Extend a 3d plot to the edge of a figure with matplotlib

Question

The following code results in a figure saved with large white spaces around it, while there is enough space to stretch the axes.

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
import numpy as np

X = np.arange(-5, 5, 0.25)
Y = np.arange(-5, 5, 0.25)
X, Y = np.meshgrid(X, Y)
R = np.sqrt(X**2 + Y**2)
Z = np.sin(R)


fig, ax = plt.subplots(1, 1, figsize=(10, 5), subplot_kw=dict(projection="3d"))
plt.subplots_adjust(0, 0, 1, 1, 0, 0)


surf = ax.plot_surface(X, Y, Z, linewidth=0, antialiased=False)

ax.view_init(elev=20, azim=-45, roll=0)

ax.set_box_aspect([5, 1, 1])  # Aspect ratio
ax.set_aspect("auto")

plt.show()

How do I stretch the plot? As both the data and box aspect ratios are free to adjust, I'd expect to have a solution that fills the entire available space.

Not that I do not want to use the bbox_inches='tight' when saving the plot, as the figure is already prepared at the right size to be inserted in a paper.

Luca · Accepted Answer · 2024-12-04 08:50:13Z

0

According to the Matplotlib Tight layout guide

You may provide (my note: to tight_layout) an optional rect parameter, which specifies the bounding box that the subplots will be fit inside. The coordinates are in normalized figure coordinates and default to (0, 0, 1, 1) (the whole figure).

If you pass an area larger than 1×1 you can "zoom in" on a certain area of the figure.

In your example, adding this line

fig.tight_layout(rect=[0.0, -0.45, 1.0, 1.5])

right before saving/plotting, results in the figure below

which has the same size (1000x500 pixels) of the one from your code. You probably want to tune the rect values to correct for the horizontal misalignment of the figure.

Hope this helps!

edited Dec 4, 2024 at 8:50

answered Dec 3, 2024 at 16:41

Luca

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