matplotlib-users Mailing List for matplotlib

On 04/08/2011 10:56 AM, Matt Funk wrote:
> Hi Paul,
>
> thanks for the response. Emmhh, i am not sure what's going on since what you
> are saying matches what's listed at
> http://matplotlib.sourceforge.net/users/customizing.html. The problem is that
> when i try it I get a key error, correspondingly, when i print rcParams i
> cannot find axes.color_cycle key:
It is quite new, so your mpl version is too old to have it.
Eric
>
> So printing rcParams gives:
> print mpl.rcParams
> {'figure.subplot.right': 0.90000000000000002, 'mathtext.cal': 'cursive',
> 'font.fantasy': ['Comic Sans MS', 'Chicago', 'Charcoal', 'ImpactWestern',
> 'fantasy'], 'xtick.minor.pad': 4, 'tk.pythoninspect': False, 'image.aspect':
> 'equal', 'font.cursive': ['Apple Chancery', 'Textile', 'Zapf Chancery',
> 'Sand', 'cursive'], 'figure.subplot.hspace': 0.20000000000000001,
> 'xtick.direction': 'out', 'axes.facecolor': 'w', 'mathtext.fontset': 'cm',
> 'ytick.direction': 'out', 'svg.image_inline': True, 'lines.markersize': 10.0,
> 'figure.dpi': 80, 'text.usetex': True, 'text.fontangle': 'normal',
> 'patch.edgecolor': 'k', 'legend.labelspacing': 0.5, 'ps.useafm': False,
> 'mathtext.bf': 'serif:bold', 'lines.solid_joinstyle': 'round',
> 'font.monospace': ['Bitstream Vera Sans Mono', 'DejaVu Sans Mono', 'Andale
> Mono', 'Nimbus Mono L', 'Courier New', 'Courier', 'Fixed', 'Terminal',
> 'monospace'], 'xtick.minor.size': 2, 'axes.formatter.limits': [-7, 7],
> 'figure.subplot.wspace': 0.20000000000000001, 'savefig.edgecolor': 'w',
> 'text.fontvariant': 'normal', 'image.cmap': 'jet', 'axes.edgecolor': 'k',
> 'tk.window_focus': False, 'image.origin': 'upper', 'text.fontsize': 'medium',
> 'font.serif': ['Bitstream Vera Serif', 'DejaVu Serif', 'New Century
> Schoolbook', 'Century Schoolbook L', 'Utopia', 'ITC Bookman', 'Bookman',
> 'Nimbus Roman No9 L', 'Times New Roman', 'Times', 'Palatino', 'Charter',
> 'serif'], 'savefig.facecolor': 'w', 'maskedarray': 'obsolete',
> 'ytick.minor.size': 2, 'numerix': 'obsolete', 'font.stretch': 'normal',
> 'text.dvipnghack': None, 'ytick.color': 'k', 'lines.linestyle': '-',
> 'xtick.color': 'k', 'xtick.major.pad': 4, 'text.fontweight': 'normal',
> 'patch.facecolor': 'b', 'figure.figsize': [8.0, 6.0], 'axes.linewidth': 1.0,
> 'legend.handletextpad': 0.80000000000000004, 'mathtext.fallback_to_cm': True,
> 'lines.linewidth': 1.0, 'savefig.dpi': 100, 'verbose.fileo': 'sys.stdout',
> 'svg.image_noscale': False, 'docstring.hardcopy': False, 'font.size': 24.0,
> 'ps.fonttype': 3, 'path.simplify': True, 'polaraxes.grid': True, 'toolbar':
> 'toolbar2', 'pdf.compression': 6, 'grid.linewidth': 0.5, 'figure.autolayout':
> False, 'figure.facecolor': '0.75', 'ps.usedistiller': False, 'legend.isaxes':
> True, 'figure.edgecolor': 'w', 'mathtext.tt': 'monospace',
> 'contour.negative_linestyle': 'dashed', 'image.interpolation': 'bilinear',
> 'lines.markeredgewidth': 1.5, 'axes3d.grid': True, 'lines.marker': 'None',
> 'legend.shadow': False, 'axes.titlesize': 24.0, 'backend': 'TkAgg',
> 'xtick.major.size': 4, 'legend.fontsize': 24.0, 'lines.solid_capstyle':
> 'projecting', 'mathtext.it': 'serif:italic', 'font.variant': 'normal',
> 'xtick.labelsize': 'medium', 'axes.unicode_minus': True, 'ps.distiller.res':
> 6000, 'pdf.fonttype': 3, 'patch.linewidth': 1.0, 'pdf.inheritcolor': False,
> 'lines.dash_capstyle': 'butt', 'lines.color': 'b', 'text.latex.preview':
> False, 'figure.subplot.top': 0.90000000000000002, 'pdf.use14corefonts': False,
