Plot Customization - Setting Defaults
Plot Customization - Setting Defaults#
Matplotlib has default figure sizes, font sizes, and color schemes. In some cases, if you’re making a presentation, for example, you might want your font size to be larger than the default font size. Matplotlib allows you to customize many of the defaults used for your figures, such as plot size and font size. Consider the figure we created in the last section.
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
import pandas as pd
%matplotlib notebook
s_orbitals = pd.read_csv("s_orbitals_1D.csv")
fig, ax = plt.subplots(1, 3)
ax[0].plot("r","1s", data=s_orbitals)
ax[1].plot("r","2s", data=s_orbitals)
ax[2].plot("r","3s", data=s_orbitals)
for axis in ax:
axis.set_xlabel("r")
axis.set_ylabel(r"$\psi$")
axis.legend()
axis.set_xlim(0, 14)
axis.set_ylim(-0.05, 0.5)
fig.tight_layout()
We might wish for our text to be larger, or for our figures to be a different size. To change defaults used for figures, you update paramaters stored in matplotlib.rcParams.
import matplotlib as mpl
We can examine everything in mpl.rcParams.
mpl.rcParams
RcParams({'_internal.classic_mode': False,
'agg.path.chunksize': 0,
'animation.avconv_args': [],
'animation.avconv_path': 'avconv',
'animation.bitrate': -1,
'animation.codec': 'h264',
'animation.convert_args': [],
'animation.convert_path': 'convert',
'animation.embed_limit': 20.0,
'animation.ffmpeg_args': [],
'animation.ffmpeg_path': 'ffmpeg',
'animation.frame_format': 'png',
'animation.html': 'none',
'animation.html_args': [],
'animation.writer': 'ffmpeg',
'axes.autolimit_mode': 'data',
'axes.axisbelow': 'line',
'axes.edgecolor': 'black',
'axes.facecolor': 'white',
'axes.formatter.limits': [-5, 6],
'axes.formatter.min_exponent': 0,
'axes.formatter.offset_threshold': 4,
'axes.formatter.use_locale': False,
'axes.formatter.use_mathtext': False,
'axes.formatter.useoffset': True,
'axes.grid': False,
'axes.grid.axis': 'both',
'axes.grid.which': 'major',
'axes.labelcolor': 'black',
'axes.labelpad': 4.0,
'axes.labelsize': 'medium',
'axes.labelweight': 'normal',
'axes.linewidth': 0.8,
'axes.prop_cycle': cycler('color', ['#1f77b4', '#ff7f0e', '#2ca02c', '#d62728', '#9467bd', '#8c564b', '#e377c2', '#7f7f7f', '#bcbd22', '#17becf']),
'axes.spines.bottom': True,
'axes.spines.left': True,
'axes.spines.right': True,
'axes.spines.top': True,
'axes.titlecolor': 'auto',
'axes.titlelocation': 'center',
'axes.titlepad': 6.0,
'axes.titlesize': 'large',
'axes.titleweight': 'normal',
'axes.titley': None,
'axes.unicode_minus': True,
'axes.xmargin': 0.05,
'axes.ymargin': 0.05,
'axes3d.grid': True,
'backend': 'nbAgg',
'backend_fallback': True,
'boxplot.bootstrap': None,
'boxplot.boxprops.color': 'black',
'boxplot.boxprops.linestyle': '-',
'boxplot.boxprops.linewidth': 1.0,
'boxplot.capprops.color': 'black',
'boxplot.capprops.linestyle': '-',
'boxplot.capprops.linewidth': 1.0,
'boxplot.flierprops.color': 'black',
'boxplot.flierprops.linestyle': 'none',
'boxplot.flierprops.linewidth': 1.0,
'boxplot.flierprops.marker': 'o',
'boxplot.flierprops.markeredgecolor': 'black',
'boxplot.flierprops.markeredgewidth': 1.0,
'boxplot.flierprops.markerfacecolor': 'none',
'boxplot.flierprops.markersize': 6.0,
'boxplot.meanline': False,
'boxplot.meanprops.color': 'C2',
'boxplot.meanprops.linestyle': '--',
'boxplot.meanprops.linewidth': 1.0,
'boxplot.meanprops.marker': '^',
'boxplot.meanprops.markeredgecolor': 'C2',
'boxplot.meanprops.markerfacecolor': 'C2',
'boxplot.meanprops.markersize': 6.0,
'boxplot.medianprops.color': 'C1',
'boxplot.medianprops.linestyle': '-',
'boxplot.medianprops.linewidth': 1.0,
'boxplot.notch': False,
'boxplot.patchartist': False,
'boxplot.showbox': True,
'boxplot.showcaps': True,
'boxplot.showfliers': True,
'boxplot.showmeans': False,
