Mike, On my machine, with pcolor from the trunk: efiring@manini:~/test$ python pcolortest2.py init: 2.0 fps: 0.287026406429 And substituting pcolormesh for pcolor: init: 0.27 fps: 5.48245614035 Now that's more like it! Using image can be another order of magnitude faster than pcolormesh (but with limitations, of course). I suspect nonuniform image code is intermediate, but it is a long time since I have tried it. Eric Michael Droettboom wrote: > Attaching benchmark. > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > > from numpy.random import rand > import matplotlib > from matplotlib.pyplot import pcolor, savefig, show, ion, axis, draw, axes > import time > > ion() > > t = time.clock() > pcolor(rand(1000,100)) > print "init: ", time.clock() - t > > frames = 25.0 > t = time.clock() > for i in xrange(int(frames)): > part = (1.0 - (i / frames) / 2.0) > axes().set_ylim((0.0, 1000.0 * part)) > draw() > print "fps:", frames / (time.clock() - t) > > # show() >