How to make radar spider chart with pentagon grid using matplotlib and python?

Question

I have a radar chart. Need to change the grid from circle-form to pentagon-form. Currently, I have this output:

Whereas I expect smth like this:

Here's the info about the system i have: Windows 10 (64-bit); Python - 3.8.0 (32-bit); matplotlib - 3.3.3. This question i've seen here: How to make a polygon radar (spider) chart in python but it doesn't resolve my question. But it doesn't work for me and i can't understand why. I can simply copy the code, but the result is - outer border changes to pentagon-form, but the inner gridlines remain circular. But it works for other people!

The code of the program is below:

import numpy as np

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
from matplotlib.patches import Circle, RegularPolygon
from matplotlib.path import Path
from matplotlib.projections.polar import PolarAxes
from matplotlib.projections import register_projection
from matplotlib.spines import Spine
from matplotlib.transforms import Affine2D


def radar_factory(num_vars, frame='circle'):
    """Create a radar chart with `num_vars` axes.

    This function creates a RadarAxes projection and registers it.

    Parameters
    ----------
    num_vars : int
        Number of variables for radar chart.
    frame : {'circle' | 'polygon'}
        Shape of frame surrounding axes.

    """
    # calculate evenly-spaced axis angles
    theta = np.linspace(0, 2*np.pi, num_vars, endpoint=False)

    class RadarAxes(PolarAxes):

        name = 'radar'

        def __init__(self, *args, **kwargs):
            super().__init__(*args, **kwargs)
            # rotate plot such that the first axis is at the top
            self.set_theta_zero_location('N')

        def fill(self, *args, closed=True, **kwargs):
            """Override fill so that line is closed by default"""
            return super().fill(closed=closed, *args, **kwargs)

        def plot(self, *args, **kwargs):
            """Override plot so that line is closed by default"""
            lines = super().plot(*args, **kwargs)
            for line in lines:
                self._close_line(line)

        def _close_line(self, line):
            x, y = line.get_data()
            # FIXME: markers at x[0], y[0] get doubled-up
            if x[0] != x[-1]:
                x = np.concatenate((x, [x[0]]))
                y = np.concatenate((y, [y[0]]))
                line.set_data(x, y)

        def set_varlabels(self, labels):
            self.set_thetagrids(np.degrees(theta), labels)

        def _gen_axes_patch(self):
            # The Axes patch must be centered at (0.5, 0.5) and of radius 0.5
            # in axes coordinates.
            if frame == 'circle':
                return Circle((0.5, 0.5), 0.5)
            elif frame == 'polygon':
                return RegularPolygon((0.5, 0.5), num_vars, radius=0.5, edgecolor="k")
            else:
                raise ValueError("unknown value for 'frame': %s" % frame)

        def draw(self, renderer):
            """ Draw. If frame is polygon, make gridlines polygon-shaped """
            if frame == 'polygon':
                gridlines = self.yaxis.get_gridlines()
                for gl in gridlines:
                    gl.get_path()._interpolation_steps = num_vars
            super().draw(renderer)

        def _gen_axes_spines(self):
            if frame == 'circle':
                return super()._gen_axes_spines()
            elif frame == 'polygon':
                # spine_type must be 'left'/'right'/'top'/'bottom'/'circle'.
                spine = Spine(axes=self,
                              spine_type='circle',
                              path=Path.unit_regular_polygon(num_vars))
                # unit_regular_polygon gives a polygon of radius 1 centered at
                # (0, 0) but we want a polygon of radius 0.5 centered at (0.5,
                # 0.5) in axes coordinates.
                spine.set_transform(Affine2D().scale(.5).translate(.5, .5)
                                    + self.transAxes)
                return {'polar': spine}
            else:
                raise ValueError("unknown value for 'frame': %s" % frame)

    register_projection(RadarAxes)
    return theta


data = [['O1', 'O2', 'O3', 'O4', 'O5'],
        ('Title', [
                    [4, 3.5, 4, 2, 3,], 
                    [1.07, 5.95, 2.04, 1.05, 0.00,], 
                  ]
        )]

N = len(data[0])
theta = radar_factory(N, frame='polygon')                                     # polygon  !!!

spoke_labels = data.pop(0)
title, case_data = data[0]
fig, ax = plt.subplots(figsize=(5, 5), subplot_kw=dict(projection='radar'))
fig.subplots_adjust(top=0.85, bottom=0.05)
ax.set_rgrids([0, 1, 2.0, 3.0, 4.0, 5.0, 6])
ax.set_title(title,  position=(0.5, 1.1), ha='center')

for d in case_data:
    line = ax.plot(theta, d)
    ax.fill(theta, d,  alpha=0.25)
ax.set_varlabels(spoke_labels)

plt.show()

Answer 1

As mentioned by @joao-neves the docs will be updated in this PR. The working code for your example would be

import numpy as np

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
from matplotlib.patches import Circle, RegularPolygon
from matplotlib.path import Path
from matplotlib.projections.polar import PolarAxes
from matplotlib.projections import register_projection
from matplotlib.spines import Spine
from matplotlib.transforms import Affine2D


def radar_factory(num_vars, frame='circle'):
    """Create a radar chart with `num_vars` axes.

