3D plots

Community matplotlib-users
#1

Hello list !

This is probably a recurrent topic, or even more probably HAVE been a recurrent topic... So sorry, sorry, sorry... I wanted to search the archives but Sourceforge is very slow today (...).

Anyway, here is my question:

Is it right that Matplotlib can no longer plot 3D graphes?
The scipy Cookbook / Matplotlib / mplot3D says:

The examples below show simple 3D plots using matplotlib. matplotlib's 3D capabilities were added by incorporating John Porter's mplot3d module, thus no additional download is required any more, the following examples will run with an up to date matplotlib installation. Note, this code is not supported in matplotlib-0.98 and later, so please use the 0.91 maintenance release of matplotlib if you need this functionality.

Which seems a bit like saying one thing and the opposite in the next sentence...

So if I understand correctly, for some obscure reason, Matplotlib has been stripped from its 3D plot capabilities... and this same website suggest the use of another package instead...

Does it mean that all my efforts to understand and learn Matplotlib are just a big waste of time since I need another package now that I need 3D plot? So I ask you for advice: should I forget completely Matplotlib and move to MayaVI2? Or is there any plan to bring 3D back into Matplotlib, I mean to make a proper and complete alternative to Matlab?

Or am I just upset because I am missing something. I only plot data every 4 or 6 months, and I really don't expect to see major functionalities to have disappeared when I come back to plotting data... is it a wrong expectation?

Thanks !!
-Etienne

···

--
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Etienne Gaudrain
Centre for the Neural Basis of Hearing
Department of Physiology, Development and Neuroscience
University of Cambridge
Downing Street
Cambridge CB2 3EG
UK
Phone: +44 (1223) 333 859 office
Fax: +44 (1223) 333 840 department
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

#2

Hi Etienne,

Sorry to hear about your disappointment. You can read about the attempt to resurrect the 3D plotting capabilities here:
<http://www.nabble.com/Updating-MPlot3D-to-a-more-recent-matplotlib.-td22302256.html>

Unfortunately, this doesn't help you right now.
Depending on the type of 3D plotting you want to do, some suggestions for other packages that support 3D plotting from Python and work now are:
Mayavi2's mlab interface <http://code.enthought.com/projects/mayavi/docs/development/html/mayavi/mlab_3d_plotting_functions.html>
gnuplot.py <http://gnuplot-py.sourceforge.net/>
DISLIN <http://www.mps.mpg.de/dislin>
R via RPy <http://rpy.sourceforge.net/>

and I'm pretty sure there are more too.

Right now, if mayavi2 looks like it'll do what you want, I'd recommend it as your next stop. And in my opinion, I wouldn't say that your time spent learning matplotlib was wasted - 2D plotting is usually useful and matplotlib may soon again have limited 3D capability.

Gary R.

Etienne Gaudrain wrote:

Hello list !

This is probably a recurrent topic, or even more probably HAVE been a recurrent topic... So sorry, sorry, sorry... I wanted to search the archives but Sourceforge is very slow today (...).

Anyway, here is my question:

Is it right that Matplotlib can no longer plot 3D graphes?

<snip>

···

Does it mean that all my efforts to understand and learn Matplotlib are just a big waste of time since I need another package now that I need 3D plot? So I ask you for advice: should I forget completely Matplotlib and move to MayaVI2? Or is there any plan to bring 3D back into Matplotlib, I mean to make a proper and complete alternative to Matlab?

Or am I just upset because I am missing something. I only plot data every 4 or 6 months, and I really don't expect to see major functionalities to have disappeared when I come back to plotting data... is it a wrong expectation?

Thanks !!
-Etienne

#3

Thanks a lot for the link, and for the suggestions!
I will probably give a go to Mayavi2, but given how heavy it seems to be (compared to matplotlib) it probably requires some custom wrapping... which means again a lot time investment... thanks for the tips anyway!

