I would like to be able to move the 3D axis around with my mouse while a dot is moving around. Check out the code below (a modified version of this) -- it is clear that if you try zooming/rotating the 3D axis, the line being graphed will rotate with your mouse, but the axis will keep snapping back to its initial orientation. This strange behavior can be removed if blit=True is changed to blit=False, but because I am working with a large data set, I definitely require blit=True. I want to be able to move the axis while plotting.
"""
A simple example of an animated plot... In 3D!
"""
import numpy as np
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
import mpl_toolkits.mplot3d.axes3d as p3
import matplotlib.animation as animation
def Gen_RandLine(length, dims=2) :
lineData = np.empty((dims, length))
lineData[:, 0] = np.random.rand(dims)
for index in range(1, length) :
# scaling the random numbers by 0.1 so
# movement is small compared to position.
# subtraction by 0.5 is to change the range to [-0.5, 0.5]
# to allow a line to move backwards.
step = ((np.random.rand(dims) - 0.5) * 0.1)
lineData[:, index] = lineData[:, index-1] + step
return lineData
def update_lines(num, dataLines, lines) :
for line, data in zip(lines, dataLines) :
# NOTE: there is no .set_data() for 3 dim data...
line.set_data(data[0:2, num-1:num])
line.set_3d_properties(data[2,num-1:num])
return lines
# Attaching 3D axis to the figure
fig = plt.figure()
ax = p3.Axes3D(fig)
# Fifty lines of random 3-D lines
data = [Gen_RandLine(2500, 3) for index in range(1)]
# Creating fifty line objects.
# NOTE: Can't pass empty arrays into 3d version of plot()
lines = [ax.plot(dat[0, 0:1], dat[1, 0:1], dat[2, 0:1], marker='o')[0] for dat in data]
# Setting the axes properties
ax.set_xlim3d([0.0, 1.0])
ax.set_xlabel('X')
ax.set_ylim3d([0.0, 1.0])
ax.set_ylabel('Y')
ax.set_zlim3d([0.0, 1.0])
ax.set_zlabel('Z')
ax.set_title('3D Test')
# Creating the Animation object
line_ani = animation.FuncAnimation(fig, update_lines, fargs=(data, lines),
interval=50, blit=True, repeat=False)
plt.show()
A previous answer that illustrates how to animate objects outside of the 3D axes utilizes a customized _blit_draw function, as described here. Great, I hoped expanding the bbox to be animated would then allow for the axis to also be animated. Here's what I came up with:
"""
A simple example of an animated plot... In 3D!
"""
import numpy as np
import matplotlib
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
import mpl_toolkits.mplot3d.axes3d as p3
import matplotlib.animation as animation
def Gen_RandLine(length, dims=2) :
lineData = np.empty((dims, length))
lineData[:, 0] = np.random.rand(dims)
for index in range(1, length) :
# scaling the random numbers by 0.1 so
# movement is small compared to position.
# subtraction by 0.5 is to change the range to [-0.5, 0.5]
# to allow a line to move backwards.
step = ((np.random.rand(dims) - 0.5) * 0.1)
lineData[:, index] = lineData[:, index-1] + step
return lineData
def update_lines(num, dataLines, lines) :
for line, data in zip(lines, dataLines) :
# NOTE: there is no .set_data() for 3 dim data...
line.set_data(data[0:2, num-1:num])
line.set_3d_properties(data[2,num-1:num])
return lines
def _blit_draw(self, artists, bg_cache):
# Handles blitted drawing, which renders only the artists given instead
# of the entire figure.
updated_ax = []
for a in artists:
# If we haven't cached the background for this axes object, do
# so now. This might not always be reliable, but it's an attempt
# to automate the process.
if a.axes not in bg_cache:
# bg_cache[a.axes] = a.figure.canvas.copy_from_bbox(a.axes.bbox)
# change here
bg_cache[a.axes] = a.figure.canvas.copy_from_bbox(a.get_window_extent(a.figure.canvas.renderer))
a.axes.draw_artist(a)
updated_ax.append(a.axes)
# After rendering all the needed artists, blit each axes individually.
for ax in set(updated_ax):
# and here
# ax.figure.canvas.blit(ax.bbox)
ax.figure.canvas.blit(ax.figure.bbox)
# Attaching 3D axis to the figure
fig = plt.figure()
ax = p3.Axes3D(fig)
# Fifty lines of random 3-D lines
data = [Gen_RandLine(2500, 3) for index in range(1)]
# Creating fifty line objects.
# NOTE: Can't pass empty arrays into 3d version of plot()
lines = [ax.plot(dat[0, 0:1], dat[1, 0:1], dat[2, 0:1], marker='o')[0] for dat in data]
# Setting the axes properties
ax.set_xlim3d([0.0, 1.0])
ax.set_xlabel('X')
ax.set_ylim3d([0.0, 1.0])
ax.set_ylabel('Y')
ax.set_zlim3d([0.0, 1.0])
ax.set_zlabel('Z')
ax.set_title('3D Test')
# Creating the Animation object
line_ani = animation.FuncAnimation(fig, update_lines, fargs=(data, lines),
interval=50, blit=True, repeat=False)
matplotlib.animation.Animation._blit_draw = _blit_draw
plt.show()
Now, the axis can be dragged and rotated during the plotting process, all with blit=True. However, the dot now leaves a trail that wasn't there before, and this is the problem. Interestingly, the dot trail disappears every time I resize the window or move the axis. I have been unsuccessful in trying to achieve both an animated singular dot, and an interactive 3D axis.
I would really appreciate help in finding out what I need to fix. I've been stuck on this for days! Cheers
