Re: [Matplotlib-users] using TeX backend on windows version of matplotlib?

[Gary R. <gr...@bi...>]

Hi Michael,
Your example works fine on my Win2k + MiKTeX setup with Matplotlib 0.83
Perhaps you should try deleting the contents of the .matplotlib cache 
directory. If this doesn't work, what version of Windows & Matplotlib 
are you running and are you using the MiKTeX distribution?
Gary R.

Michael Gilbert wrote:
> Hello all,
> 
> First of all, I would like to say thank you to the matplotlib developers 
> for implementing a nice hack that enables a free python environment to 
> rival the functionality and power of matlab.
> 
> My question is whether it is possible to use the TeX backend to render 
> fonts under the windows versions of matplotlib?  I am interested in 
> mixing standard text with math text as labels on plots.  The standard 
> matplotlib font backend can almost do this, but it is not robust, is 
> hard to work with, and the results don't look very professional.  On the 
> contrary, the TeX backend is clean and conformant (but it only appears 
> to work on UNIX systems with TeX installed).  For example, this code
> 
> import pylab
> pylab.rc('text', usetex=True)
> pylab.xlabel(r'normal text ($\alpha$)')
> pylab.plot(range(0,5))
> pylab.show()
> 
> will not work on the windows version of matplotlib, but produces 
> beatiful labels on the linux version.  FYI, the above "rc" command is 
> what requests the TeX backend rather than the default.
> 
> Thanks for your thoughts, ideas, and candor.
> 
> Mike Gilbert