Cheers,
-Etienne

Gary Ruben wrote:

···

Hi Etienne,

Sorry to hear about your disappointment. You can read about the attempt to resurrect the 3D plotting capabilities here:
<http://www.nabble.com/Updating-MPlot3D-to-a-more-recent-matplotlib.-td22302256.html>

Unfortunately, this doesn't help you right now.
Depending on the type of 3D plotting you want to do, some suggestions for other packages that support 3D plotting from Python and work now are:
Mayavi2's mlab interface <http://code.enthought.com/projects/mayavi/docs/development/html/mayavi/mlab_3d_plotting_functions.html>

gnuplot.py <http://gnuplot-py.sourceforge.net/>
DISLIN <http://www.mps.mpg.de/dislin>
R via RPy <http://rpy.sourceforge.net/>

and I'm pretty sure there are more too.

Right now, if mayavi2 looks like it'll do what you want, I'd recommend it as your next stop. And in my opinion, I wouldn't say that your time spent learning matplotlib was wasted - 2D plotting is usually useful and matplotlib may soon again have limited 3D capability.

Gary R.

Etienne Gaudrain wrote:

Hello list !

This is probably a recurrent topic, or even more probably HAVE been a recurrent topic... So sorry, sorry, sorry... I wanted to search the archives but Sourceforge is very slow today (...).

Anyway, here is my question:

Is it right that Matplotlib can no longer plot 3D graphes?

<snip>

Does it mean that all my efforts to understand and learn Matplotlib are just a big waste of time since I need another package now that I need 3D plot? So I ask you for advice: should I forget completely Matplotlib and move to MayaVI2? Or is there any plan to bring 3D back into Matplotlib, I mean to make a proper and complete alternative to Matlab?

Or am I just upset because I am missing something. I only plot data every 4 or 6 months, and I really don't expect to see major functionalities to have disappeared when I come back to plotting data... is it a wrong expectation?

Thanks !!
-Etienne

--
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Etienne Gaudrain
Centre for the Neural Basis of Hearing
Department of Physiology, Development and Neuroscience
University of Cambridge
Downing Street
Cambridge CB2 3EG
UK
Phone: +44 (1223) 333 859 office
Fax: +44 (1223) 333 840 department
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

#4

Thanks a lot for the link, and for the suggestions!
I will probably give a go to Mayavi2, but given how heavy it seems to be
(compared to matplotlib) it probably requires some custom wrapping...
which means again a lot time investment... thanks for the tips anyway!

Etienne,

I believe that Mayavi2 has a matlab-like interface (called mlab, I
think) which offers a much higher-level (and more command-line
friendly) API. I'm not a Mayavi expert by any streach, but you may be
able to find many helpful folks on the enthought-dev list
(https://mail.enthought.com/mailman/listinfo/enthought-dev)

cheers,
Barry

···

On Mon, Mar 23, 2009 at 6:11 AM, Etienne Gaudrain <et.gaudrain@...185...> wrote:

Cheers,
-Etienne

Gary Ruben wrote:

Hi Etienne,

Sorry to hear about your disappointment. You can read about the
attempt to resurrect the 3D plotting capabilities here:
<http://www.nabble.com/Updating-MPlot3D-to-a-more-recent-matplotlib.-td22302256.html>

Unfortunately, this doesn't help you right now.
Depending on the type of 3D plotting you want to do, some suggestions
for other packages that support 3D plotting from Python and work now are:
Mayavi2's mlab interface
<http://code.enthought.com/projects/mayavi/docs/development/html/mayavi/mlab_3d_plotting_functions.html>

gnuplot.py <http://gnuplot-py.sourceforge.net/>
DISLIN <http://www.mps.mpg.de/dislin>
R via RPy <http://rpy.sourceforge.net/>

and I'm pretty sure there are more too.

