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3 | 3 | Transformations Tutorial
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4 | 4 | ========================
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5 | 5 |
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6 |
| -Like any graphics packages, Matplotlib is built on top of a |
7 |
| -transformation framework to easily move between coordinate systems, |
8 |
| -the userland *data* coordinate system, the *axes* coordinate system, |
9 |
| -the *figure* coordinate system, and the *display* coordinate system. |
10 |
| -In 95% of your plotting, you won't need to think about this, as it |
11 |
| -happens under the hood, but as you push the limits of custom figure |
12 |
| -generation, it helps to have an understanding of these objects so you |
13 |
| -can reuse the existing transformations Matplotlib makes available to |
14 |
| -you, or create your own (see :mod:`matplotlib.transforms`). The table |
15 |
| -below summarizes the some useful coordinate systems, the transformation |
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| -object you should use to work in that coordinate system, and the |
17 |
| -description of that system. In the ``Transformation Object`` column, |
18 |
| -``ax`` is a :class:`~matplotlib.axes.Axes` instance, and ``fig`` is a |
19 |
| -:class:`~matplotlib.figure.Figure` instance. |
20 |
| -
|
21 |
| -+----------------+-----------------------------+-----------------------------------+ |
22 |
| -|Coordinates |Transformation object |Description | |
23 |
| -+================+=============================+===================================+ |
24 |
| -|"data" |``ax.transData`` |The coordinate system for the data,| |
25 |
| -| | |controlled by xlim and ylim. | |
26 |
| -+----------------+-----------------------------+-----------------------------------+ |
27 |
| -|"axes" |``ax.transAxes`` |The coordinate system of the | |
28 |
| -| | |`~matplotlib.axes.Axes`; (0, 0) | |
29 |
| -| | |is bottom left of the axes, and | |
30 |
| -| | |(1, 1) is top right of the axes. | |
31 |
| -+----------------+-----------------------------+-----------------------------------+ |
32 |
| -|"subfigure" |``subfigure.transSubfigure`` |The coordinate system of the | |
33 |
| -| | |`.SubFigure`; (0, 0) is bottom left| |
34 |
| -| | |of the subfigure, and (1, 1) is top| |
35 |
| -| | |right of the subfigure. If a | |
36 |
| -| | |figure has no subfigures, this is | |
37 |
| -| | |the same as ``transFigure``. | |
38 |
| -+----------------+-----------------------------+-----------------------------------+ |
39 |
| -|"figure" |``fig.transFigure`` |The coordinate system of the | |
40 |
| -| | |`.Figure`; (0, 0) is bottom left | |
41 |
| -| | |of the figure, and (1, 1) is top | |
42 |
| -| | |right of the figure. | |
43 |
| -+----------------+-----------------------------+-----------------------------------+ |
44 |
| -|"figure-inches" |``fig.dpi_scale_trans`` |The coordinate system of the | |
45 |
| -| | |`.Figure` in inches; (0, 0) is | |
46 |
| -| | |bottom left of the figure, and | |
47 |
| -| | |(width, height) is the top right | |
48 |
| -| | |of the figure in inches. | |
49 |
| -+----------------+-----------------------------+-----------------------------------+ |
50 |
| -|"display" |``None``, or |The pixel coordinate system of the | |
51 |
| -| |``IdentityTransform()`` |display window; (0, 0) is bottom | |
52 |
| -| | |left of the window, and (width, | |
53 |
| -| | |height) is top right of the | |
54 |
| -| | |display window in pixels. | |
55 |
| -+----------------+-----------------------------+-----------------------------------+ |
56 |
| -|"xaxis", |``ax.get_xaxis_transform()``,|Blended coordinate systems; use | |
57 |
| -|"yaxis" |``ax.get_yaxis_transform()`` |data coordinates on one of the axis| |
58 |
| -| | |and axes coordinates on the other. | |
59 |
| -+----------------+-----------------------------+-----------------------------------+ |
60 |
| -
|
61 |
| -All of the transformation objects in the table above take inputs in |
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| -their coordinate system, and transform the input to the *display* |
63 |
