Using * with plotting - matplotlib

Question

I am trying to understand how unpacking could work with matplotlib in regards to condensing and simplifying code. Say:

P = array([[0, 0, 0], [1, 1, 1], [2, 2, 2], [3, 3, 3],[4, 4, 4]])

and I wanted to plot four points at each of these coordinates ((0,0,0), (1,1,1), etc). I have seen * be used before with regard to unpacking and then plotting data points but I don't know what I'm doing wrong. I have the following code:

import numpy as np
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
import mpl_toolkits.mplot3d.axes3d as p3
import matplotlib.animation as animation
import matplotlib as mpl

fig = plt.figure()

ax = p3.Axes3D(fig)
ax.set_xlim3d([0, 5])
ax.set_xlabel('X')

ax.set_ylim3d([0, 5])
ax.set_ylabel('Y')

ax.set_zlim3d([0, 5])
ax.set_zlabel('Z')
ax.set_title('3D Test')

P = array([[0, 0, 0], [1, 1, 1], [2, 2, 2], [3, 3, 3],[4, 4, 4]])

[ax.plot(*p, marker='o', ls='None')[0] for i in range(4)]

I'd thought that p could be unpacked into the coordinates and then plotted but it's not working at the moment. Any ideas on where I am going wrong?

At the moment this is being produced

BigBen · Accepted Answer · 2021-07-14 17:38:36Z

1

I'm not sure what you intend by "I wanted to plot four points at each of these coordinates" (what's the point of 4 overlapping points?), but...

Let's transpose first:

ax.plot(*P.T, marker='o', ls='None')

Output:

edited Jul 14, 2021 at 17:38

answered Jul 14, 2021 at 17:28

BigBen

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2 Comments

Harry Spratt Over a year ago

So why does transposing work? Is it because the way the unpacking works is such that you don't enter the coordinates of the individual point but instead the unpacking provides all the x,y and z values?

BigBen Over a year ago

Because you need xs, ys, zs (which is what I'm guessing you meant).

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