Right now, if mayavi2 looks like it'll do what you want, I'd recommend
it as your next stop. And in my opinion, I wouldn't say that your time
spent learning matplotlib was wasted - 2D plotting is usually useful
and matplotlib may soon again have limited 3D capability.

Gary R.

Etienne Gaudrain wrote:

Hello list !

This is probably a recurrent topic, or even more probably HAVE been a
recurrent topic... So sorry, sorry, sorry... I wanted to search the
archives but Sourceforge is very slow today (...).

Anyway, here is my question:

Is it right that Matplotlib can no longer plot 3D graphes?

<snip>

Does it mean that all my efforts to understand and learn Matplotlib
are just a big waste of time since I need another package now that I
need 3D plot? So I ask you for advice: should I forget completely
Matplotlib and move to MayaVI2? Or is there any plan to bring 3D back
into Matplotlib, I mean to make a proper and complete alternative to
Matlab?

Or am I just upset because I am missing something. I only plot data
every 4 or 6 months, and I really don't expect to see major
functionalities to have disappeared when I come back to plotting
data... is it a wrong expectation?

Thanks !!
-Etienne

--
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Etienne Gaudrain
Centre for the Neural Basis of Hearing
Department of Physiology, Development and Neuroscience
University of Cambridge
Downing Street
Cambridge CB2 3EG
UK
Phone: +44 (1223) 333 859 office
Fax: +44 (1223) 333 840 department
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Apps built with the Adobe(R) Flex(R) framework and Flex Builder(TM) are
powering Web 2.0 with engaging, cross-platform capabilities. Quickly and
easily build your RIAs with Flex Builder, the Eclipse(TM)based development
software that enables intelligent coding and step-through debugging.
Download the free 60 day trial. http://p.sf.net/sfu/www-adobe-com
_______________________________________________
Matplotlib-users mailing list
Matplotlib-users@lists.sourceforge.net
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#5

Barry Wark wrote:

···

On Mon, Mar 23, 2009 at 6:11 AM, Etienne Gaudrain <et.gaudrain@...185...> wrote:

Thanks a lot for the link, and for the suggestions!
I will probably give a go to Mayavi2, but given how heavy it seems to be
(compared to matplotlib) it probably requires some custom wrapping...
which means again a lot time investment... thanks for the tips anyway!

Etienne,

I believe that Mayavi2 has a matlab-like interface (called mlab, I
think) which offers a much higher-level (and more command-line
friendly) API. I'm not a Mayavi expert by any streach, but you may be
able to find many helpful folks on the enthought-dev list
(https://mail.enthought.com/mailman/listinfo/enthought-dev)

You might also be interested in Nicholas Rougier's SciGL project, which
(IIRC) was started because of the removal of mpl's 3D plotting
functionality, but which looks really nice:

http://www.loria.fr/~rougier/scigl/

Reminds me that I need to find something to plot in 3D so I can use it :wink:

Andy

#6

Thanks Barry.

I still don't know whether I want to use Gnuplot.py or Mayavi. Gnuplot is built on a very stable base, so I would be sure to have few surprises with future developments. But maybe it is too old and will not pass the Python3k step...

I gave a look to Mayavi, and the start is pretty bad given that the online doc does not match the version of my Ubuntu. The consequence is that the mlab.show() method seems to be missing, while the doc present it as the solution for external scripting... but I'll dig a bit further.

-Etienne

Barry Wark wrote:

···

On Mon, Mar 23, 2009 at 6:11 AM, Etienne Gaudrain <et.gaudrain@...185...> wrote:
  

Thanks a lot for the link, and for the suggestions!
I will probably give a go to Mayavi2, but given how heavy it seems to be
(compared to matplotlib) it probably requires some custom wrapping...
which means again a lot time investment... thanks for the tips anyway!
    
