"""
Demonstrate SVG filtering effects which might be used with mpl.
Note that the filtering effects are only effective if your svg rederer
support it.
"""
from __future__ import print_function
import matplotlib
matplotlib.use("Svg")
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
import matplotlib.transforms as mtransforms
fig1 = plt.figure()
ax = fig1.add_axes([0.1, 0.1, 0.8, 0.8])
# draw lines
l1, = ax.plot([0.1, 0.5, 0.9], [0.1, 0.9, 0.5], "bo-",
              mec="b", lw=5, ms=10, label="Line 1")
l2, = ax.plot([0.1, 0.5, 0.9], [0.5, 0.2, 0.7], "rs-",
              mec="r", lw=5, ms=10, color="r", label="Line 2")
for l in [l1, l2]:
    # draw shadows with same lines with slight offset and gray colors.
    xx = l.get_xdata()
    yy = l.get_ydata()
    shadow, = ax.plot(xx, yy)
    shadow.update_from(l)
    # adjust color
    shadow.set_color("0.2")
    # adjust zorder of the shadow lines so that it is drawn below the
    # original lines
    shadow.set_zorder(l.get_zorder() - 0.5)
    # offset transform
    ot = mtransforms.offset_copy(l.get_transform(), fig1,
                                 x=4.0, y=-6.0, units='points')
    shadow.set_transform(ot)
    # set the id for a later use
    shadow.set_gid(l.get_label() + "_shadow")
ax.set_xlim(0., 1.)
ax.set_ylim(0., 1.)
# save the figure as a string in the svg format.
from StringIO import StringIO
f = StringIO()
plt.savefig(f, format="svg")
import xml.etree.cElementTree as ET
# filter definition for a gaussian blur
filter_def = """
  <defs  xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' xmlns:xlink='http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink'>
    <filter id='dropshadow' height='1.2' width='1.2'>
      <feGaussianBlur result='blur' stdDeviation='3'/>
    </filter>
  </defs>
"""
# read in the saved svg
tree, xmlid = ET.XMLID(f.getvalue())
# insert the filter definition in the svg dom tree.
tree.insert(0, ET.XML(filter_def))
for l in [l1, l2]:
    # pick up the svg element with given id
    shadow = xmlid[l.get_label() + "_shadow"]
    # apply shdow filter
    shadow.set("filter", 'url(#dropshadow)')
fn = "svg_filter_line.svg"
print("Saving '%s'" % fn)
ET.ElementTree(tree).write(fn)
Keywords: python, matplotlib, pylab, example, codex (see Search examples)