Problem Statement
I'm attempting to add two patches -- a rectangle patch and a text patch -- to the same space within a 3D plot. The ultimate goal is to annotate the rectangle patch with a corresponding value (about 20 rectangles across 4 planes -- see Figure 3). The following code does not get all the way there, but does demonstrate a rendering issue where sometimes the text patch is completely visible and sometimes it isn't -- interestingly, if the string doesn't extend outside the rectangle patch, it never seems to become visible at all. The only difference between Figures 1 and 2 is the rotation of the plot viewer image. I've left the cmap code in the example below because it's a requirement of the project (and just in case it affects the outcome).
Things I've Tried
- Reversing the order that the patches are drawn.
- Applying zorder values -- I think
art3d.pathpatch_2d_to_3dis overriding that. - Creating a patch collection -- I can't seem to find a way to add the rectangle patch and the text patch to the same 3D collection.
Conclusion
I suspect that setting zorder to each patch before adding them to a 3D collection may be the solution, but I can't seem to find a way to get to that outcome. Similar questions suggest this, but I haven't been able to apply their answers to this problem specifically.
Environment
macOS: Big Sur 11.2.3
Python 3.8
Matplotlib 3.3.4
Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3
The Code
Generates Figures 1 and 2 (not 3).
#! /usr/bin/env python3
# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
from matplotlib.patches import Rectangle, PathPatch
from matplotlib.text import TextPath
from matplotlib.transforms import Affine2D
import mpl_toolkits.mplot3d.art3d as art3d
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
from matplotlib.colors import Normalize
plt.style.use('dark_background')
fig = plt.figure()
ax = fig.gca(projection='3d')
cmap = plt.cm.bwr
norm = Normalize(vmin=50, vmax=80)
base_color = cmap(norm(50))
# Draw box
box = Rectangle((25, 25), width=50, height=50, color=cmap(norm(62)), ec='black', alpha=1)
ax.add_patch(box)
art3d.pathpatch_2d_to_3d(box, z=1, zdir="z")
# Draw text
text_path = TextPath((60, 50), "xxxx", size=10)
trans = Affine2D().rotate(0).translate(0, 1)
p1 = PathPatch(trans.transform_path(text_path))
ax.add_patch(p1)
art3d.pathpatch_2d_to_3d(p1, z=1, zdir="z")
ax.set_xlabel('x')
ax.set_xlim(0, 100)
ax.set_xticklabels([])
ax.xaxis.set_pane_color(base_color)
ax.set_ylabel('y')
ax.set_ylim(0, 100)
ax.set_yticklabels([])
ax.yaxis.set_pane_color(base_color)
ax.set_zlabel('z')
ax.set_zlim(1, 4)
ax.set_zticks([1, 2, 3, 4])
ax.zaxis.set_pane_color(base_color)
ax.set_zticklabels([])
plt.show()
