Repeat same subplot in matplotlib

Question

I have quite complex 3D data that I want to plot using matplotlib. To be able to get a better understanding I want to plot the same data on different subplots, with just different view_init in each plot. At the moment, my code looks something along the lines:

fig = plt.figure()
views = [(0, 0), (90, 0), (0, 90)]
for i (elev, azim) in enumerate(views):
    ax = fig.add_subplot(1, 3, i+1, projection='3d')
    plot_heavy_data(ax)  # expensive call
    ax.view_init(elev, azim)

however, my call to plot_heavy_data is quite expensive and I was wondering if there is a way of just "copying" a subplot and plotting it with changing just the view direction, but keeping everything else the same. That way I would only do the expensive operation once instead of repeating it 3 times.

clarification: The function plot_heavy_data is ONLY plotting to the subplot, something like this:

def plot_heavy_data(ax):
    ax.scatter(*data)  # data is huge

I would like to avoid calling this function multiple times.

The following would be a minimal working sample where I would like to call the plot function only once.

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
import numpy as np

def plot(ax, data):
    # ideally only call this function once
    ax.scatter(*data)

data = np.random.random((2, 20))

fig = plt.figure(figsize=(12, 4))

for i in range(3):
    ax = fig.add_subplot(1, 3, i+1)
    plot(ax, data)
    ax.set_xlim([0, i+1])  # do 'some' manipulation on ax

plt.show()

Repeat same subplot in matplotlib

0 Answers