> 'legend.markerscale': 1.0, 'patch.antialiased': True, 'font.style': 'normal',
> 'backend_fallback': True, 'legend.fancybox': True, 'grid.linestyle': ':',
> 'axes.labelcolor': 'k', 'text.color': 'k', 'mathtext.rm': 'serif',
> 'legend.loc': 'upper right', 'interactive': False, 'cairo.format': 'png',
> 'savefig.orientation': 'portrait', 'axes.axisbelow': False, 'ytick.major.size':
> 4, 'axes.grid': False, 'plugins.directory': '.matplotlib_plugins',
> 'grid.color': 'k', 'timezone': 'UTC', 'ytick.major.pad': 4,
> 'legend.borderpad': 0.40000000000000002, 'lines.dash_joinstyle': 'round',
> 'datapath': '/usr/share/matplotlib/mpl-data', 'lines.antialiased': True,
> 'text.latex.unicode': False, 'image.lut': 256, 'units': False,
> 'figure.subplot.bottom': 0.10000000000000001, 'text.latex.preamble': [''],
> 'legend.numpoints': 2, 'legend.handlelength': 2.0, 'font.sans-serif':
> ['Arial'], 'font.family': 'sans-serif', 'axes.labelsize': 24.0,
> 'ytick.minor.pad': 4, 'legend.borderaxespad': 0.5, 'mathtext.sf': 'sans\\-
> serif', 'axes.hold': True, 'verbose.level': 'silent', 'mathtext.default':
> 'it', 'figure.subplot.left': 0.125, 'legend.columnspacing': 2.0,
> 'text.fontstyle': 'normal', 'font.weight': 'normal', 'image.resample': False,
> 'agg.path.chunksize': 0, 'path.simplify_threshold': 0.1111111111111111,
> 'ytick.labelsize': 'medium', 'ps.papersize': 'letter', 'svg.embed_char_paths':
> True}
>
> (sorry for the long post).
> Anything obvious that i am doing wrong? I am using:
> Python 2.6.6
> mpl.__version__ = 0.99.3
>
> thanks
> matt
>
>
> On Thursday, April 07, 2011, Paul Ivanov wrote:
>> Matt Funk, on 2011年04月07日 16:52, wrote:
>>> Hi,
>>> i am farily new to matplotlib so my question might be fairly basic. I
>>> would like to be able to set certain default values at the beginning of
>>> my script. The way i did this with the other values is via changing the
>>> value stored in rcparams. So something like:
>>> import matplotlib.pyplot as mpl
>>> mpl.rcParams['lines.markersize'] = 20
>>>
>>> But i would like to set the markerfacecolor in such a way but it is not
>>> included in rcParams. I would really like to avoid setting it in each
>>> individual plot call.
>>>
>>> Is there a way to change the default at the start of the script?
>>
>> Hi Matt,
>>
>> this depends on how you're plotting.
>>
>> If you're just using plt.plot - it defers to cycling through the
>> rcParams['axes.color_cycle'] - so just set that to one value
>> before starting your plots..
>>
>> old_color_cycle = rcParams['axes.color_cycle']
>> rcParams['axes.color_cycle'] = 'purple' # cue Gogol Bordello
>> plt.figure()
>> ax = plt.subplot(111)
>>
>> ax.plot(range(10),'o', markersize=40)
>> ax.plot(np.random.rand(10),'o', markersize=40)
>> ax.plot(np.random.rand(10)*10,'o', markersize=40)
>>
>> # restore color_cycle just for this axes
>> ax._get_lines.set_color_cycle(old_color_cycle)
>> ax.plot(range(20,30), range(10),'o', markersize=40)
>> ax.plot(range(20,30), np.random.rand(10),'o', markersize=40)
>> ax.plot(range(20,30), np.random.rand(10)*10,'o', markersize=40)
>>
>> # restore old cycle for all new axes
>> rcParams['axes.color_cycle'] = old_color_cycle
>> --
>>
>> If, on the other hand, you're using scatter, there isn't
>> currently a way of doing the same, since scatter just uses 'b' as
>> the default parameter for color.
>>
>> This should probably be changed to act the same way plot does,
>> but that isn't currently implemented. This would be a good first
>> patch for a newcomer -- and would make matplotlib more consistent.
