How to animate a time-ordered sequence of matplotlib plots

Question

I want to plot a sequence of .png images in matplotlib. The goal is to plot them rapidly to simulate the effect of a movie, but I have additional reasons for wanting to avoi

Answer 1

I have implemented a handy script that just suits your need. Try it out here

Below is a example that show images together with its bounding box:

import os
import glob
from scipy.misc import imread
from matplotlib.pyplot import Rectangle

video_dir = 'YOUR-VIDEO-DIRECTORY'

img_files = glob.glob(os.path.join(video_dir, '*.jpg'))
box_files = glob.glob(os.path.join(video_dir, '*.txt'))

def redraw_fn(f, axes):
    img = imread(img_files[f])
    box = bbread(box_files[f])  # Define your own bounding box reading utility
    x, y, w, h = box
    if not redraw_fn.initialized:
        im = axes.imshow(img, animated=True)
        bb = Rectangle((x, y), w, h,
                       fill=False,  # remove background
                       edgecolor="red")
        axes.add_patch(bb)
        redraw_fn.im = im
        redraw_fn.bb = bb
        redraw_fn.initialized = True
    else:
        redraw_fn.im.set_array(img)
        redraw_fn.bb.set_xy((x, y))
        redraw_fn.bb.set_width(w)
        redraw_fn.bb.set_height(h)
redraw_fn.initialized = False

videofig(len(img_files), redraw_fn, play_fps=30)