Python realtime plotting

Question

I acquire some data in two arrays: one for the time, and one for the value. When I reach 1000 points, I trigger a signal and plot these points (x=time, y=value).

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Answer 1

The lightest solution you may have is to replace the X and Y values of an existing plot. (Or the Y value only, if your X data does not change. A simple example:

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
import numpy as np
import time

fig = plt.figure()
ax = fig.add_subplot(111)

# some X and Y data
x = np.arange(10000)
y = np.random.randn(10000)

li, = ax.plot(x, y)

# draw and show it
ax.relim() 
ax.autoscale_view(True,True,True)
fig.canvas.draw()
plt.show(block=False)

# loop to update the data
while True:
    try:
        y[:-10] = y[10:]
        y[-10:] = np.random.randn(10)

        # set the new data
        li.set_ydata(y)

        fig.canvas.draw()

        time.sleep(0.01)
    except KeyboardInterrupt:
        break

This solution is quite fast, as well. The maximum speed of the above code is 100 redraws per second (limited by the time.sleep), I get around 70-80, which means that one redraw takes around 4 ms. But YMMV depending on the backend, etc.