>>
>> best,
>
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Xperia(TM) PLAY
> It's a major breakthrough. An authentic gaming
> smartphone on the nation's most reliable network.
> And it wants your games.
> http://p.sf.net/sfu/verizon-sfdev
> _______________________________________________
> Matplotlib-users mailing list
> Mat...@li...
> https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/matplotlib-users

Hi Paul,
thanks for the response. Emmhh, i am not sure what's going on since what you 
are saying matches what's listed at 
http://matplotlib.sourceforge.net/users/customizing.html. The problem is that 
when i try it I get a key error, correspondingly, when i print rcParams i 
cannot find axes.color_cycle key:
So printing rcParams gives:
print mpl.rcParams
{'figure.subplot.right': 0.90000000000000002, 'mathtext.cal': 'cursive', 
'font.fantasy': ['Comic Sans MS', 'Chicago', 'Charcoal', 'ImpactWestern', 
'fantasy'], 'xtick.minor.pad': 4, 'tk.pythoninspect': False, 'image.aspect': 
'equal', 'font.cursive': ['Apple Chancery', 'Textile', 'Zapf Chancery', 
'Sand', 'cursive'], 'figure.subplot.hspace': 0.20000000000000001, 
'xtick.direction': 'out', 'axes.facecolor': 'w', 'mathtext.fontset': 'cm', 
'ytick.direction': 'out', 'svg.image_inline': True, 'lines.markersize': 10.0, 
'figure.dpi': 80, 'text.usetex': True, 'text.fontangle': 'normal', 
'patch.edgecolor': 'k', 'legend.labelspacing': 0.5, 'ps.useafm': False, 
'mathtext.bf': 'serif:bold', 'lines.solid_joinstyle': 'round', 
'font.monospace': ['Bitstream Vera Sans Mono', 'DejaVu Sans Mono', 'Andale 
Mono', 'Nimbus Mono L', 'Courier New', 'Courier', 'Fixed', 'Terminal', 
'monospace'], 'xtick.minor.size': 2, 'axes.formatter.limits': [-7, 7], 
'figure.subplot.wspace': 0.20000000000000001, 'savefig.edgecolor': 'w', 
'text.fontvariant': 'normal', 'image.cmap': 'jet', 'axes.edgecolor': 'k', 
'tk.window_focus': False, 'image.origin': 'upper', 'text.fontsize': 'medium', 
'font.serif': ['Bitstream Vera Serif', 'DejaVu Serif', 'New Century 
Schoolbook', 'Century Schoolbook L', 'Utopia', 'ITC Bookman', 'Bookman', 
'Nimbus Roman No9 L', 'Times New Roman', 'Times', 'Palatino', 'Charter', 
'serif'], 'savefig.facecolor': 'w', 'maskedarray': 'obsolete', 
'ytick.minor.size': 2, 'numerix': 'obsolete', 'font.stretch': 'normal', 
'text.dvipnghack': None, 'ytick.color': 'k', 'lines.linestyle': '-', 
'xtick.color': 'k', 'xtick.major.pad': 4, 'text.fontweight': 'normal', 
'patch.facecolor': 'b', 'figure.figsize': [8.0, 6.0], 'axes.linewidth': 1.0, 
'legend.handletextpad': 0.80000000000000004, 'mathtext.fallback_to_cm': True, 
'lines.linewidth': 1.0, 'savefig.dpi': 100, 'verbose.fileo': 'sys.stdout', 
'svg.image_noscale': False, 'docstring.hardcopy': False, 'font.size': 24.0, 
'ps.fonttype': 3, 'path.simplify': True, 'polaraxes.grid': True, 'toolbar': 
'toolbar2', 'pdf.compression': 6, 'grid.linewidth': 0.5, 'figure.autolayout': 
False, 'figure.facecolor': '0.75', 'ps.usedistiller': False, 'legend.isaxes': 
True, 'figure.edgecolor': 'w', 'mathtext.tt': 'monospace', 
'contour.negative_linestyle': 'dashed', 'image.interpolation': 'bilinear', 
'lines.markeredgewidth': 1.5, 'axes3d.grid': True, 'lines.marker': 'None', 
'legend.shadow': False, 'axes.titlesize': 24.0, 'backend': 'TkAgg', 
'xtick.major.size': 4, 'legend.fontsize': 24.0, 'lines.solid_capstyle': 
'projecting', 'mathtext.it': 'serif:italic', 'font.variant': 'normal', 
'xtick.labelsize': 'medium', 'axes.unicode_minus': True, 'ps.distiller.res': 
6000, 'pdf.fonttype': 3, 'patch.linewidth': 1.0, 'pdf.inheritcolor': False, 
