Comments on: 3D Plotting in Python with matplotlib mplot3d http://www.astrobetter.com/3d-plotting-in-python-with-matplotlib-mplot3d/ Tips and Tricks for Professional Astronomers Mon, 06 Feb 2012 12:32:48 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: Peter S http://www.astrobetter.com/3d-plotting-in-python-with-matplotlib-mplot3d/#comment-11430 Peter S Sun, 08 May 2011 07:28:00 +0000 http://www.astrobetter.com/?p=1593#comment-11430 @Tom: I had installed the 64-bit version of EPD. I removed this and replaced it with the 32-bit version and re-installed the astro modules, and now I'm ready to go. Fantastic! Thanks! @Tom: I had installed the 64-bit version of EPD. I removed this and replaced it with the 32-bit version and re-installed the astro modules, and now I’m ready to go. Fantastic! Thanks!

]]> By: Tom http://www.astrobetter.com/3d-plotting-in-python-with-matplotlib-mplot3d/#comment-11399 Tom Sat, 07 May 2011 13:38:33 +0000 http://www.astrobetter.com/?p=1593#comment-11399 @Peter - I'm surprised EPD doesn't work for you, and I think that the key will be to get that working (rather than trying to build from source). With EPD you should be able to get a fully working Python installation including numpy/scipy/matplotlib/mayavi/etc. in about 10 minutes, and it takes another 10 minutes to get many astro modules installed. Check out <a href="http://python4astronomers.github.com/installation/macosx.html" rel="nofollow">this</a> page we made for a Python workshop at the CfA for installation instructions. Install the 32-bit EPD package from <a href="http://www.enthought.com/products/edudownload.php" rel="nofollow">here</a> because the 64-bit version doesn't come with Mayavi (yet). What are the issues you run into when you do this? EDITED: the 64-bit version of EPD does *not* come with Mayavi, so you need to install the 32-bit version @Peter – I’m surprised EPD doesn’t work for you, and I think that the key will be to get that working (rather than trying to build from source). With EPD you should be able to get a fully working Python installation including numpy/scipy/matplotlib/mayavi/etc. in about 10 minutes, and it takes another 10 minutes to get many astro modules installed. Check out this page we made for a Python workshop at the CfA for installation instructions. Install the 32-bit EPD package from here because the 64-bit version doesn’t come with Mayavi (yet). What are the issues you run into when you do this?

EDITED: the 64-bit version of EPD does *not* come with Mayavi, so you need to install the 32-bit version

]]> By: Peter S http://www.astrobetter.com/3d-plotting-in-python-with-matplotlib-mplot3d/#comment-11382 Peter S Sat, 07 May 2011 05:07:25 +0000 http://www.astrobetter.com/?p=1593#comment-11382 This blog article is quite old now, but getting these things going on macs is an ongoing issue. My thoughts are with anyone who aspires to getting the ultimate astropython workbench up and running on mac os x. I am current wrestling with my whole mac os x python/matplotlib/mayavi setup. I have a linux box at work and the ease with which I can set up all these things compared to this whole mac os x bunfight makes me want to trade in my macbook pro for a linux laptop---well, not quite. I have had a working installation of matplotlib on my macbook which brings me much joy. I also have astLib and kapteyn and all sorts of other goodies that have gradually become my astropythonic friends. But now I want to get mayavi going in conjunction with matplotlib, and despite a year or two of fiddling with paths and thinking that eventually I would get to know the anatomy of my mac 3rd party software setup, I just can't seem to get it going. I just want to make a nice 3d model of the local universe a la Tully et al (2008) that I can superimpose peculiar velocity vectors on. Can that be too much to ask? It seems so. This mplot3d is a good suggestion, but I really like the way vtk depicts all these things on my work computer---I am a deeply superficial person. The enthought thing has never worked for me, and I have spent days (and nights) trying to set up vtk with python wrapping on my laptop to my satisfaction, but no joy. I will keep trying with mayavi/vtk with matplotlib on mac and let you know if I find a magic bullet... This blog article is quite old now, but getting these things going on macs is an ongoing issue. My thoughts are with anyone who aspires to getting the ultimate astropython workbench up and running on mac os x.

I am current wrestling with my whole mac os x python/matplotlib/mayavi setup. I have a linux box at work and the ease with which I can set up all these things compared to this whole mac os x bunfight makes me want to trade in my macbook pro for a linux laptop—well, not quite.