'boxplot.vertical': True,
'boxplot.whiskerprops.color': 'black',
'boxplot.whiskerprops.linestyle': '-',
'boxplot.whiskerprops.linewidth': 1.0,
'boxplot.whiskers': 1.5,
'contour.corner_mask': True,
'contour.linewidth': None,
'contour.negative_linestyle': 'dashed',
'date.autoformatter.day': '%Y-%m-%d',
'date.autoformatter.hour': '%m-%d %H',
'date.autoformatter.microsecond': '%M:%S.%f',
'date.autoformatter.minute': '%d %H:%M',
'date.autoformatter.month': '%Y-%m',
'date.autoformatter.second': '%H:%M:%S',
'date.autoformatter.year': '%Y',
'date.epoch': '1970-01-01T00:00:00',
'docstring.hardcopy': False,
'errorbar.capsize': 0.0,
'figure.autolayout': False,
'figure.constrained_layout.h_pad': 0.04167,
'figure.constrained_layout.hspace': 0.02,
'figure.constrained_layout.use': False,
'figure.constrained_layout.w_pad': 0.04167,
'figure.constrained_layout.wspace': 0.02,
'figure.dpi': 100.0,
'figure.edgecolor': 'white',
'figure.facecolor': 'white',
'figure.figsize': [6.4, 4.8],
'figure.frameon': True,
'figure.max_open_warning': 20,
'figure.raise_window': True,
'figure.subplot.bottom': 0.11,
'figure.subplot.hspace': 0.2,
'figure.subplot.left': 0.125,
'figure.subplot.right': 0.9,
'figure.subplot.top': 0.88,
'figure.subplot.wspace': 0.2,
'figure.titlesize': 'large',
'figure.titleweight': 'normal',
'font.cursive': ['Apple Chancery',
'Textile',
'Zapf Chancery',
'Sand',
'Script MT',
'Felipa',
'cursive'],
'font.family': ['sans-serif'],
'font.fantasy': ['Comic Neue',
'Comic Sans MS',
'Chicago',
'Charcoal',
'ImpactWestern',
'Humor Sans',
'xkcd',
'fantasy'],
'font.monospace': ['DejaVu Sans Mono',
'Bitstream Vera Sans Mono',
'Computer Modern Typewriter',
'Andale Mono',
'Nimbus Mono L',
'Courier New',
'Courier',
'Fixed',
'Terminal',
'monospace'],
'font.sans-serif': ['DejaVu Sans',
'Bitstream Vera Sans',
'Computer Modern Sans Serif',
'Lucida Grande',
'Verdana',
'Geneva',
'Lucid',
'Arial',
'Helvetica',
'Avant Garde',
'sans-serif'],
'font.serif': ['DejaVu Serif',
'Bitstream Vera Serif',
'Computer Modern Roman',
'New Century Schoolbook',
'Century Schoolbook L',
'Utopia',
'ITC Bookman',
'Bookman',
'Nimbus Roman No9 L',
'Times New Roman',
'Times',
'Palatino',
'Charter',
'serif'],
'font.size': 10.0,
'font.stretch': 'normal',
'font.style': 'normal',
'font.variant': 'normal',
'font.weight': 'normal',
'grid.alpha': 1.0,
'grid.color': '#b0b0b0',
'grid.linestyle': '-',
'grid.linewidth': 0.8,
'hatch.color': 'black',
'hatch.linewidth': 1.0,
'hist.bins': 10,
'image.aspect': 'equal',
'image.cmap': 'viridis',
'image.composite_image': True,
'image.interpolation': 'antialiased',
'image.lut': 256,
'image.origin': 'upper',
'image.resample': True,
'interactive': True,
'keymap.all_axes': ['a'],
'keymap.back': ['left', 'c', 'backspace', 'MouseButton.BACK'],
'keymap.copy': ['ctrl+c', 'cmd+c'],
'keymap.forward': ['right', 'v', 'MouseButton.FORWARD'],
'keymap.fullscreen': ['f', 'ctrl+f'],
'keymap.grid': ['g'],
'keymap.grid_minor': ['G'],
'keymap.help': ['f1'],
'keymap.home': ['h', 'r', 'home'],
'keymap.pan': ['p'],
'keymap.quit': ['ctrl+w', 'cmd+w', 'q'],
'keymap.quit_all': [],
'keymap.save': ['s', 'ctrl+s'],
'keymap.xscale': ['k', 'L'],
'keymap.yscale': ['l'],
'keymap.zoom': ['o'],
'legend.borderaxespad': 0.5,
'legend.borderpad': 0.4,
'legend.columnspacing': 2.0,
'legend.edgecolor': '0.8',
'legend.facecolor': 'inherit',
'legend.fancybox': True,
'legend.fontsize': 'medium',
'legend.framealpha': 0.8,
'legend.frameon': True,
'legend.handleheight': 0.7,
'legend.handlelength': 2.0,
'legend.handletextpad': 0.8,
'legend.labelspacing': 0.5,
'legend.loc': 'best',
'legend.markerscale': 1.0,
'legend.numpoints': 1,
'legend.scatterpoints': 1,
'legend.shadow': False,
'legend.title_fontsize': None,
'lines.antialiased': True,
'lines.color': 'C0',
'lines.dash_capstyle': 'butt',
'lines.dash_joinstyle': 'round',