'lines.dash_capstyle': 'butt', 'lines.color': 'b', 'text.latex.preview': 
False, 'figure.subplot.top': 0.90000000000000002, 'pdf.use14corefonts': False, 
'legend.markerscale': 1.0, 'patch.antialiased': True, 'font.style': 'normal', 
'backend_fallback': True, 'legend.fancybox': True, 'grid.linestyle': ':', 
'axes.labelcolor': 'k', 'text.color': 'k', 'mathtext.rm': 'serif', 
'legend.loc': 'upper right', 'interactive': False, 'cairo.format': 'png', 
'savefig.orientation': 'portrait', 'axes.axisbelow': False, 'ytick.major.size': 
4, 'axes.grid': False, 'plugins.directory': '.matplotlib_plugins', 
'grid.color': 'k', 'timezone': 'UTC', 'ytick.major.pad': 4, 
'legend.borderpad': 0.40000000000000002, 'lines.dash_joinstyle': 'round', 
'datapath': '/usr/share/matplotlib/mpl-data', 'lines.antialiased': True, 
'text.latex.unicode': False, 'image.lut': 256, 'units': False, 
'figure.subplot.bottom': 0.10000000000000001, 'text.latex.preamble': [''], 
'legend.numpoints': 2, 'legend.handlelength': 2.0, 'font.sans-serif': 
['Arial'], 'font.family': 'sans-serif', 'axes.labelsize': 24.0, 
'ytick.minor.pad': 4, 'legend.borderaxespad': 0.5, 'mathtext.sf': 'sans\\-
serif', 'axes.hold': True, 'verbose.level': 'silent', 'mathtext.default': 
'it', 'figure.subplot.left': 0.125, 'legend.columnspacing': 2.0, 
'text.fontstyle': 'normal', 'font.weight': 'normal', 'image.resample': False, 
'agg.path.chunksize': 0, 'path.simplify_threshold': 0.1111111111111111, 
'ytick.labelsize': 'medium', 'ps.papersize': 'letter', 'svg.embed_char_paths': 
True}
(sorry for the long post).
Anything obvious that i am doing wrong? I am using:
Python 2.6.6
mpl.__version__ = 0.99.3
thanks
matt
On Thursday, April 07, 2011, Paul Ivanov wrote:
> Matt Funk, on 2011年04月07日 16:52, wrote:
> > Hi,
> > i am farily new to matplotlib so my question might be fairly basic. I
> > would like to be able to set certain default values at the beginning of
> > my script. The way i did this with the other values is via changing the
> > value stored in rcparams. So something like:
> > import matplotlib.pyplot as mpl
> > mpl.rcParams['lines.markersize'] = 20
> > 
> > But i would like to set the markerfacecolor in such a way but it is not
> > included in rcParams. I would really like to avoid setting it in each
> > individual plot call.
> > 
> > Is there a way to change the default at the start of the script?
> 
> Hi Matt,
> 
> this depends on how you're plotting.
> 
> If you're just using plt.plot - it defers to cycling through the
> rcParams['axes.color_cycle'] - so just set that to one value
> before starting your plots..
> 
> old_color_cycle = rcParams['axes.color_cycle']
> rcParams['axes.color_cycle'] = 'purple' # cue Gogol Bordello
> plt.figure()
> ax = plt.subplot(111)
> 
> ax.plot(range(10),'o', markersize=40)
> ax.plot(np.random.rand(10),'o', markersize=40)
> ax.plot(np.random.rand(10)*10,'o', markersize=40)
> 
> # restore color_cycle just for this axes
> ax._get_lines.set_color_cycle(old_color_cycle)
> ax.plot(range(20,30), range(10),'o', markersize=40)
> ax.plot(range(20,30), np.random.rand(10),'o', markersize=40)
> ax.plot(range(20,30), np.random.rand(10)*10,'o', markersize=40)
> 
> # restore old cycle for all new axes
> rcParams['axes.color_cycle'] = old_color_cycle
> --
> 
> If, on the other hand, you're using scatter, there isn't
> currently a way of doing the same, since scatter just uses 'b' as
> the default parameter for color.
> 
> This should probably be changed to act the same way plot does,
> but that isn't currently implemented. This would be a good first
> patch for a newcomer -- and would make matplotlib more consistent.
