Specialized Advanced Visualization with Matplotlib

Synthesized from Healy and McKinney

Pratheek Rai N

October 15, 2025

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Outline

1 Specialized Visualization Tools

2 Advanced Visualization Tools

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Topic 1.1: Contour Plots
Introduction Mathematical Foundation

A contour plot is a 2D representation of a 3D surface, similar to a

topographical map. It uses lines (contours) to connect points of equal
value.
Mathematical Foundation
A contour plot visualizes a function of two variables, z = f (x, y ). Each
contour line represents a level set of the function, which is the set of all
points (x, y ) where f (x, y ) is a constant, c.

f (x, y ) = c

Matplotlib interpolates between points on a data grid to find these paths

of constant value.

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 Example 1: Filled Contour Plot (‘contourf‘) - Code

1 import matplotlib . pyplot as plt

2 import numpy as np
3
4 x = np . linspace ( - np . pi , np . pi , 100)
5 y = np . linspace ( - np . pi , np . pi , 100)
6 X , Y = np . meshgrid (x , y )
7 Z = np . sin ( X ) + np . cos ( Y )
8
9 fig , ax = plt . subplots ()
10 contourf = ax . contourf (X , Y , Z ,
11 levels =15 ,
12 cmap = ’ viridis ’)
13 fig . colorbar ( contourf , ax = ax ,
14 label = ’Z value ’)
15 ax . set_title ( ’ Filled Contour ’)
16 # Replace plt . show () with this line to save the figure :
17 # plt . savefig ( ’ fig_contourf . png ’, dpi =150 , bbox_inches = ’ tight ’)
18 plt . show ()
19

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Example 1: Filled Contour Plot (‘contourf‘) - Explanation

fig_contourf.png

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Example 1: Exercises

1 Modify the Function: Change the function in the example to

Z = X 2 − Y 2 . How does the shape of the contours change? Describe
the new pattern.
2 Change Colormap: Re-create the original plot but use the ‘’magma’‘
colormap instead of ‘’viridis’‘. Add a second contour plot on top that
only shows the line for the level Z = 0 in a bright color (e.g., ’white’).

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 Example 2: Line Contour Plot (‘clabel‘) - Code

1 import matplotlib . pyplot as plt

2 import numpy as np
3 X , Y = np . meshgrid ( np . linspace ( - np . pi , np . pi , 100) ,
4 np . linspace ( - np . pi , np . pi , 100) )
5 Z = np . sin ( X ) + np . cos ( Y )
6
7 fig , ax = plt . subplots ()
8 contour = ax . contour (X , Y , Z ,
9 levels =10 ,
10 colors = ’ black ’)
11 ax . clabel ( contour , inline = True ,
12 fontsize =8 , fmt = ’ %1.2 f ’)
13 ax . set_title ( ’ Line Contour Plot ’)
14 # Replace plt . show () with this line to save the figure :
15 # plt . savefig ( ’ fig_clabel . png ’, dpi =150 , bbox_inches = ’ tight ’)
16 plt . show ()
17

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Example 2: Line Contour Plot (‘clabel‘) - Explanation

fig_clabel.png

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Example 2: Exercises

1 Customize Labels: In the example, change the format string ‘fmt‘ to

show integers instead of decimals. Also, try setting ‘inline=False‘ and
observe the difference in label placement.
2 Specific Levels: Instead of specifying the number of levels, plot only
the contours for Z = −1, 0, 1. Label only the Z = 0 contour.

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 Example 3: Combined Contour Plots - Code

1 X , Y = np . meshgrid ( np . linspace ( -5 ,5 ,100) ,

2 np . linspace ( -5 ,5 ,100) )
3 Z = X **2 - Y **2 % Saddle shape
4 fig , ax = plt . subplots ()
5
6 contourf = ax . contourf (X , Y , Z ,
7 levels =20 , cmap = ’ RdBu ’)
8
9 contour = ax . contour (X , Y , Z ,
10 levels =20 ,
11 colors = ’ black ’ ,
12 linewidths =0.5)
13
14 fig . colorbar ( contourf , ax = ax )
15 # Replace plt . show () with this line to save the figure :
16 # plt . savefig ( ’ f i g _ c o m b i n e d _ c o n t o u r . png ’, dpi =150 , bbox_inches = ’
tight ’)
17 plt . show ()
18

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Example 3: Combined Contour Plots - Explanation

fig_combined_contour.png

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Example 3: Exercises

1 Thicken Lines: Modify the example to make the overlaid contour

lines dashed and thicker. (Hint: look for a ‘linestyles‘ argument).
2 Different Levels: Create a plot where the ‘contourf‘ has 10 levels,
but the overlaid ‘contour‘ lines only show every second level (i.e., 5
lines).

