Re: [Matplotlib-users] Creating frames for use with ArtistAnimation?

[Benjamin R. <ben...@ou...>]

On Sat, Feb 11, 2012 at 8:22 AM, reckoner <rec...@gm...> wrote:

> Hi,
>
> I am creating a big and complicated plot by doing things like:
>
> ax.add_patch( ... )
>
> and when I'm done I want to save the resulting frame. However, I've
> looked  through
> the examples and it seems like you have to use plot() or pcolor() to
> create frames that you
> can feed into ArtistAnimation.
>
> So,then, how can I use capture the resulting axes into a frame?
>
> Thanks!
>
>
reckoner,

Sorry for the delay in responding.  No, you don't need to use plot() or
pcolor() to use ArtistAnimation.  Functions like plot() take input data,
create Artists and/or Collection objects, attach them to an axes and
returns those objects that have been created.  So, when you do a
"ax.add_patch()", it is actually exactly what some of the plotting
functions do internally.

All you need to do to make things work is to have a list of
Artists/Collections (such as your patches) for each frame and build up a
list of these lists.  That list can then be passed to the constructor for
ArtistAnimation.

I hope that helps!
Ben Root