d. The problem is that – from some viewing angles – a 3D object would appear in front of another object, even though it is physically behind it. This can result in plots that do not look “physically correct.”
Unfortunately, while some work is being done to reduce the occurrence of this artifact, it is currently an intractable problem, and can not be fully solved until matplotlib supports 3D graphics rendering at its core.
The problem occurs due to the reduction of 3D data down to 2D + z-order scalar. A single value represents the 3rd dimension for all parts of 3D objects in a collection. Therefore, when the bounding boxes of two collections intersect, it becomes possible for this artifact to occur. Furthermore, the intersection of two 3D objects (such as polygons or patches) can not be rendered properly in matplotlib’s 2D rendering engine.
This problem will likely not be solved until OpenGL support is added to all of the backends (patches are greatly welcomed). Until then, if you need complex 3D scenes, we recommend using MayaVi.
The method plt.hist() in pyplot has a way to create a 'step-like' plot style when calling
plt.hist(data, histtype='step')
but the 'ordinary' methods that plot raw data without processing (plt.plot(), plt.scatter(), etc.) apparently do not have style options to obtain the same result. My goal is to plot a given set of points using that style, without making histogram of these points.
Is that achievable with standard library methods for plotting a given 2-D set of points?
I also think that there is at least one hack (generating a fake distribution which would have histogram equal to our data) and a 'low-level' solution to draw each segment manually, but none of these ways seems favorable.
Maybe you are looking for drawstyle="steps".
import numpy as np; np.random.seed(42)
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
data = np.cumsum(np.random.randn(10))
plt.plot(data, drawstyle="steps")
plt.show()
Note that this is slightly different from histograms, because the lines do not go to zero at the ends.
Plots is simple and powerful but sometimes I would like to have a little bit more control over individual elements of the plot to fine-tune its appearance.
Is it possible to update the plot object of the backend directly?
E.g., for the default pyplot backend, I tried
using Plots
p = plot(sin)
p.o[:axes][1][:xaxis][:set_ticks_position]("top")
but the plot does not change. Calling p.o[:show]() afterwards does not help, either.
In other words: Is there a way to use the PyPlot interface for a plot that was initially created with Plots?
Edit:
The changes to the PyPlot object become visible (also in the gui) when saving the figure:
using Plots
using PyPlot
p = Plots.plot(sin, top_margin=1cm)
gui() # not needed when using the REPL
gca()[:xaxis][:set_ticks_position]("top")
PyPlot.savefig("test.png")
Here, I used p.o[:axes][1] == gca(). One has to set top_margin=1cm because the plot area is not adjusted automatically (for my actual fine-tuning, this doesn't matter).
This also works for subsequent updates as long as only the PyPlot interface is used. E.g., after the following commands, the plot will have a red right border in addition to labels at the top:
gca()[:spines]["right"][:set_color]("red")
PyPlot.savefig("test.png")
However, when a Plots command like plot!(xlabel="foo") is used, all previous changes made with PyPlot are overwritten (which is not suprising).
The remaining question is how to update the gui interactively without having to call PyPlot.savefig explicitly.
No - the plot is a Plots object, not a PyPlot object. In your specific example you can do plot(sin, xmirror = true).
I'm trying to do the same but didn't find a solution to update an existing plot. But here is a partial answer: you can query information from the PyPlot axes object
julia> Plots.plot(sin, 1:4)
julia> Plots.PyPlot.plt[:xlim]()
(1.0,4.0)
julia> Plots.plot(sin, 20:24)
julia> ax = Plots.PyPlot.plt[:xlim]()
(20.0,24.0)
and it gets updated.
I am using Julia 0.5 and the latest version of PyPlot.
I am printing an 2D-Array using plot.pcolorand it works pretty good. But now I have data that needs a logarithmic scaling. I searched on the web and what I found was an example using
plt.pcolor(X, Y, Z1, norm=LogNorm(vmin=Z1.min(), vmax=Z1.max()), cmap='PuBu_r')
But since LogNorm seems to be a python function ist doesn't work in Julia. Does anyone have an idea what I can hand over to norm=to get a logarithmic scaling?
