Hello,
I am writing a GUI using GTK+ library. I have a question about axes class imshow method memory consumtion. If I pass the imshow an array, the resulting memory consuption is approximatelly 46 times greater than the array size. If I do not add the canvas to a window (in a code below), the memory consuption is "only" 8 times greater. Any tips on how to reduce the memory consuption would be very appreciated and any explanation of how much memmory imshow allocates too. Configuration and script are below.
os: Windowx XP
matplotlib version: 0.99.1
downloaded from: sourceforge.net
script:
from matplotlib.figure import Figure
from matplotlib.backends.backend_gtkagg import FigureCanvasGTKAgg
from pylab import rand
import gtk
window = gtk.Window()
window.connect("destroy", gtk.main_quit)
figure = Figure(figsize=(8,6), dpi=72)
canvas = FigureCanvasGTKAgg(figure)
axes = figure.add_subplot(111)
window.add(canvas)
axes.imshow(rand(1024,1024))
canvas.draw()
window.show_all()
gtk.main()
verbose-helpful output:
$HOME=C:\Documents and Settings\Sensej
CONFIGDIR=C:\Documents and Settings\Sensej\.matplotlib
matplotlib data path C:\Python26\lib\site-packages\matplotlib\mpl-data
loaded rc file C:\Python26\lib\site-packages\matplotlib\mpl-data\matplotlibrc
matplotlib version 0.99.1
verbose.level helpful
interactive is False
units is False
platform is win32
Using fontManager instance from C:\Documents and Settings\Sensej\.matplotlib\fontList.cache
backend GTKAgg version 2.12.1
findfont: Matching :family=sans-serif:style=normal:variant=normal:weight=normal:stretch=normal:size=medium to Bitstream Vera Sans (C:\Python26\lib\site-packages\matplotlib\mpl-data\fonts\ttf\Vera.ttf) with score of 0.000000
Thank you,
Tomas.
On Linux, I only see about an extra 24kb being used when the canvas is added to a window vs. not adding it (i.e. commenting out the window.add(canvas) line).
In general, here's the memory usage to be expected from imshow (if it's a floating-point, not-rgb(a) array as you have here):
The original data: 4-bytes-per-pixel for float32 or 8-bytes-per-pixel for float64 (in your example the array is float64).
Intermediate float data: *if* the original is not float64, then an intermediate float64 is created (not the case here)
The colorized data: 4-bytes-per-pixel at original array size
The sized data: 4-bytes-per-pixel at the scaled figure size
I hope I'm not forgetting anything, but the point is that to support high-speed rendering of plots, the memory usage is much greater than the data itself. If your data is truly large, the usual technique is to decimate or downsample it before passing it to matplotlib, as you're not going to see more data points than pixels on your display anyway.
Mike
Tom� Farag� wrote:
···
Hello,
I am writing a GUI using GTK+ library. I have a question about axes class imshow method memory consumtion. If I pass the imshow an array, the resulting memory consuption is approximatelly 46 times greater than the array size. If I do not add the canvas to a window (in a code below), the memory consuption is "only" 8 times greater. Any tips on how to reduce the memory consuption would be very appreciated and any explanation of how much memmory imshow allocates too. Configuration and script are below.
os: Windowx XP
matplotlib version: 0.99.1
downloaded from: sourceforge.net
script:
from matplotlib.figure import Figure
from matplotlib.backends.backend_gtkagg import FigureCanvasGTKAgg
from pylab import rand
import gtk
window = gtk.Window()
window.connect("destroy", gtk.main_quit)
figure = Figure(figsize=(8,6), dpi=72)
canvas = FigureCanvasGTKAgg(figure)
axes = figure.add_subplot(111)
window.add(canvas)
axes.imshow(rand(1024,1024))
canvas.draw()
window.show_all()
gtk.main()
verbose-helpful output:
$HOME=C:\Documents and Settings\Sensej
CONFIGDIR=C:\Documents and Settings\Sensej\.matplotlib
matplotlib data path C:\Python26\lib\site-packages\matplotlib\mpl-data
loaded rc file C:\Python26\lib\site-packages\matplotlib\mpl-data\matplotlibrc
matplotlib version 0.99.1
verbose.level helpful
interactive is False
units is False
platform is win32
Using fontManager instance from C:\Documents and Settings\Sensej\.matplotlib\fontList.cache
backend GTKAgg version 2.12.1
findfont: Matching :family=sans-serif:style=normal:variant=normal:weight=normal:stretch=normal:size=medium to Bitstream Vera Sans (C:\Python26\lib\site-packages\matplotlib\mpl-data\fonts\ttf\Vera.ttf) with score of 0.000000
Thank you,
Tomas.
