Re: [Matplotlib-users] How to start when you don't know what to do

[Paul H. <pmh...@gm...>]

On Jan 15, 2013, at 20:52 , Steven Boada wrote:

>
> > Heyya list.
> >
> > I must admit that my matplotlib-foo is only so so. One of the biggest
> > problems that I face is seeing cool stuff around the net, and thinking,
> > "that's pretty neat, I'd like to copy it." In reality, I have no idea
> > how I would go about creating something like that.
> >
> > Here's an example: http://imgur.com/JdkR4
> >
> > Just a little circular histogram thing with some annotations. Obviously,
> > I'd need the annotate command for the words, but what about the arcs? No
> > idea, off hand. So my question is, how do you decode (read: what to
> > think about) figures that you see, and turn them into actual python?
> > Sure I could post on stack exchange or email all you people every time,
> > but I want to be *better* at this. And while some people are going to
> > scoff and reply "that's easy, silly" it's not so for some. I just hate
> > to admit it's me.
> >
> > Thanks for the advice.
>


On Tue, Jan 15, 2013 at 12:09 PM, Nicolas Rougier <Nic...@in...>
 wrote:

>
>
> I do exactly that from time to time (copying a graphic) and I always start
> looking at the matplotlib gallery (http://matplotlib.org/gallery.html)
> for what is the most similar figure and starts from here (after removing
> what is not necessary). Most important is identifying the kind of axis
> necessary (cartesian, log, polar, ...)
>
> Some examples at: http://www.loria.fr/~rougier/coding/gallery/
>
> Some really nice graphics (but difficult) to try to copy at:
>
> http://www.improving-visualisation.org/visuals


Agreed. In this particular case, you want a bar plot on a polar axis like
this:
http://matplotlib.org/examples/pylab_examples/polar_bar.html

Pay extra attention to the `bottom` and `width` keyword arguments.
-paul