> 
> best,

Hello, in the plot commands you can control what covers what by using
the zorder parameter. Here's a demo:
http://matplotlib.sourceforge.net/examples/pylab_examples/zorder_demo.html
So, in your case you could change the plotting commands to
p1.plot(x,y1,'r',linewidth=5,zorder=1)
p1.fill_between(x,0,y2,color='k',alpha='0.7',zorder=2)
to get the fill to cover the line plot.
On Wed, Mar 30, 2011 at 3:16 AM, Terry Lang <te...@le...> wrote:
> Hey Matplotlib Community,
>
>     I am trying to create a standard line plot and then overlay a
> fill_between plot that would partly grey out the line plot. The code
> snippet I am interested in is:
>
> import matplotlib.pyplot as plot
> fig = plot.figure()
> p1 = fig.add_subplot(111)
> p1.plot(x,y1,'r',linewidth=5)
> p1.fill_between(x,0,y2,color='k',alpha='0.7')
>
> However, the fill_between plot is not actually covering the line plot.
> Is there another keyword I should be using?
>
> Thanks!
> Terry
>
> --
> P. Therese Lang
> Post Doc
> Alber Lab, UC Berkeley
>
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Xperia(TM) PLAY
> It's a major breakthrough. An authentic gaming
> smartphone on the nation's most reliable network.
> And it wants your games.
> http://p.sf.net/sfu/verizon-sfdev
> _______________________________________________
> Matplotlib-users mailing list
> Mat...@li...
> https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/matplotlib-users
>
-- 
Valentine Svensson
+46735011518
val...@nx...

Thanks. Fixed in git repository.
Mike
On 04/05/2011 08:28 AM, Piter Pasma wrote:
> (sorry if this is the wrong place, I'm just trying to help)
>
> In the documentation FAQ
> http://matplotlib.sourceforge.net/faq/installing_faq.html#what-is-a-backend
> the link to "antigrain" is broken.
>
> Additionally, to whom it may concern, thanks for Matplotlib and Pylab,
> it's wonderful software and I use it nearly every day!!
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Xperia(TM) PLAY
> It's a major breakthrough. An authentic gaming
> smartphone on the nation's most reliable network.
> And it wants your games.
> http://p.sf.net/sfu/verizon-sfdev
> _______________________________________________
> Matplotlib-users mailing list
> Mat...@li...
> https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/matplotlib-users
> 
-- 
Michael Droettboom
Science Software Branch
Space Telescope Science Institute
Baltimore, Maryland, USA

Hey,
thanks a bunch, that was the problem, build it a while back, really
should have seen that back then though ;).
Regrads,
Sebastian
On Fri, 2011年04月08日 at 08:14 -0400, Michael Droettboom wrote:
> Can you provide the output of a clean build?
> 
> Go to the source directory, remove the "build" dir, and run "python 
> setup.py install &> log" and send us the file "log". It's possible you 
> do not have the development files for gtk installed so the extension 
> modules didn't get built.
> 
> Mike
> 
> On 04/08/2011 08:49 AM, Sebastian Berg wrote:
> > Hey,
> >
> > I recently installed matplotlib "1.1.0svn" upgrading from 0.99.x shipped
> > with ubuntu. I have the problem that the GTK backend does not work
> > properly. Running similar to:
> > http://matplotlib.sourceforge.net/examples/user_interfaces/embedding_in_gtk.html
> > throws the error: ImportError: No module named _backend_gdk
> > Is this a problem with the version or my installation and how would I
> > fix it (or do I need to downgrade again!?).
> >
> > Regards
> >
> > Sebastian Berg
> >
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> > Xperia(TM) PLAY
> > It's a major breakthrough. An authentic gaming
> > smartphone on the nation's most reliable network.
> > And it wants your games.
> > http://p.sf.net/sfu/verizon-sfdev
> > _______________________________________________
> > Matplotlib-users mailing list
> > Mat...@li...
> > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/matplotlib-users
> > 
> 
> 

Can you provide the output of a clean build?
Go to the source directory, remove the "build" dir, and run "python 
setup.py install &> log" and send us the file "log". It's possible you 
do not have the development files for gtk installed so the extension 
modules didn't get built.
Mike
On 04/08/2011 08:49 AM, Sebastian Berg wrote:
> Hey,
>
> I recently installed matplotlib "1.1.0svn" upgrading from 0.99.x shipped
> with ubuntu. I have the problem that the GTK backend does not work
> properly. Running similar to:
> http://matplotlib.sourceforge.net/examples/user_interfaces/embedding_in_gtk.html
> throws the error: ImportError: No module named _backend_gdk
> Is this a problem with the version or my installation and how would I
> fix it (or do I need to downgrade again!?).
