39

So there is this guide: http://matplotlib.org/examples/pylab_examples/scatter_symbol.html enter image description here

# http://matplotlib.org/examples/pylab_examples/scatter_symbol.html
from matplotlib import pyplot as plt
import numpy as np
import matplotlib

x = np.arange(0.0, 50.0, 2.0)
y = x ** 1.3 + np.random.rand(*x.shape) * 30.0
s = np.random.rand(*x.shape) * 800 + 500

plt.scatter(x, y, s, c="g", alpha=0.5, marker=r'$\clubsuit$',
            label="Luck")
plt.xlabel("Leprechauns")
plt.ylabel("Gold")
plt.legend(loc=2)
plt.show()

But what if you are like me and don't want to use a clubsuit marker...

How do you make your own marker _________?

UPDATE

What I like about this special marker type is that it's easy to adjust with simple matplotlib syntax:

from matplotlib import pyplot as plt
import numpy as np
import matplotlib

x = np.arange(0.0, 50.0, 2.0)
y = x ** 1.3 + np.random.rand(*x.shape) * 30.0
s = np.random.rand(*x.shape) * 800 + 500

plt.plot(x, y, "ro", alpha=0.5, marker=r'$\clubsuit$', markersize=22)
plt.xlabel("Leprechauns")
plt.ylabel("Gold")
plt.show()

enter image description here

Norfeldt
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    have you had a look at [this](http://stackoverflow.com/q/2318288/1025391)? – moooeeeep Jan 14 '13 at 18:30
  • Yes I actually have. But it did not work out for me. What I like about the matplotlib example code are the 'c="g"' which I interpret as color adjustment for the plot (don't have a python shell in the writing moment to test it). – Norfeldt Jan 15 '13 at 08:35

2 Answers2

56

So found out that it was just using mathtext symbols and not referring to any special vector based marker stored in the matplotlib module...

from matplotlib import pyplot as plt
import numpy as np
from numpy.random import randint
import matplotlib

x = np.arange(0.0, 100.0, 2.0)
y = x ** 1.3 + np.random.rand(*x.shape) * 30.0
s = np.random.rand(*x.shape) * 800 + 500

markers = ['\\alpha', '\\beta', '\gamma', '\sigma','\infty', \
            '\spadesuit', '\heartsuit', '\diamondsuit', '\clubsuit', \
            '\\bigodot', '\\bigotimes', '\\bigoplus', '\imath', '\\bowtie', \
            '\\bigtriangleup', '\\bigtriangledown', '\oslash' \
           '\ast', '\\times', '\circ', '\\bullet', '\star', '+', \
            '\Theta', '\Xi', '\Phi', \
            '\$', '\#', '\%', '\S']

def getRandomMarker():
    return "$"+markers[randint(0,len(markers),1)]+"$"

def getMarker(i):
    # Use modulus in order not to have the index exceeding the lenght of the list (markers)
    return "$"+markers[i % len(markers)]+"$"

for i, mi in enumerate(markers):
    plt.plot(x[i], y[i], "b", alpha=0.5, marker=getRandomMarker(), markersize=randint(16,26,1))
    plt.plot(x[i], y[i]+50, "m", alpha=0.5, marker=getMarker(i), markersize=randint(16,26,1))
    # Let's see if their "center" is located where we expect them to be...
    plt.plot(x[i], y[i]+100, "y", alpha=0.5, marker=getMarker(i), markersize=24)
    plt.plot(x[i], y[i]+100, "k+", markersize=12, markeredgewidth=2)

plt.xlabel("x-axis")
plt.ylabel("y-axis")
plt.xlim( -5, plt.xlim()[1]+5 )
plt.ylim( 0, plt.ylim()[1]*1.1 )
plt.gcf().set_size_inches(12,6)
plt.show()

Check Image

Shaunak Shukla
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Norfeldt
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    I was trying to find a 'filled heart' since \heartsuit is just an outline. Using a unicode marker worked for me: `marker=ur'$\u2665$'` – patricksurry Feb 03 '14 at 17:37
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    For those interested in removing the italics on normal letters/words, using the `\mathrm` or `\rm` mathtext command works. E.g. `marker=r'$\mathrm{M}$'` for an M. – Andy Aug 26 '17 at 20:53
  • List of all supported symbols: https://matplotlib.org/stable/tutorials/text/mathtext.html#symbols – stefanbschneider Mar 11 '21 at 09:57
  • you should use r-strings to avoid having to double-backslash latex commands, like e.g. `markers = [r'\alpha', r'\beta', r'\gamma', ...]` – parmentelat Apr 28 '21 at 09:33
23

The most flexible option for matplotlib is marker paths.

I used Inkscape to convert Smiley face svg into a single SVG path. Inkscape also has options to trace path in raster images. The I used svg path to convert it to matplotlib.path.Path using svgpath2mpl. 

!pip install svgpath2mpl matplotlib
from svgpath2mpl import parse_path

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt      
import numpy as np                   
# Use Inkscape to edit SVG, 
# Path -> Combine to convert multiple paths into a single path
# Use Path -> Object to path to convert objects to SVG path
smiley = parse_path("""m 739.01202,391.98936 c 13,26 13,57 9,85 -6,27 -18,52 -35,68 -21,20 -50,23 -77,18 -15,-4 -28,-12 -39,-23 -18,-17 -30,-40 -36,-67 -4,-20 -4,-41 0,-60 l 6,-21 z m -302,-1 c 2,3 6,20 7,29 5,28 1,57 -11,83 -15,30 -41,52 -72,60 -29,7 -57,0 -82,-15 -26,-17 -45,-49 -50,-82 -2,-12 -2,-33 0,-45 1,-10 5,-26 8,-30 z M 487.15488,66.132209 c 121,21 194,115.000001 212,233.000001 l 0,8 25,1 1,18 -481,0 c -6,-13 -10,-27 -13,-41 -13,-94 38,-146 114,-193.000001 45,-23 93,-29 142,-26 z m -47,18 c -52,6 -98,28.000001 -138,62.000001 -28,25 -46,56 -51,87 -4,20 -1,57 5,70 l 423,1 c 2,-56 -39,-118 -74,-157 -31,-34 -72,-54.000001 -116,-63.000001 -11,-2 -38,-2 -49,0 z m 138,324.000001 c -5,6 -6,40 -2,58 3,16 4,16 10,10 14,-14 38,-14 52,0 15,18 12,41 -6,55 -3,3 -5,5 -5,6 1,4 22,8 34,7 42,-4 57.6,-40 66.2,-77 3,-17 1,-53 -4,-59 l -145.2,0 z m -331,-1 c -4,5 -5,34 -4,50 2,14 6,24 8,24 1,0 3,-2 6,-5 17,-17 47,-13 58,9 7,16 4,31 -8,43 -4,4 -7,8 -7,9 0,0 4,2 8,3 51,17 105,-20 115,-80 3,-15 0,-43 -3,-53 z m 61,-266 c 0,0 46,-40 105,-53.000001 66,-15 114,7 114,7 0,0 -14,76.000001 -93,95.000001 -76,18 -126,-49 -126,-49 z""")
smiley.vertices -= smiley.vertices.mean(axis=0)
x = np.linspace(-3, 3, 20)          
plt.plot(x, np.sin(x), marker=smiley, markersize=20, color='c')
plt.show()

Google Colab Link

Plot created from above code snippet

Vikas
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