| -coordinate system. That is why the *display* coordinate system has |
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| -``None`` for the ``Transformation Object`` column -- it already is in |
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| -*display* coordinates. The transformations also know how to invert |
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| -themselves, to go from *display* back to the native coordinate system. |
67 |
| -This is particularly useful when processing events from the user |
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| -interface, which typically occur in display space, and you want to |
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| -know where the mouse click or key-press occurred in your *data* |
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| -coordinate system. |
71 |
| -
|
72 |
| -Note that specifying objects in *display* coordinates will change their |
73 |
| -location if the ``dpi`` of the figure changes. This can cause confusion when |
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| -printing or changing screen resolution, because the object can change location |
75 |
| -and size. Therefore it is most common |
76 |
| -for artists placed in an Axes or figure to have their transform set to |
77 |
| -something *other* than the `~.transforms.IdentityTransform()`; the default when |
78 |
| -an artist is placed on an Axes using `~.axes.Axes.add_artist` is for the |
79 |
| -transform to be ``ax.transData``. |
| 6 | +Like any graphics packages, Matplotlib is built on top of a transformation |
| 7 | +framework to easily move between coordinate systems, the userland *data* |
| 8 | +coordinate system, the *axes* coordinate system, the *figure* coordinate |
| 9 | +system, and the *display* coordinate system. In 95% of your plotting, you |
| 10 | +won't need to think about this, as it happens under the hood, but as you push |
| 11 | +the limits of custom figure generation, it helps to have an understanding of |
| 12 | +these objects so you can reuse the existing transformations Matplotlib makes |
| 13 | +available to you, or create your own (see :mod:`matplotlib.transforms`). The |
| 14 | +table below summarizes some useful coordinate systems, a description of each |
| 15 | +system, and the transformation object for going from each coordinate system to |
| 16 | +the *display* coordinates. In the "Transformation Object" column, ``ax`` is a |
| 17 | +:class:`~matplotlib.axes.Axes` instance, ``fig`` is a |
| 18 | +:class:`~matplotlib.figure.Figure` instance, and ``subfigure`` is a |
| 19 | +:class:`~matplotlib.figure.SubFigure` instance. |
| 20 | +
|
| 21 | +
|
| 22 | ++----------------+-----------------------------------+---------------------------------------------------+ |
| 23 | +|Coordinate |Description |Transformation object | |
| 24 | +|system | |from system to display | |
| 25 | ++================+===================================+===================================================+ |
| 26 | +|"data" |The coordinate system of the data |``ax.transData`` | |
| 27 | +| |in the Axes. | | |
| 28 | ++----------------+-----------------------------------+---------------------------------------------------+ |
| 29 | +|"axes" |The coordinate system of the |``ax.transAxes`` | |
| 30 | +| |`~matplotlib.axes.Axes`; (0, 0) | | |
| 31 | +| |is bottom left of the axes, and | | |
| 32 | +| |(1, 1) is top right of the axes. | | |
| 33 | ++----------------+-----------------------------------+---------------------------------------------------+ |
| 34 | +|"subfigure" |The coordinate system of the |``subfigure.transSubfigure`` | |
| 35 | +| |`.SubFigure`; (0, 0) is bottom left| | |
| 36 | +| |of the subfigure, and (1, 1) is top| | |
| 37 | +| |right of the subfigure. If a | | |
| 38 | +| |figure has no subfigures, this is | | |
| 39 | +| |the same as ``transFigure``. | | |
| 40 | ++----------------+-----------------------------------+---------------------------------------------------+ |
| 41 | +|"figure" |The coordinate system of the |``fig.transFigure`` | |
| 42 | +| |`.Figure`; (0, 0) is bottom left | | |
| 43 | +| |of the figure, and (1, 1) is top | | |
| 44 | +| |right of the figure. | | |