Etienne,

I believe that Mayavi2 has a matlab-like interface (called mlab, I
think) which offers a much higher-level (and more command-line
friendly) API. I'm not a Mayavi expert by any streach, but you may be
able to find many helpful folks on the enthought-dev list
(https://mail.enthought.com/mailman/listinfo/enthought-dev)

cheers,
Barry

Cheers,
-Etienne

Gary Ruben wrote:
    

Hi Etienne,

Sorry to hear about your disappointment. You can read about the
attempt to resurrect the 3D plotting capabilities here:
<http://www.nabble.com/Updating-MPlot3D-to-a-more-recent-matplotlib.-td22302256.html>

Unfortunately, this doesn't help you right now.
Depending on the type of 3D plotting you want to do, some suggestions
for other packages that support 3D plotting from Python and work now are:
Mayavi2's mlab interface
<http://code.enthought.com/projects/mayavi/docs/development/html/mayavi/mlab_3d_plotting_functions.html>

gnuplot.py <http://gnuplot-py.sourceforge.net/>
DISLIN <http://www.mps.mpg.de/dislin>
R via RPy <http://rpy.sourceforge.net/>

and I'm pretty sure there are more too.

Right now, if mayavi2 looks like it'll do what you want, I'd recommend
it as your next stop. And in my opinion, I wouldn't say that your time
spent learning matplotlib was wasted - 2D plotting is usually useful
and matplotlib may soon again have limited 3D capability.

Gary R.

Etienne Gaudrain wrote:
      

Hello list !

This is probably a recurrent topic, or even more probably HAVE been a
recurrent topic... So sorry, sorry, sorry... I wanted to search the
archives but Sourceforge is very slow today (...).

Anyway, here is my question:

Is it right that Matplotlib can no longer plot 3D graphes?
        

<snip>
      

Does it mean that all my efforts to understand and learn Matplotlib
are just a big waste of time since I need another package now that I
need 3D plot? So I ask you for advice: should I forget completely
Matplotlib and move to MayaVI2? Or is there any plan to bring 3D back
into Matplotlib, I mean to make a proper and complete alternative to
Matlab?

Or am I just upset because I am missing something. I only plot data
every 4 or 6 months, and I really don't expect to see major
functionalities to have disappeared when I come back to plotting
data... is it a wrong expectation?

Thanks !!
-Etienne
        

--
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Etienne Gaudrain
Centre for the Neural Basis of Hearing
Department of Physiology, Development and Neuroscience
University of Cambridge
Downing Street
Cambridge CB2 3EG
UK
Phone: +44 (1223) 333 859 office
Fax: +44 (1223) 333 840 department
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Apps built with the Adobe(R) Flex(R) framework and Flex Builder(TM) are
powering Web 2.0 with engaging, cross-platform capabilities. Quickly and
easily build your RIAs with Flex Builder, the Eclipse(TM)based development
software that enables intelligent coding and step-through debugging.
Download the free 60 day trial. http://p.sf.net/sfu/www-adobe-com
_______________________________________________
Matplotlib-users mailing list
Matplotlib-users@lists.sourceforge.net
https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/matplotlib-users

--
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Etienne Gaudrain
Centre for the Neural Basis of Hearing
Department of Physiology, Development and Neuroscience
University of Cambridge
Downing Street
Cambridge CB2 3EG
UK
Phone: +44 (1223) 333 859 office
Fax: +44 (1223) 333 840 department
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

#7

Waouuuh !
These screenshots look awsome !

A shame this package is not in my Ubuntu repository. I'm a bit lazy, and I want a long-term solution, which supposes auto-update...

-Etienne

Andy Buckley wrote:

···

You might also be interested in Nicholas Rougier's SciGL project, which
(IIRC) was started because of the removal of mpl's 3D plotting
functionality, but which looks really nice:

http://www.loria.fr/~rougier/scigl/

Reminds me that I need to find something to plot in 3D so I can use it :wink:

Andy

--
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Etienne Gaudrain
Centre for the Neural Basis of Hearing
Department of Physiology, Development and Neuroscience
University of Cambridge
Downing Street
Cambridge CB2 3EG
UK
Phone: +44 (1223) 333 859 office
Fax: +44 (1223) 333 840 department
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

#8

Ok, I'll go for Mayavi. I am reasonably impressed by the demos. I haven't been to far into the documentation and I hop I won't regret my choice. But it looks great so far.

