CODEWITHSUNDEEP
pythonmatplotlibfont-size
Jan
Jan

Reputation: 735

How to get figure size and fontsize right for PDFs exported from matplotlib?

I need to generate figures that fit into a particular width and use a particular font size, preferably without post-processing the pdf file.

On my system, the default GUI backend is 'TkAgg' and the default font size is 12.0 as reported by the get_fontsize() method on a text object. When I generate a figure using

f = pyplot.figure(figsize=(2.0,2.0))
f.text(0.5,0.5,'TEXT')
pyplot.show()

and save as PDF, the figure size is too large. pdfinfo reports

Creator:        matplotlib 1.1.1rc, http://matplotlib.sf.net
Producer:       matplotlib pdf backend
CreationDate:   Sat May 25 10:52:02 2013
Tagged:         no
Pages:          1
Encrypted:      no
Page size:      196.2 x 153 pts
File size:      9357 bytes
Optimized:      no
PDF version:    1.4

196.2 pt == 2.725 inch

However, if I resize the figure to be 2 inch wide, the fontsize matches (visually) with 12pt LaTeX fonts.

Contrarily, skipping the GUI produces a figure with the right dimensions, but fonts too large:

import matplotlib
matplotlib.use('PDF')
f = pyplot.figure(figsize=(2.0,2.0))
f.text(0.5,0.5,'TEXT')
f.savefig('test.pdf')

Creator:        matplotlib 1.1.1rc, http://matplotlib.sf.net
Producer:       matplotlib pdf backend
CreationDate:   Sat May 25 10:50:42 2013
Tagged:         no
Pages:          1
Encrypted:      no
Page size:      144 x 144 pts
File size:      9254 bytes
Optimized:      no
PDF version:    1.4

144 pt == 2.0 inch

The Cairo backend produces the same result. Adding f.set_size_inches((2,2)) doesn't change anything either.

Is there a recipe to get font and figure sizes just right with matplotlib?

Upvotes: 2

Views: 4159

Answers (2)

tacaswell
tacaswell

Reputation: 87376

check your .matplotlibrc and look for sivefig.bbox, make sure it is commented out, or set to something that is not tight.

You can try:

fig.savefig('so.png', bbox_inches=matplotlib.transforms.Bbox(np.array(((0, 0), (2, 2)))))

which explictly sets the bounding box.

That said, if you do not have anything in your .matplotlibrc, you should report this as a bug.

Upvotes: 2

deufeufeu
deufeufeu

Reputation: 1008

You should use fig.set_size_inches as you can give exactly the physical size of the pdf.

Upvotes: 0

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