| 45 | ++----------------+-----------------------------------+---------------------------------------------------+ |
| 46 | +|"figure-inches" |The coordinate system of the |``fig.dpi_scale_trans`` | |
| 47 | +| |`.Figure` in inches; (0, 0) is | | |
| 48 | +| |bottom left of the figure, and | | |
| 49 | +| |(width, height) is the top right | | |
| 50 | +| |of the figure in inches. | | |
| 51 | ++----------------+-----------------------------------+---------------------------------------------------+ |
| 52 | +|"xaxis", |Blended coordinate systems, using |``ax.get_xaxis_transform()``, | |
| 53 | +|"yaxis" |data coordinates on one direction |``ax.get_yaxis_transform()`` | |
| 54 | +| |and axes coordinates on the other. | | |
| 55 | ++----------------+-----------------------------------+---------------------------------------------------+ |
| 56 | +|"display" |The native coordinate system of the|`None`, or | |
| 57 | +| |output ; (0, 0) is the bottom left |:class:`~matplotlib.transforms.IdentityTransform()`| |
| 58 | +| |of the window, and (width, height) | | |
| 59 | +| |is top right of the output in | | |
| 60 | +| |"display units". | | |
| 61 | +| | | | |
| 62 | +| |The exact interpertation of the | | |
| 63 | +| |units depends on the back end. For | | |
| 64 | +| |example it is pixels for Agg and | | |
| 65 | +| |points for svg/pdf. | | |
| 66 | ++----------------+-----------------------------------+---------------------------------------------------+ |
| 67 | +
|
| 68 | +
|
| 69 | +
|
| 70 | +
|
| 71 | +
|
| 72 | +The `~matplotlib.transforms.Transform` objects are naive to the source and |
| 73 | +destination coordinate systems, however the objects referred to in the table |
| 74 | +above are constructed to take inputs in their coordinate system, and transform |
| 75 | +the input to the *display* coordinate system. That is why the *display* |
| 76 | +coordinate system has `None` for the "Transformation Object" column -- it |
| 77 | +already is in *display* coordinates. The naming and destination conventions |
| 78 | +are an aid to keeping track of the available "standard" coordinate systems and |
| 79 | +transforms. |
| 80 | +
|
| 81 | +The transformations also know how to invert themselves (via |
| 82 | +`.Transform.inverted`) to generate a transform from output coordinate system |
| 83 | +back to the input coordinate system. For example, ``ax.transData`` converts |
| 84 | +values in data coordinates to display coordinates and |
| 85 | +``ax.transData.inversed()`` is a :class:`matplotlib.transforms.Transform` that |
| 86 | +goes from display coordinates to data coordinates. This is particularly useful |
| 87 | +when processing events from the user interface, which typically occur in |
| 88 | +display space, and you want to know where the mouse click or key-press occurred |
| 89 | +in your *data* coordinate system. |
| 90 | +
|
| 91 | +Note that specifying the position of Artists in *display* coordinates may |
| 92 | +change their relative location if the ``dpi`` or size of the figure changes. |
| 93 | +This can cause confusion when printing or changing screen resolution, because |
| 94 | +the object can change location and size. Therefore it is most common for |
| 95 | +artists placed in an Axes or figure to have their transform set to something |
| 96 | +*other* than the `~.transforms.IdentityTransform()`; the default when an artist |
| 97 | +is added to an Axes using `~.axes.Axes.add_artist` is for the transform to be |
| 98 | +``ax.transData`` so that you can work and think in *data* coordinates and let |
| 99 | +Matplotlib take care of the transformation to *display*. |
80 | 100 |
|
81 | 101 | .. _data-coords:
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82 | 102 |
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89 | 109 | :meth:`~matplotlib.axes.Axes.set_ylim` methods. For example, in the figure
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90 | 110 | below, the data limits stretch from 0 to 10 on the x-axis, and -1 to 1 on the
|
91 | 111 | y-axis.
|
| 112 | +
|
92 | 113 | """
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93 | 114 |
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94 | 115 | import numpy as np
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