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 Example 4: Highlighting a Region - Code

1 X , Y = np . meshgrid ( np . linspace ( -5 ,5 ,100) ,

2 np . linspace ( -5 ,5 ,100) )
3 Z = np . sin ( np . sqrt ( X **2 + Y **2) )
4 fig , ax = plt . subplots ()
5
6 ax . contourf (X , Y , Z , levels =20 ,
7 cmap = ’ gray_r ’ , alpha =0.8)
8
9 h i g h l i g h t _ l e v e ls = [0.8 , 0.9 , 1.0]
10 ax . contourf (X , Y , Z ,
11 levels = highlight_levels ,
12 cmap = ’ autumn ’)
13 ax . set_title ( " Highlighting Peaks " )
14 # Replace plt . show () with this line to save the figure :
15 # plt . savefig ( ’ fig_highlight . png ’, dpi =150 , bbox_inches = ’ tight ’)
16 plt . show ()
17

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Example 4: Highlighting a Region - Explanation

fig_highlight.png

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Example 4: Exercises

1 Highlight Valleys: Using the same function, modify the code to

highlight the ”valleys” (regions where Z < −0.8) using a cool
colormap like ‘’winter’‘.
2 Combine with Scatter: Generate 50 random (x, y ) points within the
plot’s range. Calculate their Z values using the wave function and
overlay them as a scatter plot. Color the scatter points based on their
Z value.

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Topic 2.1: Multi-Panel Plots
Introduction

Often, you need to compare different views of your data side-by-side.

Matplotlib provides powerful tools for creating complex layouts.

‘[Link]()‘ ‘GridSpec‘
The easiest way to create a regular Offers more flexibility for creating
grid of plots (e.g., 2x2, 1x3). It’s complex, non-uniform layouts where
fast and convenient. plots can span multiple rows or
columns.

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 Example 1: Basic Grid (‘[Link]‘) - Code

1 fig , axs = plt . subplots (2 , 2 ,

2 figsize =(8 , 6) ,
3 c o n s t r a i n e d _ l a y o u t = True )
4
5 axs [0 , 0]. plot ( np . random . randn (50) . cumsum () )
6 axs [0 , 0]. set_title ( ’ Top - Left ’)
7
8 axs [0 , 1]. hist ( np . random . randn (500) )
9 axs [0 , 1]. set_title ( ’ Top - Right ’)
10
11 axs [1 , 0]. scatter ( np . random . rand (50) , np . random . rand (50) )
12 axs [1 , 0]. set_title ( ’ Bottom - Left ’)
13
14 axs [1 , 1]. bar ([ ’A ’ , ’B ’ , ’C ’] , [10 ,20 ,15])
15 axs [1 , 1]. set_title ( ’ Bottom - Right ’)
16 # Replace plt . show () with this line to save the figure :
17 # plt . savefig ( ’ f i g _ s u b pl o t s _ g r i d . png ’, dpi =150 , bbox_inches = ’ tight
’)
18 plt . show ()
19

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Example 1: Basic Grid (‘[Link]‘) - Explanation

fig_subplots_grid.png

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Example 1: Exercises

1 1x3 Grid: Use ‘[Link]()‘ to create a 1x3 grid (one row, three
columns). Plot a sine wave, a cosine wave, and a tangent wave in the
three subplots.
2 Flatten the Axes Array: For a 2x2 grid, the ‘axs‘ object is a 2D
array. You can use ‘[Link]()‘ to get a 1D array, which can be
easier to loop over. Recreate the 2x2 plot but use a ‘for‘ loop over
‘[Link]()‘ to set the titles.