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Michael Droettboom
Science Software Branch
Operations and Engineering Division
Space Telescope Science Institute
Operated by AURA for NASA
Thanks for replying Mike,
I tried it on Linux as well but I ran into the same problem. Perhaps it has something to do with other needed libraries (GTK+, etc.). Can you please tell me your libraries versions? I mean GTK+, pygtk, etc. Also output produced by --verbose-helpful could be useful. Thank you.
Tomas.
···
------------ Pôvodná správa ------------
Od: Michael Droettboom <mdroe@...86...>
Predmet: Re: [Matplotlib-users] imshow memory problem
Dátum: 17.5.2010 16:48:55
----------------------------------------
On Linux, I only see about an extra 24kb being used when the canvas is
added to a window vs. not adding it (i.e. commenting out the
window.add(canvas) line).
In general, here's the memory usage to be expected from imshow (if it's
a floating-point, not-rgb(a) array as you have here):
The original data: 4-bytes-per-pixel for float32 or 8-bytes-per-pixel
for float64 (in your example the array is float64).
Intermediate float data: *if* the original is not float64, then an
intermediate float64 is created (not the case here)
The colorized data: 4-bytes-per-pixel at original array size
The sized data: 4-bytes-per-pixel at the scaled figure size
I hope I'm not forgetting anything, but the point is that to support high-speed rendering of plots, the memory usage is much greater than the
data itself. If your data is truly large, the usual technique is to decimate or downsample it before passing it to matplotlib, as you're not
going to see more data points than pixels on your display anyway.
Mike
Tomáš Faragó wrote:
> Hello,
> I am writing a GUI using GTK+ library. I have a question about axes class
imshow method memory consumtion. If I pass the imshow an array, the resulting
memory consuption is approximatelly 46 times greater than the array size. If I
do not add the canvas to a window (in a code below), the memory consuption is
"only" 8 times greater. Any tips on how to reduce the memory consuption would be
very appreciated and any explanation of how much memmory imshow allocates too.
Configuration and script are below.
>
> os: Windowx XP
> matplotlib version: 0.99.1
> downloaded from: sourceforge.net
>
> script:
> from matplotlib.figure import Figure
> from matplotlib.backends.backend_gtkagg import FigureCanvasGTKAgg
> from pylab import rand
> import gtk
>
> window = gtk.Window()
> window.connect("destroy", gtk.main_quit)
>
> figure = Figure(figsize=(8,6), dpi=72)
> canvas = FigureCanvasGTKAgg(figure)
> axes = figure.add_subplot(111)
>
> window.add(canvas)
>
> axes.imshow(rand(1024,1024))
> canvas.draw()
> window.show_all()
>
> gtk.main()
>
> verbose-helpful output:
> $HOME=C:\Documents and Settings\Sensej
> CONFIGDIR=C:\Documents and Settings\Sensej\.matplotlib
> matplotlib data path C:\Python26\lib\site-packages\matplotlib\mpl-data
> loaded rc file C:\Python26\lib\site-packages\matplotlib\mpl-data\matplotlibrc
> matplotlib version 0.99.1
> verbose.level helpful
> interactive is False
> units is False
> platform is win32
> Using fontManager instance from C:\Documents and
Settings\Sensej\.matplotlib\fontList.cache
> backend GTKAgg version 2.12.1
> findfont: Matching
:family=sans-serif:style=normal:variant=normal:weight=normal:stretch=normal:size=medium
to Bitstream Vera Sans
(C:\Python26\lib\site-packages\matplotlib\mpl-data\fonts\ttf\Vera.ttf) with
score of 0.000000
>
> Thank you,
> Tomas.
>
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> _______________________________________________
> Matplotlib-users mailing list
> Matplotlib-users@lists.sourceforge.net
> matplotlib-users List Signup and Options
>
--
Michael Droettboom
Science Software Branch
Operations and Engineering Division
Space Telescope Science Institute
Operated by AURA for NASA