Develop Reference

Matplotlib doesn't render data exactly square

I'm using matplotlib.imshow to render a 2D numpy-array of integer-values as a heatmap. The problem is that the pixels in the final image are not entirely square. Sometimes they're a little bit rectangular. This is a big problem for me as I'm using this "heatmap" as an overlay in a map and this behaviour creates a weird visual glitch.
I'm rendering it like so:
fig = plt.imshow(data2d, cmap=cmap, norm=norm, aspect='equal', interpolation='none')
plt.axis('off')
fig.axes.get_xaxis().set_visible(False)
fig.axes.get_yaxis().set_visible(False)
fig.axes.set_adjustable('box-forced')
plt.savefig("output.png", bbox_inches='tight', pad_inches=0, dpi=72)
I thought setting the "aspect"-attribute to "equal" would take care of making the pixels exactly square. I've noticed that if I increase the DPI the effect is less noticeable as there are more pixels to work with but the rendering-time then becomes an issue.
I'd be glad if someone could point me in the right direction.

What I ended up doing is replacing matplotlib with rasterio and handling the colormap myself. It's definitely not an easy solution...

Trouble with pyplot displaying resized images in python

This is my first stack overflow question so please correct me if its not a good one:
I am currently processing a bunch of grayscale images as numpy ndarrays (dtype=uint8) in python 2.7. When I resize the images using resized=misc.imresize(image,.1), the resulting image will sometimes show up with different gray levels when I plot it with pyplot. Here is what my code looks like. I would post an image of the result, but I do not have the reputation points yet:
import cv2
from scipy import misc
from matplotlib import pyplot as plt
image=cv2.imread("gray_image.tif",cv2.CV_LOAD_IMAGE_GRAYSCALE)
resize=misc.imresize(image,.1)
plt.subplot(1,2,1),plt.imshow(image,"gray")
plt.subplot(1,2,2),plt.imshow(resize,"gray")
plt.show()
If I write the image to a file, the gray level appears normal.
If I compare the average gray level using numpy:
np.average(image) and np.average(resized),
the average gray level values are about the same, as one would expect.
If I display the image with cv2.imshow, the gray level appears normal.
Its not only an issue with resizing the image, but the gray level also gets screwy when I add images together (when most of one image is black and shouldn't darken the resulting image), and when I build an image pixel-by-pixel such as in:
import numpy as np
image_copy = np.zeros(image.shape)
for row in range(image.shape[0]):
for col in range(image.shape[1]):
image_copy[row,col]=image[row,col]
plt.imshow(image_copy,"gray") #<-- Will sometimes show up darker than original image
plt.show()
Does anyone have an idea as to what may be going on?
I apologize for the wordiness and lack of clarity in this question.

imshow is automatically scaling the color information to fit the whole available range. After resizing, the color range be smaller, resulting in changes of the apparent color (but not of the actual values, which explains why saved images work well).
You likely want to tell imshow not to scale your colors. This can be done using the vmin and vmax arguments as explained in the documentation. You probably want to use something like plt.imshow(image, "gray", vmin=0, vmax=255) to achieve an invariant appearance.

Editing Image using Python

I have to edit few image files using python. I have to open each image file, add few points at particular location & save the new edited image file(For fd my post-processing work).
Problem I am facing is:
1) I could not resize my plot axis. My plot axis should be 0-1 on both x &y with out any loss in image quality.
2) I could not save the edited image file, only the original file is getting saved.
This is what I tried:
im = Image.open('vortex.png')
implot = plt.plot(im)
fig, ax= plt.subplots()
myaximage = ax.imshow(im, aspect='auto', extent=(0,1,0,1),
alpha=0.5, origin='upper',
zorder=-2)
plt.implot([0.5], [0.5])
plt.show()
im.save("new","png")

Besides some small problems with your code, it seems you're basing your work on a wrong assumption: that you can turn a image into a matplotlib plot.
An image is simply a collection of pixels. While your brain interprets it as a plot, with a axis, and maybe a grid, you can't expect the computer to do so. You can't manipulate a collection of pixels as if it were a plot - it isn't.
You need to forget about matplotlib and use the image editing resourses of PIL.

Not sure about the axis change, but the saving of the file, see this post:
Python Imaging Library save function syntax
From the PIL Handbook:
im.save(outfile, options...)
im.save(outfile, format, options...)
Simplest case:
im.save('my_image.png')

Saving images in Python at a very high quality

How can I save Python plots at very high quality?
That is, when I keep zooming in on the object saved in a PDF file, why isn't there any blurring?
Also, what would be the best mode to save it in?
png, eps? Or some other? I can't do pdf, because there is a hidden number that happens that mess with Latexmk compilation.

If you are using Matplotlib and are trying to get good figures in a LaTeX document, save as an EPS. Specifically, try something like this after running the commands to plot the image:
plt.savefig('destination_path.eps', format='eps')
I have found that EPS files work best and the dpi parameter is what really makes them look good in a document.
To specify the orientation of the figure before saving, simply call the following before the plt.savefig call, but after creating the plot (assuming you have plotted using an axes with the name ax):
ax.view_init(elev=elevation_angle, azim=azimuthal_angle)
Where elevation_angle is a number (in degrees) specifying the polar angle (down from vertical z axis) and the azimuthal_angle specifies the azimuthal angle (around the z axis).
I find that it is easiest to determine these values by first plotting the image and then rotating it and watching the current values of the angles appear towards the bottom of the window just below the actual plot. Keep in mind that the x, y, z, positions appear by default, but they are replaced with the two angles when you start to click+drag+rotate the image.

