matplotlib.pyplot, preserve aspect ratio of the plot - python

Assuming we have a polygon coordinates as polygon = [(x1, y1), (x2, y2), ...], the following code displays the polygon:
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
plt.fill(*zip(*polygon))
plt.show()
By default it is trying to adjust the aspect ratio so that the polygon (or whatever other diagram) fits inside the window, and automatically changing it so that it fits even after resizing. Which is great in many cases, except when you are trying to estimate visually if the image is distorted. How to fix the aspect ratio to be strictly 1:1?
(Not sure if "aspect ratio" is the right term here, so in case it is not - I need both X and Y axes to have 1:1 scale, so that (0, 1) on both X and Y takes an exact same amount of screen space. And I need to keep it 1:1 no matter how I resize the window.)

Does it help to use:
plt.axis('equal')

'scaled' using plt
The best thing is to use:
plt.axis('scaled')
As Saullo Castro said. Because with equal you can't change one axis limit without changing the other so if you want to fit all non-squared figures you will have a lot of white space.
Equal
Scaled
'equal' using ax
Alternatively, you can use the axes class.
fig = plt.figure()
ax = figure.add_subplot(111)
ax.imshow(image)
ax.axes.set_aspect('equal')

There is, I'm sure, a way to set this directly as part of your plot command, but I don't remember the trick. To do it after the fact you can use the current axis and set it's aspect ratio with "set_aspect('equal')". In your example:
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
plt.fill(*zip(*polygon))
plt.axes().set_aspect('equal', 'datalim')
plt.show()
I use this all the time and it's from the examples on the matplotlib website.

Better plt.axis('scaling'), it works better if you want to modify the axes with xlim() and ylim().

Related

How can I adjust Axes sizes in matplotlib polar plots? [duplicate]

I am starting to play around with creating polar plots in Matplotlib that do NOT encompass an entire circle - i.e. a "wedge" plot - by setting the thetamin and thetamax properties. This is something I was waiting for for a long time, and I am glad they have it done :)
However, I have noticed that the figure location inside the axes seem to change in a strange manner when using this feature; depending on the wedge angular aperture, it can be difficult to fine tune the figure so it looks nice.
Here's an example:
import numpy as np
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
# get 4 polar axes in a row
fig, axes = plt.subplots(2, 2, subplot_kw={'projection': 'polar'},
figsize=(8, 8))
# set facecolor to better display the boundaries
# (as suggested by ImportanceOfBeingErnest)
fig.set_facecolor('paleturquoise')
for i, theta_max in enumerate([2*np.pi, np.pi, 2*np.pi/3, np.pi/3]):
# define theta vector with varying end point and some data to plot
theta = np.linspace(0, theta_max, 181)
data = (1/6)*np.abs(np.sin(3*theta)/np.sin(theta/2))
# set 'thetamin' and 'thetamax' according to data
axes[i//2, i%2].set_thetamin(0)
axes[i//2, i%2].set_thetamax(theta_max*180/np.pi)
# actually plot the data, fine tune radius limits and add labels
axes[i//2, i%2].plot(theta, data)
axes[i//2, i%2].set_ylim([0, 1])
axes[i//2, i%2].set_xlabel('Magnitude', fontsize=15)
axes[i//2, i%2].set_ylabel('Angles', fontsize=15)
fig.set_tight_layout(True)
#fig.savefig('fig.png', facecolor='skyblue')
The labels are in awkward locations and over the tick labels, but can be moved closer or further away from the axes by adding an extra labelpad parameter to set_xlabel, set_ylabel commands, so it's not a big issue.
Unfortunately, I have the impression that the plot is adjusted to fit inside the existing axes dimensions, which in turn lead to a very awkward white space above and below the half circle plot (which of course is the one I need to use).
It sounds like something that should be reasonably easy to get rid of - I mean, the wedge plots are doing it automatically - but I can't seem to figure it out how to do it for the half circle. Can anyone shed a light on this?
EDIT: Apologies, my question was not very clear; I want to create a half circle polar plot, but it seems that using set_thetamin() you end up with large amounts of white space around the image (especially above and below) which I would rather have removed, if possible.
It's the kind of stuff that normally tight_layout() takes care of, but it doesn't seem to be doing the trick here. I tried manually changing the figure window size after plotting, but the white space simply scales with the changes. Below is a minimum working example; I can get the xlabel closer to the image if I want to, but saved image file still contains tons of white space around it.
Does anyone knows how to remove this white space?
import numpy as np
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
# get a half circle polar plot
fig1, ax1 = plt.subplots(1, 1, subplot_kw={'projection': 'polar'})
# set facecolor to better display the boundaries
# (as suggested by ImportanceOfBeingErnest)
fig1.set_facecolor('skyblue')
theta_min = 0
theta_max = np.pi
theta = np.linspace(theta_min, theta_max, 181)
data = (1/6)*np.abs(np.sin(3*theta)/np.sin(theta/2))
# set 'thetamin' and 'thetamax' according to data
ax1.set_thetamin(0)
ax1.set_thetamax(theta_max*180/np.pi)
# actually plot the data, fine tune radius limits and add labels
ax1.plot(theta, data)
ax1.set_ylim([0, 1])
ax1.set_xlabel('Magnitude', fontsize=15)
ax1.set_ylabel('Angles', fontsize=15)
fig1.set_tight_layout(True)
#fig1.savefig('fig1.png', facecolor='skyblue')
EDIT 2: Added background color to figures to better show the boundaries, as suggested in ImportanteOfBeingErnest's answer.
It seems the wedge of the "truncated" polar axes is placed such that it sits in the middle of the original axes. There seems so be some constructs called LockedBBox and _WedgeBbox in the game, which I have never seen before and do not fully understand. Those seem to be created at draw time, such that manipulating them from the outside seems somewhere between hard and impossible.
One hack can be to manipulate the original axes such that the resulting wedge turns up at the desired position. This is not really deterministic, but rather looking for some good values by trial and error.
The parameters to adjust in this case are the figure size (figsize), the padding of the labels (labelpad, as already pointed out in the question) and finally the axes' position (ax.set_position([left, bottom, width, height])).
The result could then look like
import numpy as np
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
# get a half circle polar plot
fig1, ax1 = plt.subplots(1, 1, figsize=(6,3.4), subplot_kw={'projection': 'polar'})
theta_min = 1.e-9
theta_max = np.pi
theta = np.linspace(theta_min, theta_max, 181)
data = (1/6.)*np.abs(np.sin(3*theta)/np.sin(theta/2.))
# set 'thetamin' and 'thetamax' according to data
ax1.set_thetamin(0)
ax1.set_thetamax(theta_max*180./np.pi)
# actually plot the data, fine tune radius limits and add labels
ax1.plot(theta, data)
ax1.set_ylim([0, 1])
ax1.set_xlabel('Magnitude', fontsize=15, labelpad=-60)
ax1.set_ylabel('Angles', fontsize=15)
ax1.set_position( [0.1, -0.45, 0.8, 2])
plt.show()
Here I've set some color to the background of the figure to better see the boundary.

