matplotlib-users

[Matplotlib-users] Scientific visualisation techniques

[adamski246 <a...@go...>]

I am part of a team trying to create interactive GUI scientific
visualisations and would like some advice regarding the best way to proceed. 

We are trying to output mathematical functions (Fourier transforms, ray
tracing etc.) in graphical form and have been very impressed with the ease
Matplotlib can do this. However, all attempts to control or modify input to
Matplotlib from a GUI (Tkinter, Wx, Jython, PyGTK etc.) have proved
fruitless due to seeming incompatibility between these modules, particularly
when one distributes any finished product to another platform.

I am an experienced Java programmer who needs the portability and free
technologies provided by Java (or Python) to distribute our applications and
would like to know of the best way to mesh Matplotlib to a GUI creating
system. We have experimented with the GUI creation possibilities of
Matplotlib itself but these are inadequate for our needs.

Does anyone know of (or has examples of) Matplotlib applications controlled
by a GUI or must I return to my Java roots where I can easily solve all GUI
problems but do not have access to a powerful maths library such as
Matplotlib.

Thanks
adam 
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Re: [Matplotlib-users] Scientific visualisation techniques

[John H. <jd...@gm...>]

On Dec 7, 2007 10:38 AM, adamski246 <a...@go...> wrote:

> Does anyone know of (or has examples of) Matplotlib applications controlled
> by a GUI or must I return to my Java roots where I can easily solve all GUI
> problems but do not have access to a powerful maths library such as
> Matplotlib.

matplotlib can be easily embedded in tk, gtk, wx, qt or fltk.  See the
API FAQ at http://matplotlib.sf.net/faq.html#OO and the
embedding_in_*.py examples at http://matplotlib.sf.net/examples

Re: [Matplotlib-users] Scientific visualisation techniques

[David.Goldsmith <Dav...@no...>]

You say you tried wx but don't mention wxmpl explicitly - did you try 
wxmpl (http://agni.phys.iit.edu/~kmcivor/wxmpl/)?

DG



adamski246 wrote:
> I am part of a team trying to create interactive GUI scientific
> visualisations and would like some advice regarding the best way to proceed. 
>
> We are trying to output mathematical functions (Fourier transforms, ray
> tracing etc.) in graphical form and have been very impressed with the ease
> Matplotlib can do this. However, all attempts to control or modify input to
> Matplotlib from a GUI (Tkinter, Wx, Jython, PyGTK etc.) have proved
> fruitless due to seeming incompatibility between these modules, particularly
> when one distributes any finished product to another platform.
>
> I am an experienced Java programmer who needs the portability and free
> technologies provided by Java (or Python) to distribute our applications and
> would like to know of the best way to mesh Matplotlib to a GUI creating
> system. We have experimented with the GUI creation possibilities of
> Matplotlib itself but these are inadequate for our needs.
>
> Does anyone know of (or has examples of) Matplotlib applications controlled
> by a GUI or must I return to my Java roots where I can easily solve all GUI
> problems but do not have access to a powerful maths library such as
> Matplotlib.
>
> Thanks
> adam 
>   

Re: [Matplotlib-users] Scientific visualisation techniques

[Christopher B. <Chr...@no...>]

David.Goldsmith wrote:
> You say you tried wx but don't mention wxmpl explicitly - did you try 
> wxmpl (http://agni.phys.iit.edu/~kmcivor/wxmpl/)?

good choice -- the other is to follow the "embedded_in_***" examples -- 
where are they?  A quick googling didn't find them!

>> all attempts to control or modify input to
>> Matplotlib from a GUI (Tkinter, Wx, Jython, PyGTK etc.) have proved
>> fruitless due to seeming incompatibility between these modules,

I'm guessing that you're using the pylab interface -- pylab manages the 
GUI for you -- which is great if you're doing simple interactive 
plotting, but will not work if you are embedding MPL in a gui -- you 
need to use the OO interface instead -- see the embedded_in_*** examples.

>> particularly
>> when one distributes any finished product to another platform.

This is no harder than with JAVA -- easier I think -- you can completely 
control the environment if you want -- see py2exe, pyInstaller, py2app, etc.

 >> I return to my Java roots where I can easily solve all GUI
>> problems 

Once you get the hang of Python, I think you'll find that you can solve 
your GUI problems even more easily! I'm partial to wxPython, but pyQT 
and pyGTK have their strengths also.

As a JAVA coder, I recommend you read:

http://dirtsimple.org/2004/12/python-is-not-java.html

-Chris

-- 
Christopher Barker, Ph.D.
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