Add xkcd() function to set up a number of parameters to create plots that look like xkcd. Add an example, and a what's new. Expose path effects as an rcParam so that they can be set globally.

Author: mdboom

doc/users/whats_new.rst

@@ -21,6 +21,18 @@ revision, see the :ref:`github-stats`.
 
 new in matplotlib-1.3
 =====================
+`xkcd`-style sketch plotting
+----------------------------
+
+To gives your plots a sense of authority that they may be missing,
+Michael Droettboom (inspired by the work of many others in `issue
+#1329 <https://github.com/matplotlib/matplotlib/pull/1329>`_) has
+added an `xkcd-style <xkcd.com>`_ sketch plotting mode.  To use it,
+simply call `pyplot.xkcd` before creating your plot.
+
+.. plot:: mpl_examples/showcase/xkcd.py
+
+
 ``axes.xmargin`` and ``axes.ymargin`` added to rcParams
 -------------------------------------------------------
 ``rcParam`` values (``axes.xmargin`` and ``axes.ymargin``) were added
@@ -142,8 +154,8 @@ the bottom of the text bounding box.
 
 ``savefig.jpeg_quality`` added to rcParams
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-``rcParam`` value ``savefig.jpeg_quality`` was added so that the user can 
-configure the default quality used when a figure is written as a JPEG.  The 
+``rcParam`` value ``savefig.jpeg_quality`` was added so that the user can
+configure the default quality used when a figure is written as a JPEG.  The
 default quality is 95; previously, the default quality was 75.  This change
 minimizes the artifacting inherent in JPEG images, particularly with images
 that have sharp changes in color as plots often do.

examples/pylab_examples/simple_plot.py

@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 
 t = arange(0.0, 2.0, 0.01)
 s = sin(2*pi*t)
-plot(t, s, linewidth=1.0)
+plot(t, s)
 
 xlabel('time (s)')
 ylabel('voltage (mV)')

examples/pylab_examples/to_numeric.py

@@ -30,5 +30,4 @@
 X.shape = h, w, 3
 
 im = Image.fromstring( "RGB", (w,h), s)
-im.show()
-
+# im.show()

examples/showcase/xkcd.py

@@ -0,0 +1,40 @@
+from matplotlib import pyplot as plt
+import numpy as np
+
+plt.xkcd()
+
+fig = plt.figure()
+ax = fig.add_subplot(1, 1, 1)
+ax.spines['right'].set_color('none')
+ax.spines['top'].set_color('none')
+plt.xticks([])
+plt.yticks([])
+ax.set_ylim([-30, 10])
+
+data = np.ones(100)
+data[70:] -= np.arange(30)
+
+plt.annotate(
+    'THE DAY I REALIZED\nI COULD COOK BACON\nWHENEVER I WANTED',
+    xy=(70, 1), arrowprops=dict(arrowstyle='->'), xytext=(15, -10))
+
+plt.plot(data)
+
+plt.xlabel('time')
+plt.ylabel('my overall health')
+
+fig = plt.figure()
+ax = fig.add_subplot(1, 1, 1)
+ax.bar([-0.125, 1.0-0.125], [0, 100], 0.25)
+ax.spines['right'].set_color('none')
+ax.spines['top'].set_color('none')
+ax.xaxis.set_ticks_position('bottom')
+ax.set_xticks([0, 1])
+ax.set_xlim([-0.5, 1.5])
+ax.set_ylim([0, 110])
+ax.set_xticklabels(['CONFIRMED BY\nEXPERIMENT', 'REFUTED BY\nEXPERIMENT'])
+plt.yticks([])
+
+plt.title("CLAIMS OF SUPERNATURAL POWERS")
+
+plt.show()

lib/matplotlib/artist.py

@@ -102,6 +102,7 @@ def __init__(self):
         self._gid = None
         self._snap = None
         self._sketch = rcParams['path.sketch']
+        self._path_effects = rcParams['path.effects']
 
     def __getstate__(self):
         d = self.__dict__.copy()
@@ -493,6 +494,16 @@ def set_sketch_params(self, scale=None, length=None, randomness=None):
         else:
             self._sketch = (scale, length or 128.0, randomness or 16.0)
 
