I'd like to choose the width of a figure, while still letting matplotlib choose the aspect ratio that it finds suitable. Every method I know to change the figure size requires a (width, height) tuple, which forces a certain aspect ratio. Is there any way to specify just the width (or just the height) and allow matplotlib to choose a suitable aspect ratio?
2
- I think I didn't quite understand is that the aspect ratio/size of the figure has a default, constant value, not something that is flexible and based on the axes inside the figure. I think that the default figure aspect ratio is just the golden ratio, but I'm not sure. I've just been defining my figure sizes using the golden ratio, and I like the results.T.C. Proctor– T.C. Proctor2015-02-21 17:17:45 +00:00Commented Feb 21, 2015 at 17:17
- Related: stackoverflow.com/questions/64642855/…Ciro Santilli OurBigBook.com– Ciro Santilli OurBigBook.com2020-11-02 09:31:19 +00:00Commented Nov 2, 2020 at 9:31
Add a comment |
2 Answers
From what I understand, matplotlib does not "choose" a suitable aspect ratio per se. Instead, axes automatically fill to the size of the figure. Thus by setting the figure size with a (width, height) tuple you are also setting it's aspect ratio (taking into account the number of subplot axes within the figure as well). Perhaps the axes method set_aspect will help you? It lets you explicitly set the aspect ratio for an axes object within a figure.
For example, the following will produce a 4"x2" figure but the axes within it will have a 1:1 aspect ratio:
fig, ax = plt.subplots(figsize=(4,2)) ax.set_aspect('equal') The method set_aspect can also take a height:width number instead. You could use this to force the axes within to keep a specific aspect ratio regardless of the figure dimensions you choose.
EDIT: This post may also be helpful.
1 Comment
T.C. Proctor
According to the docs you mentioned, using 'equal' simply makes the aspect ratio the same as the aspect ratio of the data, ie going one unit on the x axis is the same as going one unit on the y. I think you're right that "axes automatically fill to the size of the figure".
I've learned that matplotlib actually just uses a constant default figure size for all figures. This value is stored in the rcParams, and can be viewed with
plt.rcParams["figure.figsize"] This returns [6.0, 4.0] for me.
If you want to keep the same width to height ratio (ie "aspect ratio"), you can, for example, double it with:
plt.rcParams["figure.figsize"] = [2 * i for i in plt.rcParams["figure.figsize"]] 1 Comment
Ben Usman
Or
plt.figure(figsize=[2*x for x in plt.rcParams["figure.figsize"]]) to apply to the following plot only.