Thanks for your help !!

-Etienne

Etienne Gaudrain wrote:

···

Hello list !

This is probably a recurrent topic, or even more probably HAVE been a recurrent topic... So sorry, sorry, sorry... I wanted to search the archives but Sourceforge is very slow today (...).

Anyway, here is my question:

Is it right that Matplotlib can no longer plot 3D graphes?
The scipy Cookbook / Matplotlib / mplot3D says:
  

The examples below show simple 3D plots using matplotlib. matplotlib's 3D capabilities were added by incorporating John Porter's mplot3d module, thus no additional download is required any more, the following examples will run with an up to date matplotlib installation. Note, this code is not supported in matplotlib-0.98 and later, so please use the 0.91 maintenance release of matplotlib if you need this functionality.
    

Which seems a bit like saying one thing and the opposite in the next sentence...

So if I understand correctly, for some obscure reason, Matplotlib has been stripped from its 3D plot capabilities... and this same website suggest the use of another package instead...

Does it mean that all my efforts to understand and learn Matplotlib are just a big waste of time since I need another package now that I need 3D plot? So I ask you for advice: should I forget completely Matplotlib and move to MayaVI2? Or is there any plan to bring 3D back into Matplotlib, I mean to make a proper and complete alternative to Matlab?

Or am I just upset because I am missing something. I only plot data every 4 or 6 months, and I really don't expect to see major functionalities to have disappeared when I come back to plotting data... is it a wrong expectation?

Thanks !!
-Etienne

--
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Etienne Gaudrain
Centre for the Neural Basis of Hearing
Department of Physiology, Development and Neuroscience
University of Cambridge
Downing Street
Cambridge CB2 3EG
UK
Phone: +44 (1223) 333 859 office
Fax: +44 (1223) 333 840 department
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

#9

http://gael-varoquaux.info/physics/slides_Scipy2007.pdf for a good intro to the high level mayavi API.

Johann

Etienne Gaudrain wrote:

···

Ok, I'll go for Mayavi. I am reasonably impressed by the demos. I haven't been to far into the documentation and I hop I won't regret my choice. But it looks great so far.

Thanks for your help !!

-Etienne

Etienne Gaudrain wrote:
  

Hello list !

This is probably a recurrent topic, or even more probably HAVE been a recurrent topic... So sorry, sorry, sorry... I wanted to search the archives but Sourceforge is very slow today (...).

Anyway, here is my question:

Is it right that Matplotlib can no longer plot 3D graphes?
The scipy Cookbook / Matplotlib / mplot3D says:
  

The examples below show simple 3D plots using matplotlib. matplotlib's 3D capabilities were added by incorporating John Porter's mplot3d module, thus no additional download is required any more, the following examples will run with an up to date matplotlib installation. Note, this code is not supported in matplotlib-0.98 and later, so please use the 0.91 maintenance release of matplotlib if you need this functionality.
    

Which seems a bit like saying one thing and the opposite in the next sentence...

So if I understand correctly, for some obscure reason, Matplotlib has been stripped from its 3D plot capabilities... and this same website suggest the use of another package instead...

Does it mean that all my efforts to understand and learn Matplotlib are just a big waste of time since I need another package now that I need 3D plot? So I ask you for advice: should I forget completely Matplotlib and move to MayaVI2? Or is there any plan to bring 3D back into Matplotlib, I mean to make a proper and complete alternative to Matlab?

Or am I just upset because I am missing something. I only plot data every 4 or 6 months, and I really don't expect to see major functionalities to have disappeared when I come back to plotting data... is it a wrong expectation?

Thanks !!
-Etienne