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 Example 2: Sharing Axes - Code

1 x = np . linspace (0 , 10 , 100)
2 y1 = x **2
3 y2 = np . exp ( x /2)
4
5 fig , ( ax1 , ax2 ) = plt . subplots (
6 2 , 1 , figsize =(6 , 6) ,
7 sharex = True )
8
9 ax1 . plot (x , y1 , color = ’ navy ’)
10 ax1 . set_ylabel ( ’ Squared ’)
11
12 ax2 . plot (x , y2 , color = ’ maroon ’)
13 ax2 . set_ylabel ( ’ Exponential ’)
14 ax2 . set_xlabel ( ’ Input ( x ) ’)
15 # Replace plt . show () with this line to save the figure :
16 # plt . savefig ( ’ f ig _s ha r ed _a xe s . png ’, dpi =150 , bbox_inches = ’ tight ’)
17 plt . show ()
18

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Example 2: Sharing Axes - Explanation

fig_shared_axes.png

Figure: Output of two plots with a shared x-axis.

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Example 2: Exercises

1 Share Both Axes: Create a 2x2 grid and use ‘sharex=True‘ and
‘sharey=True‘. Plot four different functions. What happens to the
tick labels on the inner plots?
2 Share Column-wise: Create a 2x2 grid. Use ‘sharey=’col’‘ to make
plots in the same column share a y-axis. Use ‘sharex=’row’‘ to make
plots in the same row share an x-axis.

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 Example 3: ‘GridSpec‘ Layouts - Code

1 import matplotlib . gridspec as gs

2 fig = plt . figure ( figsize =(10 , 6) ,
3 c o n s t ra i n e d _ l a y o u t = True )
4 spec = gs . GridSpec (2 , 2 , figure = fig )
5
6 ax1 = fig . add_subplot ( spec [: , 0])
7 ax1 . set_title ( ’ Main Plot ’)
8
9 ax2 = fig . add_subplot ( spec [0 , 1])
10 ax2 . set_title ( ’Top - Right ’)
11
12 ax3 = fig . add_subplot ( spec [1 , 1])
13 ax3 . set_title ( ’ Bottom - Right ’)
14 # Replace plt . show () with this line to save the figure :
15 # plt . savefig ( ’ fig_gridspec . png ’, dpi =150 , bbox_inches = ’ tight ’)
16 plt . show ()
17

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Example 3: ‘GridSpec‘ Layouts - Explanation

fig_gridspec.png

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Example 3: Exercises

1 T-shape Layout: Use ‘GridSpec‘ to create a ”T” shaped layout: one

plot that spans the entire top row of a 2x2 grid, and two plots in the
bottom row.
2 Complex Span: Use ‘GridSpec‘ on a 3x3 grid. Make one plot span
the first two rows and first two columns. Then, add smaller plots in
the remaining spaces.

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 Example 4: Inset Plots - Code

1 x = np . linspace (0 , 10 , 500)
2 y = np . sin ( x ) + np . sin (3* x ) /3
3 fig , ax_main = plt . subplots ( figsize =(8 , 5) )
4 ax_main . plot (x , y )
5 ax_main . set_title ( ’ Main Plot ’)
6
7 ax_inset = ax_main . inset_axes (
8 [0.6 , 0.6 , 0.35 , 0.35])
9
10 ax_inset . plot (x , y , color = ’ red ’)
11 ax_inset . set_xlim (1.5 , 3.5)
12 ax_inset . set_ylim (0.5 , 1.4)
13
14 ax_main . i n d i c a t e _ i n s e t _ z o o m (
15 ax_inset , edgecolor = " black " )
16 # Replace plt . show () with this line to save the figure :
17 # plt . savefig ( ’ fig_inset . png ’, dpi =150 , bbox_inches = ’ tight ’)
18 plt . show ()
19

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Example 4: Inset Plots - Explanation

fig_inset.png

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Example 4: Exercises

1 Change Inset Position: Move the inset plot to the bottom-left

corner of the main plot.
2 Manual Indication: Instead of using
‘indicatei nsetz oom‘, manuallydrawarectangleonthemainplottoshowthezoom
use‘[Link]‘).

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 Thank You / Q&A

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