Matplotlib figure to image as a numpy array

Question

I\'m trying to get a numpy array image from a Matplotlib figure and I\'m currently doing it by saving to a file, then reading the file back in, but I feel like there has to

Answer 1

from the docs:

https://matplotlib.org/gallery/user_interfaces/canvasagg.html#sphx-glr-gallery-user-interfaces-canvasagg-py

fig = Figure(figsize=(5, 4), dpi=100)
# A canvas must be manually attached to the figure (pyplot would automatically
# do it).  This is done by instantiating the canvas with the figure as
# argument.
canvas = FigureCanvasAgg(fig)

# your plotting here

canvas.draw()
s, (width, height) = canvas.print_to_buffer()

# Option 2a: Convert to a NumPy array.
X = np.fromstring(s, np.uint8).reshape((height, width, 4))