Just to add my results, also using Matplotlib.
.eps made all my text bold and removed transparency. .svg gave me high-resolution pictures that actually looked like my graph.
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
fig, ax = plt.subplots()
# Do the plot code
fig.savefig('myimage.svg', format='svg', dpi=1200)
I used 1200 dpi because a lot of scientific journals require images in 1200 / 600 / 300 dpi, depending on what the image is of. Convert to desired dpi and format in GIMP or Inkscape.
Obviously the dpi doesn't matter since .svg are vector graphics and have "infinite resolution".

You can save to a figure that is 1920x1080 (or 1080p) using:
fig = plt.figure(figsize=(19.20,10.80))
You can also go much higher or lower. The above solutions work well for printing, but these days you want the created image to go into a PNG/JPG or appear in a wide screen format.

Okay, I found spencerlyon2's answer working. However, in case anybody would find himself/herself not knowing what to do with that one line, I had to do it this way:
beingsaved = plt.figure()
# Some scatter plots
plt.scatter(X_1_x, X_1_y)
plt.scatter(X_2_x, X_2_y)
beingsaved.savefig('destination_path.eps', format='eps', dpi=1000)

In case you are working with seaborn plots, instead of Matplotlib, you can save a .png image like this:
Let's suppose you have a matrix object (either Pandas or NumPy), and you want to take a heatmap:
import seaborn as sb
image = sb.heatmap(matrix) # This gets you the heatmap
image.figure.savefig("C:/Your/Path/ ... /your_image.png") # This saves it
This code is compatible with the latest version of Seaborn. Other code around Stack Overflow worked only for previous versions.
Another way I like is this. I set the size of the next image as follows:
plt.subplots(figsize=(15,15))
And then later I plot the output in the console, from which I can copy-paste it where I want. (Since Seaborn is built on top of Matplotlib, there will not be any problem.)

Python matplotlib imshow is slow

I want to display an image file using imshow. It is an 1600x1200 grayscale image and I found out that matplotlib uses float32 to decode the values. It takes about 2 seconds to load the image and I would like to know if there is any way to make this faster. The point is that I do not really need a high resolution image, I just want to mark certain points and draw the image as a background. So,
First question: Is 2 seconds a good performance for such an image or
can I speed up.
Second question: If it is good performance how can I make the process
faster by reducing the resolution. Important point: I still want the
image to strech over 1600x1200 Pixel in the end.
My code:
import matplotlib
import numpy
plotfig = matplotlib.pyplot.figure()
plotwindow = plotfig.add_subplot(111)
plotwindow.axis([0,1600,0,1200])
plotwindow.invert_yaxis()
img = matplotlib.pyplot.imread("lowres.png")
im = matplotlib.pyplot.imshow(img,cmap=matplotlib.cm.gray,origin='centre')
plotfig.set_figwidth(200.0)
plotfig.canvas.draw()
matplotlib.pyplot.show()
This is what I want to do. Now if the picture saved in lowres.png has a lower resolution as 1600x1200 (i.e. 400x300) it is displayed in the upper corner as it should. How can I scale it to the whole are of 1600x1200 pixel?
If I run this program the slow part comes from the canvas.draw() command below. Is there maybe a way to speed up this command?
Thank you in advance!
According to your suggestions I have updated to the newest version of matplotlib
version 1.1.0svn, checkout 8988
And I also use the following code:
img = matplotlib.pyplot.imread(pngfile)
img *= 255
img2 = img.astype(numpy.uint8)
im = self.plotwindow.imshow(img2,cmap=matplotlib.cm.gray, origin='centre')
and still it takes about 2 seconds to display the image... Any other ideas?
Just to add: I found the following feature
zoomed_inset_axes
So in principle matplotlib should be able to do the task. There one can also plot a picture in a "zoomed" fashion...

The size of the data is independent of the pixel dimensions of the final image.
Since you say you don't need a high-resolution image, you can generate the image quicker by down-sampling your data. If your data is in the form of a numpy array, a quick and dirty way would be to take every nth column and row with data[::n,::n].
You can control the output image's pixel dimensions with fig.set_size_inches and plt.savefig's dpi parameter:
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
import matplotlib.cm as cm
import numpy as np
data=np.arange(300).reshape((10,30))
plt.imshow(data[::2,::2],cmap=cm.Greys)
fig=plt.gcf()
# Unfortunately, had to find these numbers through trial and error
fig.set_size_inches(5.163,3.75)
ax=plt.gca()
extent=ax.get_window_extent().transformed(fig.dpi_scale_trans.inverted())
plt.savefig('/tmp/test.png', dpi=400,
bbox_inches=extent)

You can disable the default interpolation of imshow by adding the following line to your matplotlibrc file (typically at ~/.matplotlib/matplotlibrc):
image.interpolation : none
The result is much faster rendering and crisper images.

I found a solution as long as one needs to display only low-resolution images. One can do so using the line
im = matplotlib.pyplot.imshow(img,cmap=matplotlib.cm.gray, origin='centre',extent=(0,1600,0,1200))
where the extent-parameter tells matplotlib to plot the figure over this range. If one uses an image which has a lower resolution, this speeds up the process quite a lot. Nevertheless it would be great if somebody knows additional tricks to make the process even faster in order to use a higher resolution with the same speed.
Thanks to everyone who thought about my problem, further remarks are appreciated!!!