I am required to use Python for engineering project. Need to create many graphs, including surface plots. In the past I used Matlab for plotting and really liked it. I was wandering if there is a module/package/extension which bring similar capability into Python.
To be more specific, I need piloting for 2 different reasons.
To understand how functions behave. Something quick and dirty would do it.
Publication/presentation. Ability to add labels, legend, grid, customise colour, axis properties etc.
Try matplotlib, it's pretty extensive and has a shell similar to MATLAB / Mathematica.
I suspect matplotlib.pyplot would be right up your alley.
Related
Let me first say I've never studied matplotlib and pyplot organically. I've been able to employ these fantastic tools to some success however without developing a big picture of how things are supposed to be used. One of the thing that confuse me the most is the use of axes instances.
In many occasions I have found solutions to a particular problem which make use of axes or do not.
Example: one can set ticks to the x-axis through matplotlib.pyplot.xticks without using axes or through matplotlib.axes.Axes.set_xticks.
I usually try to avoid the use of axes. However there are times at which this seems to not be possible. For example when trying to use subplots with shared axis.
Can someone help me to shed some light on this subject? When am i supposed to use axes? When should I not?
Thanks.
I am looking for a software package, or even better, a python package that allows me to draw objects by inputing parameters, for example: I want a circle at position x,y, radius r, thickness t, color c and then look at it at different angles.
I know that I could use stuff like blender, but I feel that this is overkill and it would take a long time to learn it sufficiently.
I just need this to do some ncie looking plots in my thesis.
thx.
I would recommend OpenSCad. It is a software to create 3D objects by writing code. Although it isn't a python package, it is quite lightweight, has a nice view and the commands are really easy to learn - take a look at their Cheat Sheet. The projects can be shared as text files or exported in various 3D formats, to get a prettier view from other software.
And I you want to do the same but stick with Python you can combine OpenSCAD with SolidPython.
I have two sets of sampled points in 2d space[x ,y], each set represents one class. When I plot all points, it's mess and one can't see anything on it. I need somehow plot distribution of each set (if it's possible on same canvas with different colours, then better). Does anybody know about some good library for it?
Matplotlib is a very good library for that task. You can plot histograms, scatter plots and lot of other things. You just have to know what you want and then you can probably do it with that. I use that for similar tasks a lot.
[UPDATE]
As I said, you can do that with matplotlib. Here is an example from their gallery: http://matplotlib.org/examples/pylab_examples/scatter_hist.html
It's not so pretty as with the answer in the comment of #lejlot, but still correct.
I would like to make graph like this in Python:
I have made the program in C that will give me combinations I need (here N=2n+|m| iirc), so could I integrate that here somehow?
I made something in Mathematica, but that's a pain in the butt... Any help is appreciated.
I would customize CairoPlot for doing that (http://linil.wordpress.com/2008/09/16/cairoplot-11/ ) --
Cairoplot is a simple and small project to use the powerfull Cairo library to make Graph's.
It does have few, although beauutiful, graphic options, but it is entirely made in Python - it should be possible to subclass a graph class from there to generate plots that fit your need.
You could try using step() in matplotlib
http://matplotlib.sourceforge.net/examples/pylab_examples/step_demo.html
I have a large data set of tuples containing (time of event, latitude, longitude) that I need to visualize. I was hoping to generate a 'movie'-like xy-plot, but was wondering if anyone has a better idea or if there is an easy way to do this in Python?
Thanks in advance for the help,
--Leo
get matplotlib
The easiest option is matplotlib. Two particular solutions that might work for you are:
1) You can generate a series of plots, each a snapshot at a given time. These can either be displayed as a dynamic plot in matplotlib, where the axes stay the same and the data moves around; or you can save the series of plots to separate files and later combine them to make a movie (using a separate application). There a number of examples in the official examples for doing these things.
2) A simple scatter plot, where the colors of the circles changes with time might work well for your data. This is super easy. See this, for example, which produces this figure
alt text http://matplotlib.sourceforge.net/plot_directive/mpl_examples/pylab_examples/ellipse_collection.hires.png
I'd try rpy. All the power of R, from within python.
http://rpy.sourceforge.net/
rpy is awesome.
Check out the CRAN library for animations,
http://cran.r-project.org/web/packages/animation/index.html
Of course, you have to learn a bit about R to do this, but if you're planning to do this kind of thing routinely in future it will be well worth your while to learn.
If you are interested in scientific plotting using Python then have a look at Mlab: http://code.enthought.com/projects/mayavi/docs/development/html/mayavi/mlab.html
It allows you to plot 2d / 3d and animate your data and the quality of the charts is really high.
Enthought's Chaco is designed for interactive/updating plots. the api and such takes a little while to get use to, but once you're there it's a fantastic framework to work with.
I have had reasonable success with Python applications generating SVG with animation features embedded, but this was with a smaller set of elements than what you probably have. For example, if your data is about a seismic event, show a circle that shows up when the event happened and grows in size matching the magnitude of the event. A moving indicator over a timeline is really simple to add.
Kaleidoscope (Opera, others maybe, Safari not) shows lots of pieces moving around and I found inspirational. Lots of other good SVG tutorial content on the site too.
You might want to look at PyQwt. It's a plotting library which works with Qt/PyQt.
Several of the PyQwt examples (in the qt4examples directory) show how to create "moving" / dynamically changing plots -- look at CPUplot.py, MapDemo.py, DataDemo.py.