+    def set_path_effects(self, path_effects):
+        """
+        set path_effects, which should be a list of instances of
+        matplotlib.patheffect._Base class or its derivatives.
+        """
+        self._path_effects = path_effects
+
+    def get_path_effects(self):
+        return self._path_effects
+
     def get_figure(self):
         """
         Return the :class:`~matplotlib.figure.Figure` instance the
@@ -709,7 +720,7 @@ def update(self, props):
         store = self.eventson
         self.eventson = False
         changed = False
-            
+
         for k, v in props.iteritems():
             func = getattr(self, 'set_' + k, None)
             if func is None or not callable(func):
@@ -765,6 +776,8 @@ def update_from(self, other):
         self._clippath = other._clippath
         self._lod = other._lod
         self._label = other._label
+        self._sketch = other._sketch
+        self._path_effects = other._path_effects
         self.pchanged()
 
     def properties(self):

lib/matplotlib/backend_bases.py

@@ -721,6 +721,7 @@ def copy_properties(self, gc):
         self._url = gc._url
         self._gid = gc._gid
         self._snap = gc._snap
+        self._sketch = gc._sketch
 
     def restore(self):
         """
@@ -1974,7 +1975,7 @@ def print_jpg(self, filename_or_obj, *args, **kwargs):
 
             *quality*: The image quality, on a scale from 1 (worst) to
                 95 (best). The default is 95, if not given in the
-                matplotlibrc file in the savefig.jpeg_quality parameter. 
+                matplotlibrc file in the savefig.jpeg_quality parameter.
                 Values above 95 should be avoided; 100 completely
                 disables the JPEG quantization stage.
 
@@ -1994,7 +1995,7 @@ def print_jpg(self, filename_or_obj, *args, **kwargs):
             options = cbook.restrict_dict(kwargs, ['quality', 'optimize',
                                                    'progressive'])
 
-            if 'quality' not in options: 
+            if 'quality' not in options:
                 options['quality'] = rcParams['savefig.jpeg_quality']
 
             return image.save(filename_or_obj, format='jpeg', **options)

lib/matplotlib/collections.py

@@ -657,16 +657,6 @@ def update_from(self, other):
         self.cmap = other.cmap
         # self.update_dict = other.update_dict # do we need to copy this? -JJL
 
-    def set_path_effects(self, path_effects):
-        """
-        set path_effects, which should be a list of instances of
-        matplotlib.patheffect._Base class or its derivatives.
-        """
-        self._path_effects = path_effects
-
-    def get_path_effects(self):
-        return self._path_effects
-
 
 # these are not available for the object inspector until after the
 # class is built so we define an initial set here for the init

lib/matplotlib/lines.py

@@ -237,8 +237,6 @@ def __init__(self, xdata, ydata,
         self._invalidy = True
         self.set_data(xdata, ydata)
 
-        self.set_path_effects(path_effects)
-
     def contains(self, mouseevent):
         """
         Test whether the mouse event occurred on the line.  The pick
@@ -556,7 +554,7 @@ def draw(self, renderer):
                 funcname = self.drawStyles.get(self._drawstyle, '_draw_lines')
                 drawFunc = getattr(self, funcname)
 
-                if self.get_path_effects():
+                if self.get_path_effects() and self._linewidth:
                     affine_frozen = affine.frozen()
                     for pe in self.get_path_effects():
                         pe_renderer = pe.get_proxy_renderer(renderer)
@@ -1189,16 +1187,6 @@ def is_dashed(self):
         'return True if line is dashstyle'
         return self._linestyle in ('--', '-.', ':')
 
-    def set_path_effects(self, path_effects):
-        """
-        set path_effects, which should be a list of instances of
-        matplotlib.patheffect._Base class or its derivatives.
-        """
-        self._path_effects = path_effects
-
-    def get_path_effects(self):
-        return self._path_effects
-
 
 class VertexSelector:
     """

lib/matplotlib/patches.py

@@ -98,8 +98,6 @@ def __init__(self,
         self.set_fill(fill)
         self._combined_transform = transforms.IdentityTransform()
 
-        self.set_path_effects(path_effects)
-
         if len(kwargs):
             artist.setp(self, **kwargs)
 