I have had a working installation of matplotlib on my macbook which brings me much joy. I also have astLib and kapteyn and all sorts of other goodies that have gradually become my astropythonic friends. But now I want to get mayavi going in conjunction with matplotlib, and despite a year or two of fiddling with paths and thinking that eventually I would get to know the anatomy of my mac 3rd party software setup, I just can’t seem to get it going. I just want to make a nice 3d model of the local universe a la Tully et al (2008) that I can superimpose peculiar velocity vectors on. Can that be too much to ask? It seems so. This mplot3d is a good suggestion, but I really like the way vtk depicts all these things on my work computer—I am a deeply superficial person. The enthought thing has never worked for me, and I have spent days (and nights) trying to set up vtk with python wrapping on my laptop to my satisfaction, but no joy.

I will keep trying with mayavi/vtk with matplotlib on mac and let you know if I find a magic bullet…

]]> By: Matt http://www.astrobetter.com/3d-plotting-in-python-with-matplotlib-mplot3d/#comment-1904 Matt Fri, 19 Feb 2010 07:27:13 +0000 http://www.astrobetter.com/?p=1593#comment-1904 I've used Mayavi and found it to be very nice as an integrated environment, but I ended up using the underpinning library, TVTK, instead. mplot3d is great for prepared visualizations of relatively simply data, but for exploratory viz (like in simulations) it isn't necessarily suitable. But by dropping down to TVTK, much more control over the data sources and mechanisms are available -- including things like hierarchical (i.e., AMR) data sources. Plus, all the awesome widgets in Mayavi2, like for colormaps and labels, are still available! As for the installation, I've had really good luck installing VTK on its own, installing the ETSProjectTools and using the "ets co" "ets develop" commands to conduct a source installation, as <a href="https://svn.enthought.com/enthought/wiki/Build/ETS_3.0.0b1/Py2.5/Generic_Any_Any" rel="nofollow">mentioned</a> on the Enthought website. This keeps most of the setuptools (forked as <a href="http://python-distribute.org/" rel="nofollow">distribute</a>) toolchain out of the way. For deploying software on heterogeneous machines without admin privs, fully-isolated source installations were the only solution we could come up with for astro-viz packages, and most of the binary eggs (even things like mercurial!) were problematic. I’ve used Mayavi and found it to be very nice as an integrated environment, but I ended up using the underpinning library, TVTK, instead. mplot3d is great for prepared visualizations of relatively simply data, but for exploratory viz (like in simulations) it isn’t necessarily suitable. But by dropping down to TVTK, much more control over the data sources and mechanisms are available — including things like hierarchical (i.e., AMR) data sources. Plus, all the awesome widgets in Mayavi2, like for colormaps and labels, are still available!

As for the installation, I’ve had really good luck installing VTK on its own, installing the ETSProjectTools and using the “ets co” “ets develop” commands to conduct a source installation, as mentioned on the Enthought website. This keeps most of the setuptools (forked as distribute) toolchain out of the way. For deploying software on heterogeneous machines without admin privs, fully-isolated source installations were the only solution we could come up with for astro-viz packages, and most of the binary eggs (even things like mercurial!) were problematic.

]]> By: Michael Fitzgerald http://www.astrobetter.com/3d-plotting-in-python-with-matplotlib-mplot3d/#comment-1698 Michael Fitzgerald Wed, 03 Feb 2010 09:45:17 +0000 http://www.astrobetter.com/?p=1593#comment-1698 I didn't encounter problems installing mayavi using easy_install, which also lets one use a custom installation prefix (e.g. easy_install-2.6 --prefix=$home Mayavi). I haven't yet tried mplot3d -- thanks for the tip. I didn’t encounter problems installing mayavi using easy_install, which also lets one use a custom installation prefix (e.g. easy_install-2.6 –prefix=$home Mayavi). I haven’t yet tried mplot3d — thanks for the tip.

]]> By: Casey Law http://www.astrobetter.com/3d-plotting-in-python-with-matplotlib-mplot3d/#comment-1678 Casey Law Mon, 01 Feb 2010 22:09:03 +0000 http://www.astrobetter.com/?p=1593#comment-1678 Thanks for the post! I also struggled with Mayavi installation and eventually gave up on my hopes for 3d python plots. Now I've reproduced a few of the demos with matplotlib 0.99. So glad I am subscribing to this blog! Thanks for the post! I also struggled with Mayavi installation and eventually gave up on my hopes for 3d python plots. Now I’ve reproduced a few of the demos with matplotlib 0.99.

So glad I am subscribing to this blog!

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