    This function creates a RadarAxes projection and registers it.

    Parameters
    ----------
    num_vars : int
        Number of variables for radar chart.
    frame : {'circle' | 'polygon'}
        Shape of frame surrounding axes.

    """
    # calculate evenly-spaced axis angles
    theta = np.linspace(0, 2*np.pi, num_vars, endpoint=False)
    
    class RadarTransform(PolarAxes.PolarTransform):
        def transform_path_non_affine(self, path):
            # Paths with non-unit interpolation steps correspond to gridlines,
            # in which case we force interpolation (to defeat PolarTransform's
            # autoconversion to circular arcs).
            if path._interpolation_steps > 1:
                path = path.interpolated(num_vars)
            return Path(self.transform(path.vertices), path.codes)

    class RadarAxes(PolarAxes):

        name = 'radar'
        PolarTransform = RadarTransform

        def __init__(self, *args, **kwargs):
            super().__init__(*args, **kwargs)
            # rotate plot such that the first axis is at the top
            self.set_theta_zero_location('N')

        def fill(self, *args, closed=True, **kwargs):
            """Override fill so that line is closed by default"""
            return super().fill(closed=closed, *args, **kwargs)

        def plot(self, *args, **kwargs):
            """Override plot so that line is closed by default"""
            lines = super().plot(*args, **kwargs)
            for line in lines:
                self._close_line(line)

        def _close_line(self, line):
            x, y = line.get_data()
            # FIXME: markers at x[0], y[0] get doubled-up
            if x[0] != x[-1]:
                x = np.concatenate((x, [x[0]]))
                y = np.concatenate((y, [y[0]]))
                line.set_data(x, y)

        def set_varlabels(self, labels):
            self.set_thetagrids(np.degrees(theta), labels)

        def _gen_axes_patch(self):
            # The Axes patch must be centered at (0.5, 0.5) and of radius 0.5
            # in axes coordinates.
            if frame == 'circle':
                return Circle((0.5, 0.5), 0.5)
            elif frame == 'polygon':
                return RegularPolygon((0.5, 0.5), num_vars, radius=0.5, edgecolor="k")
            else:
                raise ValueError("unknown value for 'frame': %s" % frame)

        def draw(self, renderer):
            """ Draw. If frame is polygon, make gridlines polygon-shaped """
            if frame == 'polygon':
                gridlines = self.yaxis.get_gridlines()
                for gl in gridlines:
                    gl.get_path()._interpolation_steps = num_vars
            super().draw(renderer)

        def _gen_axes_spines(self):
            if frame == 'circle':
                return super()._gen_axes_spines()
            elif frame == 'polygon':
                # spine_type must be 'left'/'right'/'top'/'bottom'/'circle'.
                spine = Spine(axes=self,
                              spine_type='circle',
                              path=Path.unit_regular_polygon(num_vars))
                # unit_regular_polygon gives a polygon of radius 1 centered at
                # (0, 0) but we want a polygon of radius 0.5 centered at (0.5,
                # 0.5) in axes coordinates.
                spine.set_transform(Affine2D().scale(.5).translate(.5, .5)
                                    + self.transAxes)
                return {'polar': spine}
            else:
                raise ValueError("unknown value for 'frame': %s" % frame)

    register_projection(RadarAxes)
    return theta


data = [['O1', 'O2', 'O3', 'O4', 'O5'],
        ('Title', [
                    [4, 3.5, 4, 2, 3,], 
                    [1.07, 5.95, 2.04, 1.05, 0.00,], 
                  ]
        )]

N = len(data[0])
theta = radar_factory(N, frame='polygon')                                     

spoke_labels = data.pop(0)
title, case_data = data[0]
fig, ax = plt.subplots(figsize=(5, 5), subplot_kw=dict(projection='radar'))
fig.subplots_adjust(top=0.85, bottom=0.05)
ax.set_rgrids([0, 1, 2.0, 3.0, 4.0, 5.0, 6])
ax.set_title(title,  position=(0.5, 1.1), ha='center')

for d in case_data:
    line = ax.plot(theta, d)
    ax.fill(theta, d, alpha=0.25, label='_nolegend_')
ax.set_varlabels(spoke_labels)

plt.show()

Answer 2

I don't have enough reputation to add a comment so I'll put this down as an answer. An update to the code that can serve as a workaround and works on Matplotlib > 3.5 has been recently added to issue 19981 by prohde. You can check it here: https://github.com/matplotlib/matplotlib/issues/19981