I am trying to do a Gridspec with this layout:
Layout looking as it is supposed to
The lower left plot is supposed to be of equal aspect ratio. Sadly, I had to adjust the window size to get this picture. For other sizes, either the top or right plots don’t align with the bottom left plot.
Layout with plots that are not aligned
My code looks like this:
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
import matplotlib.gridspec as gridspec
fig = plt.figure(figsize=(8,8))
gs = gridspec.GridSpec(3, 3, width_ratios=[1, 1/4, 1/32], height_ratios=[1/32, 1/4, 1])
ax = plt.subplot(gs[2, 0])
ax.set_aspect('equal')
ax_histx = plt.subplot(gs[1, 0], sharex=ax)
ax_histy = plt.subplot(gs[2, 1], sharey=ax)
cax = plt.subplot(gs[2, 2])
cax2 = plt.subplot(gs[0, 0])
plt.show()
The subplots align perfectly, if I don’t set the aspect ratio. But it seems, that I can’t have both aligning and my equal aspect ratio.
Also, the bottom left figure isn’t always supposed to be a square. For example, if I set different limits for x and y
ax.set_xlim(0,10)
ax.set_ylim(0,5)
it should be a rectangle with width=2*height, so that all cells in the plot are squares.
Square with wrong alignment
4
You could consider using the inset_axes method for laying out the axes, instead of GridSpec. Here I have hard-coded positions for each inset axes, but you might want to make them a function of your main axes’ limits.
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
import matplotlib.gridspec as gridspec
fig, ax = plt.subplots(figsize=(8,8), layout='compressed')
ax.set_aspect('equal')
ax_histx = ax.inset_axes([0, 1.2, 1, 0.25], sharex=ax)
ax_histy = ax.inset_axes([1.1, 0, 0.25, 1], sharey=ax)
cax = ax.inset_axes([0, 1.65, 1, 0.125])
cax2 = ax.inset_axes([1.45, 0, 0.125, 1])
ax.set_xlim(0,10)
ax.set_ylim(0,5)
plt.show()
2
Setting the axis aspect will resize the axis, but not the figure.
I can’t see any other way than setting the figure size adequately, with some math.
In your case it is thankfully quite easy, since any squared figure size will do the job.
Actually it is not the figure size that matters, but the extent of the rectangle containing all the subplots inside the figure.
The catch is that the default margins between the figure extent and the subplots extent make the subplots extent not square when the figure size is.
(This is figure.subplot.left/right/bottom/top set to 0.125/0.9/0.11/0.88 in the default rcParams).
To sum up, put a squared figure size, and fix the left/right/bottom/top args of the GridSpec and you’re good to go:
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
import matplotlib.gridspec as gridspec
fig = plt.figure(figsize=(8, 8))
gs = gridspec.GridSpec(
nrows=3,
ncols=3,
width_ratios=[1, 1 / 4, 1 / 32],
height_ratios=[1 / 32, 1 / 4, 1],
bottom=0.1,
top=0.9,
left=0.1,
right=0.9,
# wspace=0,
# hspace=0,
)
ax = plt.subplot(gs[2, 0])
ax.set_aspect("equal")
ax_histx = plt.subplot(gs[1, 0], sharex=ax)
ax_histy = plt.subplot(gs[2, 1], sharey=ax)
cax = plt.subplot(gs[2, 2])
cax2 = plt.subplot(gs[0, 0])
plt.show()
3