That's a very interesting idea. I actually think that with the recent textpath functionality that Jae-Joon added, we may be able to tie text and markers together without too much pain. Then it can advantage of all the performance optimizations in draw_markers. Each of the marker styles now contains a function that draws a path for the marker and then passes that to draw_marker. We could add one that draws an arbitrary text path, and then passes that along. I propose that Line.set_marker supports a new marker style "$...$" which would render whatever "..." is as math text.
Were you offering to try to produce a patch yourself? Either way, it would be great to file an enhancement request in the tracker so this idea doesn't get lost. It's a good one. Mike tcb wrote: > Hi, > > Is there some way to add support for latex symbols as markers? > > I think it would be an extension of the current methods for plotting > markers- since I dont think all the color, edge, line style etc > properties would be relevant (or even possible). However, it would > allow arbitrary symbols (at least whatever latex can do) to be used, > which would be really useful. > > The current marker set is fine for most simple plots- but when there > are a few different symbols it quickly becomes tricky to find a set > which can easily be distinguished from each other. The other problem > is that when preparing a graph for publication, it is occasionally > necessary to be able to refer to or quote the symbols in the caption > or the main text- and latex symbols in the graphs would make this look > a bit better. > > I've had a quick look at how the marker symbols are implemented, and > it is my impression that it would be reasonably hard to implement a > new symbol of choice. On the other hand, since I am already using > latex to produce all the text in the graph, it seems it should be > fairly straightforward (with some careful attention to the > positioning...) to use the same text-drawing code which is used for > the legend, axes labels etc, to put the markers on the plot. > > Is there any interest in this? > > thanks, > > tcb > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ > Come build with us! The BlackBerry(R) Developer Conference in SF, CA > is the only developer event you need to attend this year. Jumpstart your > developing skills, take BlackBerry mobile applications to market and stay > ahead of the curve. Join us from November 9 - 12, 2009. Register now! > http://p.sf.net/sfu/devconference > _______________________________________________ > Matplotlib-devel mailing list > Matplotlib-devel@lists.sourceforge.net > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/matplotlib-devel > -- Michael Droettboom Science Software Branch Operations and Engineering Division Space Telescope Science Institute Operated by AURA for NASA ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Come build with us! The BlackBerry(R) Developer Conference in SF, CA is the only developer event you need to attend this year. Jumpstart your developing skills, take BlackBerry mobile applications to market and stay ahead of the curve. Join us from November 9 - 12, 2009. Register now! http://p.sf.net/sfu/devconference _______________________________________________ Matplotlib-devel mailing list Matplotlib-devel@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/matplotlib-devel