Place xticks and yticks in the pixel center on imshow plot

I am working with matplotlib to plot a heat map with some information and I want to move the xticks and the yticks to the center. I have searched in stackoverflow for previous questions but I couldn't reach one suitable for the problem. I attach my code and the image that I get:
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
from matplotlib import colors
import numpy as np
def plot():
intensity= np.random.rand(10,10)
matrix_intensity=np.matrix(intensity)
max_intensity=matrix_intensity.max()
min_intensity = matrix_intensity.min()
for e in range(len(intensity)):
for i in range(len(intensity[e])):
intensity[e][i]=float(intensity[e][i])/float(max_intensity)
np.random.seed(101)
cmap = colors.ListedColormap(['white','khaki', 'goldenrod','yellowgreen','mediumseagreen','darkcyan','tomato','indianred' ,'sienna','maroon'])
bounds = np.linspace(min_intensity/max_intensity,1,11).tolist()
norm = colors.BoundaryNorm(bounds, cmap.N)
img = plt.imshow(intensity, interpolation='none', origin='lower',extent=[0,len(intensity),0,len(intensity)],
cmap=cmap, norm=norm)
cb=plt.colorbar(img, fraction=0.1,cmap=cmap, norm=norm, boundaries=bounds,format='%.2f') #'%.2f')
cb.set_label(label='Ratio',fontsize=12,labelpad=10)
plt.ylabel('Origin',fontsize=11)
plt.xlabel('Destination',fontsize=11)
plt.title('Best route:',fontsize=10)
plt.suptitle('Best Solution:',fontsize=10)
plt.xticks(range(1,len(intensity)+1))
plt.yticks(range(1,len(intensity)+1))
plt.savefig('images/hello.png')
plt.show()
The fact is that I would like the x and the y ticks to point out the center of every square because otherwise, it doesn't make sense to plot the squares. Does somebody know how to fix this? Maybe this question is obvious but the matplotlib documentation for all the statements sometimes is difficult to understand.
The obvious solution would probably to use a different extent, namely to let the image live in the range between 0.5 and len(intensity)+0.5.
extent=[.5, len(intensity)+.5, .5, len(intensity)+.5]
img = plt.imshow(intensity, interpolation='none', origin='lower',extent=extent,
cmap=cmap, norm=norm)
You need to change the way you set your xticks and yticks loc and labels to below:
plt.xticks([x-0.5 for x in list(range(1,len(intensity)+1))], range(1,len(intensity)+1))
plt.yticks([x-0.5 for x in list(range(1,len(intensity)+1))], range(1,len(intensity)+1))
Output:
The other answers are both good, however I would like to provide a more general implementation that also doesn't alter default ticks, as I have a function that can be used to calculate the axis limits and set them as in #ImportanceOfBeingErnest answer.
import numpy as np
def span_from_pixels(p,n=None):
"""From positions of pixel centers p returns a range from side to side. Useful to adjust plot extent in imshow.
In alternative, p can be provided as range and number of pixels.
Note that np.linspace has flag retsteps to return step size."""
if n is None:
n=len(p)
dx=(np.max(p)-np.min(p))/(n-1)
return (np.min(p)-dx/2,np.max(p)+dx/2)
def test_span_from_pixels():
print (span_from_pixels([0,3],4)) #[-0.5,3.5]
print (span_from_pixels([0,2],3)) #[-0.5,2.5]
print (span_from_pixels([0,1,2])) #[-0.5,2.5]
print (span_from_pixels([0,0.5,1,1.5,2])) #[-0.25,2.25]
Please let me know if something doesn't work, these are tested in my code, but I made some change to remove dependencies. I assume I didn't break anything, but I cannot test it now.

Pyplot doesn't use the full space on 2D plots when setting equal ratio

I'm plotting some 2D fields using matplotlib and the fields have to be seen with equal aspect ratio. But when I set the aspect ratio I find that there are unnecessary blank spaces. Please consider the following example:
from matplotlib import pyplot as plt
import numpy as np
x=np.arange(100)
y=np.arange(100)
Y, X = np.meshgrid(y,x)
Z = X + Y
plt.contourf(X, Y, Z)
#plt.axes().set_aspect('equal', 'datalim')
plt.tight_layout()
plt.colorbar()
plt.grid()
plt.show()
If I run that command I get this figure:
However, let's say I uncomment the line that sets the equal ratio . So let's say I include this:
plt.axes().set_aspect('equal', 'datalim')
I get the following output:
Which is a very poor use of space. I can't make the actual plot take better advantage of the figure space no matter how hard I try (I don't have that much knowledge of pyplot).
I there a way to expand the actual data part of the equal-ratio plot so that I have less white space?
Thank you.
The issue you're having is caused by "datalim", which asks the axes to apply the usual limits you would expect from a normal line or scatter plot, e.g. the use of 5% margin on each side of the shown data.
I do not see any reason to use "datalim" here. So you may just leave it out,
plt.axes().set_aspect('equal')
and get a plot with equal aspect and no white space around.

