Using matplotlib, how can I print something “actual size”?

Question

I have a number of plots where the x- and y-axes are in centimeter units, and I am already using axis(\'equal\') to ensure proper aspect ratios. I would like to print out th

Answer 1

Another method using fig.add_axes was quite accurate. I have included 1 cm grid as well.

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
import matplotlib as mpl

# This example fits a4 paper with 5mm margin printers

# figure settings
figure_width = 28.7 # cm
figure_height = 20 # cm
left_right_margin = 1 # cm
top_bottom_margin = 1 # cm

# Don't change
left   = left_right_margin / figure_width # Percentage from height
bottom = top_bottom_margin / figure_height # Percentage from height
width  = 1 - left*2
height = 1 - bottom*2
cm2inch = 1/2.54 # inch per cm

# specifying the width and the height of the box in inches
fig = plt.figure(figsize=(figure_width*cm2inch,figure_height*cm2inch))
ax = fig.add_axes((left, bottom, width, height))

# limits settings (important)
plt.xlim(0, figure_width * width)
plt.ylim(0, figure_height * height)

# Ticks settings
ax.xaxis.set_major_locator(mpl.ticker.MultipleLocator(5))
ax.xaxis.set_minor_locator(mpl.ticker.MultipleLocator(1))
ax.yaxis.set_major_locator(mpl.ticker.MultipleLocator(5))
ax.yaxis.set_minor_locator(mpl.ticker.MultipleLocator(1))

# Grid settings
ax.grid(color="gray", which="both", linestyle=':', linewidth=0.5)

# your Plot (consider above limits)
ax.plot([1,2,3,5,6,7,8,9,10,12,13,14,15,17])

# save figure ( printing png file had better resolution, pdf was lighter and better on screen)
plt.show()
fig.savefig('A4_grid_cm.png', dpi=1000)
fig.savefig('tA4_grid_cm.pdf')

Results:

Answer 2

Add this to @pablo reyes' answer, check that the printer is at 100%, and it's pretty close;

ax.set_ylim(0,7)
ax.set_xlim(0,10)

ax.plot([0.5, 1.5],[0.25, 0.25],label='One cm?')
ax.plot([6,6],[1,2], label='One cm?')
ax.legend()

we force the axis to be a size we know, we make its data-transform match the real world, and we can "print a ruler".

Answer 3

Consider this example. Where I specify exactly the dimension of my axes in cm. matplotlib works in inches, so I convert to inches. And then I also save it with a particular dpi (128) so that it matches the designed dimensions in my display. This of course varies for every display. I found that by trial and error, even though there might be other methods. Well here the code:

left_margin = 1.   # cm
right_margin = 1.  # cm
figure_width = 10. # cm
figure_height = 7. # cm
top_margin = 1.    # cm
bottom_margin = 1. # cm

box_width = left_margin + figure_width + right_margin   # cm
box_height = top_margin + figure_height + bottom_margin # cm

cm2inch = 1/2.54 # inch per cm

# specifying the width and the height of the box in inches
fig = figure(figsize=(box_width*cm2inch,box_height*cm2inch))
ax = fig.add_subplot(111)
ax.plot([1,2,3])

fig.subplots_adjust(left   = left_margin / box_width,
                    bottom = bottom_margin / box_height,
                    right  = 1. - right_margin / box_width,
                    top    = 1. - top_margin   / box_height,
                    )
fig.savefig('ten_x_seven_cm.png', dpi=128)
# dpi = 128 is what works in my display for matching the designed dimensions.