Interactive Matplotlib Canvas Editing

Introduction

This lab will guide you through an example of a cross-GUI application using Matplotlib event handling to interact with and modify objects on the canvas. You will learn how to edit a path on a plot, by dragging markers with the mouse, and toggling their visibility.

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Skills Graph

Import Libraries

In this step, we import the necessary libraries for the lab. We use Matplotlib to create the plot and handle events.

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
import numpy as np

from matplotlib.backend_bases import MouseButton
from matplotlib.patches import PathPatch
from matplotlib.path import Path

Create the Plot

In this step, we create a plot with a green path and yellow edges, using the path data provided. We then add a PathPatch object to the plot, which represents the path.

fig, ax = plt.subplots()

pathdata = [
    (Path.MOVETO, (1.58, -2.57)),
    (Path.CURVE4, (0.35, -1.1)),
    (Path.CURVE4, (-1.75, 2.0)),
    (Path.CURVE4, (0.375, 2.0)),
    (Path.LINETO, (0.85, 1.15)),
    (Path.CURVE4, (2.2, 3.2)),
    (Path.CURVE4, (3, 0.05)),
    (Path.CURVE4, (2.0, -0.5)),
    (Path.CLOSEPOLY, (1.58, -2.57)),
]

codes, verts = zip(*pathdata)
path = Path(verts, codes)
patch = PathPatch(
    path, facecolor='green', edgecolor='yellow', alpha=0.5)
ax.add_patch(patch)

Create the PathInteractor Class

In this step, we create the PathInteractor class, which handles the event callbacks for the path object. This class allows us to interactively edit the path by dragging markers on the plot.

class PathInteractor:
    """
    A path editor.

    Press 't' to toggle vertex markers on and off.  When vertex markers are on,
    they can be dragged with the mouse.
    """

    showverts = True
    epsilon = 5  ## max pixel distance to count as a vertex hit

    def __init__(self, pathpatch):

        self.ax = pathpatch.axes
        canvas = self.ax.figure.canvas
        self.pathpatch = pathpatch
        self.pathpatch.set_animated(True)

        x, y = zip(*self.pathpatch.get_path().vertices)

        self.line, = ax.plot(
            x, y, marker='o', markerfacecolor='r', animated=True)

        self._ind = None  ## the active vertex

        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 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.
        """
        xy = self.pathpatch.get_path().vertices
        xyt = self.pathpatch.get_transform().transform(xy)  ## to display coords
        xt, yt = xyt[:, 0], xyt[:, 1]
        d = np.sqrt((xt - event.x)**2 + (yt - event.y)**2)
        ind = d.argmin()
        return ind if d[ind] < self.epsilon else None

    def on_draw(self, event):
        """Callback for draws."""
        self.background = self.canvas.copy_from_bbox(self.ax.bbox)
        self.ax.draw_artist(self.pathpatch)
        self.ax.draw_artist(self.line)
        self.canvas.blit(self.ax.bbox)

    def on_button_press(self, event):
        """Callback for mouse button presses."""
        if (event.inaxes is None
                or event.button != MouseButton.LEFT
                or not self.showverts):
            return
        self._ind = self.get_ind_under_point(event)

    def on_button_release(self, event):
        """Callback for mouse button releases."""
        if (event.button != MouseButton.LEFT
                or not self.showverts):
            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
        self.canvas.draw()

    def on_mouse_move(self, event):
        """Callback for mouse movements."""
        if (self._ind is None
                or event.inaxes is None
                or event.button != MouseButton.LEFT
                or not self.showverts):
            return

        vertices = self.pathpatch.get_path().vertices

        vertices[self._ind] = event.xdata, event.ydata
        self.line.set_data(zip(*vertices))

        self.canvas.restore_region(self.background)
        self.ax.draw_artist(self.pathpatch)
        self.ax.draw_artist(self.line)
        self.canvas.blit(self.ax.bbox)

Create the Path Interactor

In this step, we create an instance of the PathInteractor class, passing in the PathPatch object we created earlier.

interactor = PathInteractor(patch)

Set Plot Properties

In this step, we set the title and axis limits for the plot.

ax.set_title('drag vertices to update path')
ax.set_xlim(-3, 4)
ax.set_ylim(-3, 4)

Show the Plot

In this step, we show the plot on the screen.

plt.show()

Summary

In this lab, we learned how to create an interactive plot that allows us to edit a path by dragging markers on the plot. We used the Matplotlib library to create the plot and handle events, and created a custom class to handle the event callbacks. By following these steps, you can create your own interactive plots with Matplotlib.