Time series plotted with imshow

I tried to make the title as clear as possible although I am not sure it is completely limpid.
I have three series of data (number of events along time). I would like to do a subplots were the three time series are represented. You will find attached the best I could come up with. The last time series is significantly shorter and that's why it is not visible on here.
I'm also adding the corresponding code so you can maybe understand better why I'm trying to do and advice me on the proper/smart way to do so.
import numpy as np
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
x=np.genfromtxt('nbr_lig_bound1.dat')
x1=np.genfromtxt('nbr_lig_bound2.dat')
x2=np.genfromtxt('nbr_lig_bound3.dat')
# doing so because imshow requieres a 2D array
# best way I found and probably not the proper way to get it done
x=np.expand_dims(x, axis=0)
x=np.vstack((x,x))
x1=np.expand_dims(x1, axis=0)
x1=np.vstack((x1,x1))
x2=np.expand_dims(x2, axis=0)
x2=np.vstack((x2,x2))
# hoping that this would compensate for sharex shrinking my X range to
# the shortest array
ax[0].set_xlim(1,24)
ax[1].set_xlim(1,24)
ax[2].set_xlim(1,24)
fig, ax = plt.subplots(nrows=3, ncols=1, figsize=(6,6), sharex=True)
fig.subplots_adjust(hspace=0.001) # this seem to have no effect
p1=ax[0].imshow(x1[:,::10000], cmap='autumn_r')
p2=ax[1].imshow(x2[:,::10000], cmap='autumn_r')
p3=ax[2].imshow(x[:,::10000], cmap='autumn')
Here is what I could reach so far:
and here is a scheme of what I wish to have since I could not find it on the web. In short, I would like to remove the blank spaces around the plotted data in the two upper graphs. And as a more general question I would like to know if imshow is the best way of obtaining such plot (cf intended results below).
Using fig.subplots_adjust(hspace=0) sets the vertical (height) space between subplots to zero but doesn't adjust the vertical space within each subplot. By default, plt.imshow has a default aspect ratio (rc image.aspect) usually set such that pixels are squares so that you can accurately recreate images. To change this use aspect='auto' and adjust the ylim of your axes accordingly.
For example:
# you don't need all the `expand_dims` and `vstack`ing. Use `reshape`
x0 = np.linspace(5, 0, 25).reshape(1, -1)
x1 = x0**6
x2 = x0**2
fig, axes = plt.subplots(3, 1, sharex=True)
fig.subplots_adjust(hspace=0)
for ax, x in zip(axes, (x0, x1, x2)):
ax.imshow(x, cmap='autumn_r', aspect='auto')
ax.set_ylim(-0.5, 0.5) # alternatively pass extent=[0, 1, 0, 24] to imshow
ax.set_xticks([]) # remove all xticks
ax.set_yticks([]) # remove all yticks
plt.show()
yields
To add a colorbar, I recommend looking at this answer which uses fig.add_axes() or looking at the documentation for AxesDivider (which I personally like better).

