Combining mayavi and matplotlib in the same figure

matplotlib, mayavi, python, visualization

Solution

AFAIK, there is no direct way because the backends used are so different. It does not seem possible to add `matplotlib` axes to `mayavi.figure` or vice versa.

However, there is a "kind of a way" by using the the `mlab.screenshot`.

import mayavi.mlab as mlab
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt

# create and capture a mlab object
mlab.test_plot3d()
img = mlab.screenshot()
mlab.close()

# create a pyplot
fig = plt.figure()
ax1 = fig.add_subplot(121)
ax1.plot([0,1], [1,0], 'r')

# add the screen capture
ax2 = fig.add_subplot(122)
ax2.imshow(img)
ax2.set_axis_off()

This is not necessarily the nicest possible way of doing things, and you may bump into resolution problems, as well (check the size of the `mayavi` window). However, it gets the job done in most cases.

Problem

I will be making animations. In each frame I want to contain both a mayavi plot obtained with ``` mlab.pipeline.iso_surface(source, some other superfluous args) ``` and a matplotlib plot obtained using simply ``` pylab.plot(args) ``` I have scripts to do both separately, but have no idea how to go about combining them into one figure. I want the end product to be one script which contains the code from both the scripts that I currently have.

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