How to superimpose figures in matplotlib

Question

I create several figures in multiple modules, and i would like to superimpose them in mymain.py.

Can i return a usable figure/plot that could be reused in main.py to create a combined figure?

Thanks!

Answer 1

The solution is to setup a figure/axis in main.py and then pass the axis handle to each module. As a minimal example,

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
import numpy as np
#from mod import plotsomefunction
#from diffrentmod import plotsomeotherfunction

def plotsomefunction(ax, x):

    return ax.plot(x, np.sin(x))

def plotsomeotherfunction(ax, x):

    return ax.plot(x,np.cos(x))


fig, ax = plt.subplots(1,1)
x = np.linspace(0,np.pi,1000)
l1 = plotsomefunction(ax, x)
l2 = plotsomeotherfunction(ax, x)
plt.show()

where the functions represent modules.

Alternatively, you could just create a figure in main and add it to the current axis in each module with plt.sca. This seems like a much less robust solution.