Changing aspect ratio of subplots in matplotlib

I have created a series of simple greyscale images which I have plotted in a grid (unfortunately, can't upload an image because I don't have a high enough reputation :( ).
The pseudo-code is
# Define matplotlib PyPlot object
nrow = 8
ncol = 12
fig, axes = plt.subplots(nrow, ncol, subplot_kw={'xticks': [], 'yticks': []})
fig.subplots_adjust(hspace=0.05, wspace=0.05)
# Sample the fine scale model at random well locations
for ax in axes.flat:
plot_data = # some Python code here to create 2D grey scale array...
# ... create sub-plot
img = ax.imshow(plot_data, interpolation='none')
img.set_cmap('gray')
# Display the plot
plt.show()
I want to change the aspect ratio so that the plots are squashed vertically and stretched horizontally. I have tried using ax.set_aspect and passing 'aspect' as a subplot_kw argument but to no avail. I also switched 'autoscale' off but I can then only see a handful of pixels. All suggestions welcome!
Thanks in advance!!
#JoeKington - thank you! That was a great reply!! Still trying to get my head around it all. Thanks also to the other posters for their suggestions. So, the original plot looked like this: http://imgur.com/Wi6v4cs
When I set' aspect='auto'' the plot looks like this: http://imgur.com/eRBO6MZ
which is a big improvement. All I need to do now is adjust the subplot size so that sub-plots are plotted in a portrait aspect ratio of eg 2:1, but with the plot filling the entire sub-plot. I guess 'colspan' would do this?
The Short Answer
You're probably wanting to call:
ax.imshow(..., aspect='auto')
imshow will set the aspect ratio of the axes to 1 when it is called, by default. This will override any aspect you specify when you create the axes.
However, this is a common source of confusion in matplotlib. Let me back up and explain what's going on in detail.
Matplotlib's Layout Model
aspect in matplotlib refers to the ratio of the xscale and yscale in data coordinates. It doesn't directly control the ratio of the width and height of the axes.
There are three things that control the size and shape of the "outside box" of a matplotlib axes:
The size/shape of the Figure (shown in red in figures below)
The specified extent of the Axes in figure coordinates (e.g. the subplot location, shown in green in figures below)
The mechanism that the Axes uses to accommodate a fixed aspect ratio (the adjustable parameter).
Axes are always placed in figure coordinates in other words, their shape/size is always a ratio of the figure's shape/size. (Note: Some things such as axes_grid will change this at draw time to get around this limitation.)
However, the extent the axes is given (either from its subplot location or explicitly set extent) isn't necessarily the size it will take up. Depending on the aspect and adjustable parameters, the Axes will shrink inside of its given extent.
To understand how everything interacts, let's plot a circle in lots of different cases.
No Fixed Aspect
In the basic case (no fixed aspect ratio set for the axes), the axes will fill up the entire space allocated to it in figure coordinates (shown by the green box).
The x and y scales (as set by aspect) will be free to change independently, distorting the circle:
When we resize the figure (interactively or at figure creation), the axes will "squish" with it:
Fixed Aspect Ratio, adjustable='box'
However, if the aspect ratio of the plot is set (imshow will force the aspect ratio to 1, by default), the Axes will adjust the size of the outside of the axes to keep the x and y data ratios at the specified aspect.
A key point to understand here, though, is that the aspect of the plot is the aspect of the x and y data scales. It's not the aspect of the width and height of the plot. Therefore, if the aspect is 1, the circle will always be a circle.
As an example, let's say we had done something like:
fig, ax = plt.subplots()