>
> Regards
>
> Sebastian Berg
>
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Xperia(TM) PLAY
> It's a major breakthrough. An authentic gaming
> smartphone on the nation's most reliable network.
> And it wants your games.
> http://p.sf.net/sfu/verizon-sfdev
> _______________________________________________
> Matplotlib-users mailing list
> Mat...@li...
> https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/matplotlib-users
> 
-- 
Michael Droettboom
Science Software Branch
Space Telescope Science Institute
Baltimore, Maryland, USA

Sorry, I mean of course, that the example already fails for me with this
error...
On Fri, 2011年04月08日 at 14:49 +0200, Sebastian Berg wrote:
> Hey,
> 
> I recently installed matplotlib "1.1.0svn" upgrading from 0.99.x shipped
> with ubuntu. I have the problem that the GTK backend does not work
> properly. Running similar to:
> http://matplotlib.sourceforge.net/examples/user_interfaces/embedding_in_gtk.html
> throws the error: ImportError: No module named _backend_gdk
> Is this a problem with the version or my installation and how would I
> fix it (or do I need to downgrade again!?).
> 
> Regards
> 
> Sebastian Berg
> 
> 
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Xperia(TM) PLAY
> It's a major breakthrough. An authentic gaming
> smartphone on the nation's most reliable network.
> And it wants your games.
> http://p.sf.net/sfu/verizon-sfdev
> _______________________________________________
> Matplotlib-users mailing list
> Mat...@li...
> https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/matplotlib-users
> 

Hey,
I recently installed matplotlib "1.1.0svn" upgrading from 0.99.x shipped
with ubuntu. I have the problem that the GTK backend does not work
properly. Running similar to:
http://matplotlib.sourceforge.net/examples/user_interfaces/embedding_in_gtk.html
throws the error: ImportError: No module named _backend_gdk
Is this a problem with the version or my installation and how would I
fix it (or do I need to downgrade again!?).
Regards
Sebastian Berg

Hello,
 I want to plot a contourf (or imshow) map with some scatter symbol 
lay on it, and I
want them to use a same color set.
 like contour(x,y,z) or imshow(x,y,z) have a color set (colorbar)
 and scatter(x1,y1, s=z1,c=z1). in the scatter, the color of z1 would 
be the same with
the color of z if their value is the same. How could I do? thanks!
Best Regards,
Wang Jun

Matt Funk, on 2011年04月07日 16:52, wrote:
> Hi,
> i am farily new to matplotlib so my question might be fairly basic. I would 
> like to be able to set certain default values at the beginning of my script. 
> The way i did this with the other values is via changing the value stored in 
> rcparams. So something like:
> import matplotlib.pyplot as mpl
> mpl.rcParams['lines.markersize'] = 20
> 
> But i would like to set the markerfacecolor in such a way but it is not 
> included in rcParams. I would really like to avoid setting it in each 
> individual plot call. 
> 
> Is there a way to change the default at the start of the script?
Hi Matt,
this depends on how you're plotting. 
If you're just using plt.plot - it defers to cycling through the
rcParams['axes.color_cycle'] - so just set that to one value
before starting your plots..
old_color_cycle = rcParams['axes.color_cycle']
rcParams['axes.color_cycle'] = 'purple' # cue Gogol Bordello
plt.figure()
ax = plt.subplot(111)
ax.plot(range(10),'o', markersize=40)
ax.plot(np.random.rand(10),'o', markersize=40)
ax.plot(np.random.rand(10)*10,'o', markersize=40)
# restore color_cycle just for this axes
ax._get_lines.set_color_cycle(old_color_cycle)
ax.plot(range(20,30), range(10),'o', markersize=40)
ax.plot(range(20,30), np.random.rand(10),'o', markersize=40)
ax.plot(range(20,30), np.random.rand(10)*10,'o', markersize=40)
# restore old cycle for all new axes
rcParams['axes.color_cycle'] = old_color_cycle 
--
If, on the other hand, you're using scatter, there isn't
currently a way of doing the same, since scatter just uses 'b' as
the default parameter for color.
This should probably be changed to act the same way plot does,
but that isn't currently implemented. This would be a good first 
patch for a newcomer -- and would make matplotlib more consistent.
best,
-- 
Paul Ivanov
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