Note

Go to the end to download the full example code.

TickedStroke patheffect#

Matplotlib's patheffects can be used to alter the way paths are drawn at a low enough level that they can affect almost anything.

The patheffects guide details the use of patheffects.

The TickedStroke patheffect illustrated here draws a path with a ticked style. The spacing, length, and angle of ticks can be controlled.

See also the Lines with a ticked patheffect example.

See also the Contouring the solution space of optimizations example.

importmatplotlib.pyplotasplt
importnumpyasnp

Applying TickedStroke to paths#

importmatplotlib.patchesaspatches
frommatplotlib.pathimport Path
importmatplotlib.patheffectsaspatheffects
fig , ax = plt.subplots (figsize=(6, 6))
path = Path.unit_circle ()
patch = patches.PathPatch (path , facecolor='none', lw=2, path_effects=[
 patheffects.withTickedStroke (angle=-90, spacing=10, length=1)])
ax.add_patch (patch )
ax.axis ('equal')
ax.set_xlim (-2, 2)
ax.set_ylim (-2, 2)
plt.show ()
tickedstroke demo

Applying TickedStroke to lines#

fig , ax = plt.subplots (figsize=(6, 6))
ax.plot ([0, 1], [0, 1], label="Line",
 path_effects=[patheffects.withTickedStroke (spacing=7, angle=135)])
nx = 101
x = np.linspace (0.0, 1.0, nx )
y = 0.3*np.sin (x *8) + 0.4
ax.plot (x , y , label="Curve", path_effects=[patheffects.withTickedStroke ()])
ax.legend ()
plt.show ()
tickedstroke demo

Applying TickedStroke to contour plots#

Contour plot with objective and constraints. Curves generated by contour to represent a typical constraint in an optimization problem should be plotted with angles between zero and 180 degrees.

fig , ax = plt.subplots (figsize=(6, 6))
nx = 101
ny = 105
# Set up survey vectors
xvec = np.linspace (0.001, 4.0, nx )
yvec = np.linspace (0.001, 4.0, ny )
# Set up survey matrices. Design disk loading and gear ratio.
x1 , x2 = np.meshgrid (xvec , yvec )
# Evaluate some stuff to plot
obj = x1 **2 + x2 **2 - 2*x1 - 2*x2 + 2
g1 = -(3*x1 + x2 - 5.5)
g2 = -(x1 + 2*x2 - 4.5)
g3 = 0.8 + x1 **-3 - x2
cntr = ax.contour (x1 , x2 , obj , [0.01, 0.1, 0.5, 1, 2, 4, 8, 16],
 colors='black')
ax.clabel (cntr , fmt="%2.1f", use_clabeltext=True)
cg1 = ax.contour (x1 , x2 , g1 , [0], colors='sandybrown')
cg1.set (path_effects=[patheffects.withTickedStroke (angle=135)])
cg2 = ax.contour (x1 , x2 , g2 , [0], colors='orangered')
cg2.set (path_effects=[patheffects.withTickedStroke (angle=60, length=2)])
cg3 = ax.contour (x1 , x2 , g3 , [0], colors='mediumblue')
cg3.set (path_effects=[patheffects.withTickedStroke (spacing=7)])
ax.set_xlim (0, 4)
ax.set_ylim (0, 4)
plt.show ()
tickedstroke demo

Direction/side of the ticks#

To change which side of the line the ticks are drawn, change the sign of the angle.

fig , ax = plt.subplots (figsize=(6, 6))
line_x = line_y = [0, 1]
ax.plot (line_x , line_y , label="Line",
 path_effects=[patheffects.withTickedStroke (spacing=7, angle=135)])
ax.plot (line_x , line_y , label="Opposite side",
 path_effects=[patheffects.withTickedStroke (spacing=7, angle=-135)])
ax.legend ()
plt.show ()
tickedstroke demo

Total running time of the script: (0 minutes 2.088 seconds)

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