# Plot circle, etc, then:
ax.set(xlim=[0, 10], ylim=[0, 20], aspect=1)
By default, adjustable will be "box". Let's see what happens:
The maximum space the Axes can take up is shown by the green box. However, it has to maintain the same x and y scales. There are two ways this could be accomplished: Change the x and y limits or change the shape/size of the Axes bounding box. Because the adjustable parameter of the Axes is set to the default "box", the Axes shrinks inside of its maximum space.
And as we resize the figure, it will keep shrinking, but maintain the x and y scales by making the Axes use up less of the maximum space allocated to the axes (green box):
Two quick side-notes:
If you're using shared axes, and want to have adjustable="box", use adjustable="box-forced" instead.
If you'd like to control where the axes is positioned inside of the "green box" set the anchor of the axes. E.g. ax.set_anchor('NE') to have it remain "pinned" to the upper right corner of the "green box" as it adjusts its size to maintain the aspect ratio.
Fixed Aspect, adjustable="datalim"
The other main option for adjustable is "datalim".
In this case, matplotlib will keep the x and y scales in data space by changing one of the axes limits. The Axes will fill up the entire space allocated to it. However, if you manually set the x or y limits, they may be overridden to allow the axes to both fill up the full space allocated to it and keep the x/y scale ratio to the specified aspect.
In this case, the x limits were set to 0-10 and the y-limits to 0-20, with aspect=1, adjustable='datalim'. Note that the y-limit was not honored:
And as we resize the figure, the aspect ratio says the same, but the data limits change (in this case, the x-limit is not honored).
On a side note, the code to generate all of the above figures is at: https://gist.github.com/joferkington/4fe0d9164b5e4fe1e247
What does this have to do with imshow?
When imshow is called, it calls ax.set_aspect(1.0), by default. Because adjustable="box" by default, any plot with imshow will behave like the 3rd/4th images above.
For example:
However, if we specify imshow(..., aspect='auto'), the aspect ratio of the plot won't be overridden, and the image will "squish" to take up the full space allocated to the Axes:
On the other hand, if you wanted the pixels to remain "square" (note: they may not be square depending on what's specified by the extent kwarg), you can leave out the aspect='auto' and set the adjustable parameter of the axes to "datalim" instead.
E.g.
ax.imshow(data, cmap='gist_earth', interpolation='none')
ax.set(adjustable="datalim")
Axes Shape is Controlled by Figure Shape
The final part to remember is that the axes shape/size is defined as a percentage of the figure's shape/size.
Therefore, if you want to preserve the aspect ratio of the axes and have a fixed spacing between adjacent subplots, you'll need to define the shape of the figure to match. plt.figaspect is extremely handy for this. It simply generates a tuple of width, height based on a specified aspect ratio or a 2D array (it will take the aspect ratio from the array's shape, not contents).
For your example of a grid of subplots, each with a constant 2x1 aspect ratio, you might consider something like the following (note that I'm not using aspect="auto" here, as we want the pixels in the images to remain square):
import numpy as np
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
nrows, ncols = 8, 12
dx, dy = 1, 2
figsize = plt.figaspect(float(dy * nrows) / float(dx * ncols))
fig, axes = plt.subplots(nrows, ncols, figsize=figsize)
for ax in axes.flat:
data = np.random.random((10*dy, 10*dx))
ax.imshow(data, interpolation='none', cmap='gray')
ax.set(xticks=[], yticks=[])
pad = 0.05 # Padding around the edge of the figure
xpad, ypad = dx * pad, dy * pad
fig.subplots_adjust(left=xpad, right=1-xpad, top=1-ypad, bottom=ypad)
plt.show()

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