Re: [matplotlib-devel] Using `hexbin` with `edgecolors = 'none'`

[Tony Yu <ts...@gm...>]

On Mon, Mar 26, 2012 at 7:42 PM, Tony Yu <ts...@gm...> wrote:

> I'm drawing hexbins with alpha < 1 and get dark lines at the bin edges. It
> turns out that setting `edgecolors = 'none'` sets the edge color to be the
> same as the face color, as mentioned in the docstring:
>
>            If ``'none'``, draws the edges in the same color as the fill
> color.
>            This is the default, as it avoids unsightly unpainted pixels
>            between the hexagons.
>
> This behavior is a bit weird, since setting colors to 'none' usually makes
> the element invisible. Wouldn't it be more consistent to let 'none' be
> passed to the PolyCollection (which draws the hexbins), such that edges
> aren't drawn. Then, to maintain the current behavior, change the default to
> 'face'. (Of course, this wouldn't really maintain current behavior for code
> that explicitly passes `edgecolors='none'`.)
>
> Also, if I let 'none' get passed to the PolyCollection, I don't see the
> "unsightly unpainted pixels between the hexagons". Is this just a
> system-dependent artifact, or is it an outdated docstring?
>
> Thanks,
> -Tony
>

Just to clarify, here's an example of how I think hexbin should behave:
https://github.com/tonysyu/matplotlib/commit/39e28540d30a55c18975533fe3625c47506c5908

-Tony