Distance between axis and axis label

_Christian_David_Ott · November 16, 2005, 9:57am

Hi,

I am a new user of matplotlib (0.82; python 2.3.5). So far I have
used supermongo (sic!) to produce figures for physics journal articles
and talks. I am trying to get up to speed with matplotlib to do the
same kind of plots with an open source package.

For talks I like to prepare eps figures which I embed in my latex-based
slides. For slides, huge font sizes are a must, hence I like to use
large fonts for tick mark labels and axis labels. My problem: For the
axis labels, matplolib (or the PS backend?) is apparently not
adjusting (or rather: under-adjusting) the distance between axis and
axis label.

Is there a way to adjust the distance between an axis and its label?
If not, then where in the code is the distance calculated, scaled and
set? I have dug through the code, but could not find it due
to lack of object-oriented programming experience, I guess.

Here is an example of what I mean. The x-axis labels comes out
sort of okay, but the y-axis label is to close to the y axis.

#!/usr/bin/python
from pylab import *
from matplotlib import rcParams

plot([1,2,3,4], [1,4,9,16], 'ro')
xlabel("something",size=30)
ylabel("something else",size=30)
xlabels = getp(gca(), 'xticklabels')
setp(xlabels, size=25)
ylabels = getp(gca(), 'yticklabels')
setp(ylabels, size=25)
savefig("testplot.eps")

Note that playing around with 'axes' did not help - it has
no influence on the distance between labels and axes.

Help & comments much appreciated! Thanks!

- Christian

Eric_Firing1 · November 16, 2005, 4:15pm

Christian,

Insert

rcParams['tick.major.pad'] = 12

as the third line in your script, or change the value in your matplotlibrc file.

Eric

···

For talks I like to prepare eps figures which I embed in my latex-based
slides. For slides, huge font sizes are a must, hence I like to use
large fonts for tick mark labels and axis labels. My problem: For the
axis labels, matplolib (or the PS backend?) is apparently not
adjusting (or rather: under-adjusting) the distance between axis and
axis label.

Is there a way to adjust the distance between an axis and its label?
If not, then where in the code is the distance calculated, scaled and
set? I have dug through the code, but could not find it due
to lack of object-oriented programming experience, I guess.

Here is an example of what I mean. The x-axis labels comes out
sort of okay, but the y-axis label is to close to the y axis.

#!/usr/bin/python
from pylab import *
from matplotlib import rcParams

plot([1,2,3,4], [1,4,9,16], 'ro')
xlabel("something",size=30)
ylabel("something else",size=30)
xlabels = getp(gca(), 'xticklabels')
setp(xlabels, size=25)
ylabels = getp(gca(), 'yticklabels')
setp(ylabels, size=25)
savefig("testplot.eps")

_Christian_David_Ott · November 16, 2005, 4:24pm

Hi Eric,

Insert

rcParams['tick.major.pad'] = 12

as the third line in your script, or change the value in your
matplotlibrc file.

thanks. But this merely changes the distance between ticks and tick
labels. The distance between tick labels and axis label stays
constant. To be more precise about what I need (my first e-mail was a
bit ambigous...sorry): I need to change the distance between tick
labels and the axis label.

Thanks.

- Christian

···

On 11/16/05, Eric Firing <efiring@...202...> wrote:

_Ryan_Krauss1 · November 16, 2005, 5:31pm

I am confused as to what the problem is. Are you saying that your
axis label is running into you tick label? Can you post a little
piece of a png showing the problem you are trying to solve?

Ryan

···

On 11/16/05, Christian David Ott <christian.d.ott@...287...> wrote:

Hi Eric,

On 11/16/05, Eric Firing <efiring@...202...> wrote:

> Insert
>
> rcParams['tick.major.pad'] = 12
>
> as the third line in your script, or change the value in your
> matplotlibrc file.

thanks. But this merely changes the distance between ticks and tick
labels. The distance between tick labels and axis label stays
constant. To be more precise about what I need (my first e-mail was a
bit ambigous...sorry): I need to change the distance between tick
labels and the axis label.

Thanks.

- Christian

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_Christian_David_Ott · November 16, 2005, 5:41pm

Hi Ryan,

···

On 11/16/05, Ryan Krauss <ryanlists@...287...> wrote:

I am confused as to what the problem is. Are you saying that your
axis label is running into you tick label? Can you post a little
piece of a png showing the problem you are trying to solve?

sorry, I don't know how to post a png to the mailinglist. Do I just
have to attach it to my response? Anyway, the below code generates a
plot that reproduces my problem. The y-axis label is to close to the
y-axis tick labels (though not overlapping). I would like to shift the
y-axis label further away from the y-axis tick labels.

- Christian

-------------

#!/usr/bin/python
from pylab import *
from matplotlib import rcParams

plot([1,2,3,4], [1,4,9,16], 'ro')
xlabel("something",size=30)
ylabel("something else",size=30)
xlabels = getp(gca(), 'xticklabels')
setp(xlabels, size=25)
ylabels = getp(gca(), 'yticklabels')
setp(ylabels, size=25)
savefig("testplot.eps")

_Ryan_Krauss1 · November 16, 2005, 8:01pm

I know correctly understand your problem, but I don't know how to fix
it. It seems you need a pad setting for the distance from the axis
label to the tick mark labels, but I don't see one in the rc file.

Anyone else?

Ryan

···

On 11/16/05, Christian David Ott <christian.d.ott@...287...> wrote:

Hi Ryan,

On 11/16/05, Ryan Krauss <ryanlists@...287...> wrote:
> I am confused as to what the problem is. Are you saying that your
> axis label is running into you tick label? Can you post a little
> piece of a png showing the problem you are trying to solve?

sorry, I don't know how to post a png to the mailinglist. Do I just
have to attach it to my response? Anyway, the below code generates a
plot that reproduces my problem. The y-axis label is to close to the
y-axis tick labels (though not overlapping). I would like to shift the
y-axis label further away from the y-axis tick labels.

- Christian

-------------

#!/usr/bin/python
from pylab import *
from matplotlib import rcParams

plot([1,2,3,4], [1,4,9,16], 'ro')
xlabel("something",size=30)
ylabel("something else",size=30)
xlabels = getp(gca(), 'xticklabels')
setp(xlabels, size=25)
ylabels = getp(gca(), 'yticklabels')
setp(ylabels, size=25)
savefig("testplot.eps")

_Chris_Barker · November 17, 2005, 12:53am

Sorry I can't help you with your problem, but I can offer an alternate solution:

Rather than make the font really big, you could make the figure small, then scale the whole thing up, so that everything is bigger. This could work great for scalable back-ends like EPS. If you need a PNG, you should be able to accomplish it by manipulating the size and the dpi settings. See:

http://www.scipy.org/wikis/topical_software/AdjustingImageSize

For more info about this.

-Chris

···

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