Introduction
This lab is a step-by-step tutorial on how to build cross-GUI applications using Matplotlib event handling to interact with objects on the canvas. We will be creating a polygon editor that allows you to move, delete, and insert vertices.
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Import the Required Libraries
We need to import the necessary libraries for the polygon editor.
import numpy as np
from matplotlib.artist import Artist
from matplotlib.lines import Line2D
Create a Function to Calculate Distance
We need to create a function that calculates the distance between a point and a line segment. This function will be used later to determine if a new vertex should be added to the polygon.
def dist_point_to_segment(p, s0, s1):
"""
Get the distance from the point *p* to the segment (*s0*, *s1*), where
*p*, *s0*, *s1* are ``[x, y]`` arrays.
"""
s01 = s1 - s0
s0p = p - s0
if (s01 == 0).all():
return np.hypot(*s0p)
## Project onto segment, without going past segment ends.
p1 = s0 + np.clip((s0p @ s01) / (s01 @ s01), 0, 1) * s01
return np.hypot(*(p - p1))
Create the PolygonInteractor Class
We need to create the PolygonInteractor class, which is the main class for the polygon editor. This class will handle all the interactions with the polygon, such as moving, deleting, and inserting vertices.
class PolygonInteractor:
"""
A polygon editor.
Key-bindings
't' toggle vertex markers on and off. When vertex markers are on,
you can move them, delete them
'd' delete the vertex under point
'i' insert a vertex at point. You must be within epsilon of the
line connecting two existing vertices
"""
showverts = True
epsilon = 5 ## max pixel distance to count as a vertex hit
def __init__(self, ax, poly):
if poly.figure is None:
raise RuntimeError('You must first add the polygon to a figure '
'or canvas before defining the interactor')
self.ax = ax
canvas = poly.figure.canvas
self.poly = poly
x, y = zip(*self.poly.xy)
self.line = Line2D(x, y,
marker='o', markerfacecolor='r',
animated=True)
self.ax.add_line(self.line)
self.cid = self.poly.add_callback(self.poly_changed)
self._ind = None ## the active vert
canvas.mpl_connect('draw_event', self.on_draw)
canvas.mpl_connect('button_press_event', self.on_button_press)
canvas.mpl_connect('key_press_event', self.on_key_press)
canvas.mpl_connect('button_release_event', self.on_button_release)
canvas.mpl_connect('motion_notify_event', self.on_mouse_move)
self.canvas = canvas
def on_draw(self, event):
self.background = self.canvas.copy_from_bbox(self.ax.bbox)
self.ax.draw_artist(self.poly)
self.ax.draw_artist(self.line)
## do not need to blit here, this will fire before the screen is
## updated
def poly_changed(self, poly):
"""This method is called whenever the pathpatch object is called."""
## only copy the artist props to the line (except visibility)
vis = self.line.get_visible()
Artist.update_from(self.line, poly)
self.line.set_visible(vis) ## don't use the poly visibility state
def get_ind_under_point(self, event):
"""
Return the index of the point closest to the event position or *None*
if no point is within ``self.epsilon`` to the event position.
"""
## display coords
xy = np.asarray(self.poly.xy)
xyt = self.poly.get_transform().transform(xy)
xt, yt = xyt[:, 0], xyt[:, 1]
d = np.hypot(xt - event.x, yt - event.y)
indseq, = np.nonzero(d == d.min())
ind = indseq[0]
if d[ind] >= self.epsilon:
ind = None
return ind
def on_button_press(self, event):
"""Callback for mouse button presses."""
if not self.showverts:
return
if event.inaxes is None:
return
if event.button != 1:
return
self._ind = self.get_ind_under_point(event)
def on_button_release(self, event):
"""Callback for mouse button releases."""
if not self.showverts:
return
if event.button != 1:
return
self._ind = None
def on_key_press(self, event):
"""Callback for key presses."""
if not event.inaxes:
return
if event.key == 't':
self.showverts = not self.showverts
self.line.set_visible(self.showverts)
if not self.showverts:
self._ind = None
elif event.key == 'd':
ind = self.get_ind_under_point(event)
if ind is not None:
self.poly.xy = np.delete(self.poly.xy,
ind, axis=0)
self.line.set_data(zip(*self.poly.xy))
elif event.key == 'i':
xys = self.poly.get_transform().transform(self.poly.xy)
p = event.x, event.y ## display coords
for i in range(len(xys) - 1):
s0 = xys[i]
s1 = xys[i + 1]
d = dist_point_to_segment(p, s0, s1)
if d <= self.epsilon:
self.poly.xy = np.insert(
self.poly.xy, i+1,
[event.xdata, event.ydata],
axis=0)
self.line.set_data(zip(*self.poly.xy))
break
if self.line.stale:
self.canvas.draw_idle()
def on_mouse_move(self, event):
"""Callback for mouse movements."""
if not self.showverts:
return
if self._ind is None:
return
if event.inaxes is None:
return
if event.button != 1:
return
x, y = event.xdata, event.ydata
self.poly.xy[self._ind] = x, y
if self._ind == 0:
self.poly.xy[-1] = x, y
elif self._ind == len(self.poly.xy) - 1:
self.poly.xy[0] = x, y
self.line.set_data(zip(*self.poly.xy))
self.canvas.restore_region(self.background)
self.ax.draw_artist(self.poly)
self.ax.draw_artist(self.line)
self.canvas.blit(self.ax.bbox)
Create the Polygon
We need to create the polygon that we will be editing using the Polygon class.
theta = np.arange(0, 2*np.pi, 0.1)
r = 1.5
xs = r * np.cos(theta)
ys = r * np.sin(theta)
poly = Polygon(np.column_stack([xs, ys]), animated=True)
Create the Plot
We need to create the plot and add the polygon to it.
fig, ax = plt.subplots()
ax.add_patch(poly)
p = PolygonInteractor(ax, poly)
ax.set_title('Click and drag a point to move it')
ax.set_xlim((-2, 2))
ax.set_ylim((-2, 2))
plt.show()
Summary
In this lab, we learned how to create a polygon editor using Matplotlib event handling. We created a class to handle all the interactions with the polygon, and we used the Polygon class to create the polygon itself. We then created the plot and added the polygon to it. With this knowledge, you can create your own interactive applications using Matplotlib.