'lines.dashdot_pattern': [6.4, 1.6, 1.0, 1.6],
'lines.dashed_pattern': [3.7, 1.6],
'lines.dotted_pattern': [1.0, 1.65],
'lines.linestyle': '-',
'lines.linewidth': 1.5,
'lines.marker': 'None',
'lines.markeredgecolor': 'auto',
'lines.markeredgewidth': 1.0,
'lines.markerfacecolor': 'auto',
'lines.markersize': 6.0,
'lines.scale_dashes': True,
'lines.solid_capstyle': 'projecting',
'lines.solid_joinstyle': 'round',
'markers.fillstyle': 'full',
'mathtext.bf': 'sans:bold',
'mathtext.cal': 'cursive',
'mathtext.default': 'it',
'mathtext.fallback': 'cm',
'mathtext.fallback_to_cm': None,
'mathtext.fontset': 'dejavusans',
'mathtext.it': 'sans:italic',
'mathtext.rm': 'sans',
'mathtext.sf': 'sans',
'mathtext.tt': 'monospace',
'mpl_toolkits.legacy_colorbar': True,
'patch.antialiased': True,
'patch.edgecolor': 'black',
'patch.facecolor': 'C0',
'patch.force_edgecolor': False,
'patch.linewidth': 1.0,
'path.effects': [],
'path.simplify': True,
'path.simplify_threshold': 0.111111111111,
'path.sketch': None,
'path.snap': True,
'pcolor.shading': 'flat',
'pdf.compression': 6,
'pdf.fonttype': 3,
'pdf.inheritcolor': False,
'pdf.use14corefonts': False,
'pgf.preamble': '',
'pgf.rcfonts': True,
'pgf.texsystem': 'xelatex',
'polaraxes.grid': True,
'ps.distiller.res': 6000,
'ps.fonttype': 3,
'ps.papersize': 'letter',
'ps.useafm': False,
'ps.usedistiller': None,
'savefig.bbox': None,
'savefig.directory': '~',
'savefig.dpi': 'figure',
'savefig.edgecolor': 'auto',
'savefig.facecolor': 'auto',
'savefig.format': 'png',
'savefig.jpeg_quality': 95,
'savefig.orientation': 'portrait',
'savefig.pad_inches': 0.1,
'savefig.transparent': False,
'scatter.edgecolors': 'face',
'scatter.marker': 'o',
'svg.fonttype': 'path',
'svg.hashsalt': None,
'svg.image_inline': True,
'text.antialiased': True,
'text.color': 'black',
'text.hinting': 'force_autohint',
'text.hinting_factor': 8,
'text.kerning_factor': 0,
'text.latex.preamble': '',
'text.latex.preview': False,
'text.usetex': False,
'timezone': 'UTC',
'tk.window_focus': False,
'toolbar': 'toolbar2',
'webagg.address': '127.0.0.1',
'webagg.open_in_browser': True,
'webagg.port': 8988,
'webagg.port_retries': 50,
'xaxis.labellocation': 'center',
'xtick.alignment': 'center',
'xtick.bottom': True,
'xtick.color': 'black',
'xtick.direction': 'out',
'xtick.labelbottom': True,
'xtick.labelsize': 'medium',
'xtick.labeltop': False,
'xtick.major.bottom': True,
'xtick.major.pad': 3.5,
'xtick.major.size': 3.5,
'xtick.major.top': True,
'xtick.major.width': 0.8,
'xtick.minor.bottom': True,
'xtick.minor.pad': 3.4,
'xtick.minor.size': 2.0,
'xtick.minor.top': True,
'xtick.minor.visible': False,
'xtick.minor.width': 0.6,
'xtick.top': False,
'yaxis.labellocation': 'center',
'ytick.alignment': 'center_baseline',
'ytick.color': 'black',
'ytick.direction': 'out',
'ytick.labelleft': True,
'ytick.labelright': False,
'ytick.labelsize': 'medium',
'ytick.left': True,
'ytick.major.left': True,
'ytick.major.pad': 3.5,
'ytick.major.right': True,
'ytick.major.size': 3.5,
'ytick.major.width': 0.8,
'ytick.minor.left': True,
'ytick.minor.pad': 3.4,
'ytick.minor.right': True,
'ytick.minor.size': 2.0,
'ytick.minor.visible': False,
'ytick.minor.width': 0.6,
'ytick.right': False})
You can change the defaults used for your plots by modifying this dictionary. These commands will increase our font size and change us from using a sans-serif font to using a serif font.
mpl.rcParams["font.family"] = "serif"
mpl.rcParams['font.size'] = 14
mpl.rcParams['legend.fontsize'] = 'large'
fig, ax = plt.subplots(1, 3)
ax[0].plot("r","1s", data=s_orbitals)
ax[1].plot("r","2s", data=s_orbitals)
ax[2].plot("r","3s", data=s_orbitals)
for axis in ax:
axis.set_xlabel("r")
axis.set_ylabel(r"$\psi$")
axis.legend()
axis.set_xlim(0, 14)
axis.set_ylim(-0.05, 0.5)
fig.tight_layout()