@@ -385,16 +383,6 @@ def get_hatch(self):
         'Return the current hatching pattern'
         return self._hatch
 
-    def set_path_effects(self, path_effects):
-        """
-        set path_effects, which should be a list of instances of
-        matplotlib.patheffect._Base class or its derivatives.
-        """
-        self._path_effects = path_effects
-
-    def get_path_effects(self):
-        return self._path_effects
-
     @allow_rasterization
     def draw(self, renderer):
         'Draw the :class:`Patch` to the given *renderer*.'
@@ -435,8 +423,9 @@ def draw(self, renderer):
         affine = transform.get_affine()
 
         if self.get_path_effects():
-            for path_effect in self.get_path_effects():
-                path_effect.draw_path(renderer, gc, tpath, affine, rgbFace)
+            if gc.get_linewidth() or rgbFace is not None:
+                for path_effect in self.get_path_effects():
+                    path_effect.draw_path(renderer, gc, tpath, affine, rgbFace)
         else:
             renderer.draw_path(gc, tpath, affine, rgbFace)
 

lib/matplotlib/pyplot.py

@@ -255,6 +255,38 @@ def setp(*args, **kwargs):
     draw_if_interactive()
     return ret
 
+def xkcd():
+    """
+    Turns on `xkcd <xkcd.com>`_ sketch-style drawing mode.  This will
+    only have effect on things drawn after this function is called.
+
+    For best results, the "Humor Sans" font should be installed: it is
+    not included with matplotlib.
+
+    This function works by setting a whole slew of rcParams, so it will
+    probably override others you have set before.
+    """
+    from matplotlib import patheffects
+    rcParams['text.usetex'] = False
+    rcParams['font.family'] = 'fantasy'
+    rcParams['font.fantasy'] = ['Humor Sans', 'Comic Sans MS']
+    rcParams['font.size'] = 14.0
+    rcParams['path.sketch'] = (1, 100, 2)
+    rcParams['path.effects'] = [
+        patheffects.withStroke(linewidth=4, foreground="w")]
+    rcParams['axes.linewidth'] = 1.5
+    rcParams['lines.linewidth'] = 2.0
+    rcParams['figure.facecolor'] = 'white'
+    rcParams['grid.linewidth'] = 0.0
+    rcParams['axes.unicode_minus'] = False
+    rcParams['axes.color_cycle'] = ['b', 'r', 'c', 'm']
+    # rcParams['axes.clip'] = False
+    rcParams['xtick.major.size'] = 8
+    rcParams['xtick.major.width'] = 3
+    rcParams['ytick.major.size'] = 8
+    rcParams['ytick.major.width'] = 3
+
+
 ## Figures ##
 
 
@@ -1790,7 +1822,7 @@ def colormaps():
       for nominal data that has no inherent ordering, where color is used
       only to distinguish categories
 
-    The base colormaps are derived from those of the same name provided 
+    The base colormaps are derived from those of the same name provided
     with Matlab:
 
       =========   =======================================================
@@ -1942,14 +1974,14 @@ def colormaps():
       rainbow       spectral purple-blue-green-yellow-orange-red colormap
                     with diverging luminance
       seismic       diverging blue-white-red
-      nipy_spectral black-purple-blue-green-yellow-red-white spectrum, 
+      nipy_spectral black-purple-blue-green-yellow-red-white spectrum,
                     originally from the Neuroimaging in Python project
       terrain       mapmaker's colors, blue-green-yellow-brown-white,
                     originally from IGOR Pro
       ============= =======================================================
 
     The following colormaps are redundant and may be removed in future
-    versions.  It's recommended to use the names in the descriptions 
+    versions.  It's recommended to use the names in the descriptions
     instead, which produce identical output:
 
       =========  =======================================================
@@ -1980,11 +2012,11 @@ def colormaps():
       Color-Scale Images
       <http://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/fileexchange/2662-cmrmap-m>`_
       by Carey Rappaport
-      
+
     .. [#] Changed to distinguish from ColorBrewer's *Spectral* map.
-      :func:`spectral` still works, but 
+      :func:`spectral` still works, but
       ``set_cmap('nipy_spectral')`` is recommended for clarity.
-                 
+
 
     """
     return sorted(cm.cmap_d.keys())