An example would be:
using PyPlot
A = rand(20,20)
figure()
PyPlot.pcolor(A, cmap="PuBu_r")
colorbar()
Matplotlib fields and methods can be accessed using the
matplotlib[:colors][:LogNorm]
syntax (i.e. for the corresponding matplotlib.colors.LogNorm object).
UPDATE: Thank you for your mwe. Based on that example, I managed to make it work like this:
PyPlot.pcolor(A, norm=matplotlib[:colors][:LogNorm](vmin=minimum(A), vmax=maximum(A)), cmap="PuBu_r")
I'm new to Python and MatPlotlib.
This is my first posting to Stackoverflow - I've been unable to find the answer elsewhere and would be grateful for your help.
I'm using Windows XP, with Enthought Canopy v1.1.1 (32 bit).
I want to plot a dotted-style linear regression line through a scatter plot of data, where both x and y arrays contain random floating point data.
The dots in the resulting dotted line are not distributed evenly along the regression line, and are "smeared together" in the middle of the red line, making it look messy (see upper plot resulting from attached minimal example code).
This does not seem to occur if the items in the array of x values are evenly distributed (lower plot).
I'm therefore guessing that this is an issue with how MatplotLib renders dotted lines, or with how Canopy interfaces Python with Matplotlib.
Please could you tell me a workaround which will make the dots on the dotted line type appear evenly distributed; even if both x and y data are non-evenly distributed; whilst still using Canopy and Matplotlib?
(As a general point, I'm always keen to improve my coding skills - if any code in my example can be written more neatly or concisely, I'd be grateful for your expertise).
Many thanks in anticipation
Dave
(UK)
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
import numpy as np
from scipy import stats
#generate data
x1=10 * np.random.random_sample((40))
x2=np.linspace(0,10,40)
y=5 * np.random.random_sample((40))
slope, intercept, r_value, p_value, std_err = stats.linregress(x1,y)
line = (slope*x1)+intercept
plt.figure(1)
plt.subplot(211)
plt.scatter(x1,y,color='blue', marker='o')
plt.plot(x1,line,'r:',label="Regression Line")
plt.legend(loc='upper right')
slope, intercept, r_value, p_value, std_err = stats.linregress(x2,y)
line = (slope*x2)+intercept
plt.subplot(212)
plt.scatter(x2,y,color='blue', marker='o')
plt.plot(x2,line,'r:',label="Regression Line")
plt.legend(loc='upper right')
plt.show()
Welcome to SO.
You have already identified the problem yourself, but seem a bit surprised that a random x-array results in the line be 'cluttered'. But you draw a dotted line repeatedly over the same location, so it seems like the normal behavior to me that it gets smeared at places where there are multiple dotted lines on top of each other.
If you don't want that, you can sort your array and use that to calculate the regression line and plot it. Since its a linear regression, just using the min and max values would also work.
x1_sorted = np.sort(x1)
line = (slope * x1_sorted) + intercept
or
x1_extremes = np.array([x1.min(),x1.max()])
line = (slope * x1_extremes) + intercept
The last should be faster if x1 becomes very large.
With regard to your last comment. In your example you use whats called the 'state-machine' environment for plotting. It means that specified commands are applied to the active figure and the active axes (subplots).
You can also consider the OO approach where you get figure and axes objects. This means you can access any figure or axes at any time, not just the active one. Its useful when passing an axes to a function for example.
In your example both would work equally well and it would be more a matter of taste.
A small example:
# create a figure with 2 subplots (2 rows, 1 column)
fig, axs = plt.subplots(2,1)
# plot in the first subplots
axs[0].scatter(x1,y,color='blue', marker='o')
axs[0].plot(x1,line,'r:',label="Regression Line")
# plot in the second
axs[1].plot()
etc...