Note

This section is only a reference describing the function, please see the chapter on mlab: Python scripting for 3D plotting for an introduction to mlab and how to interact with and assemble the functions of mlab.

Please see the section on Running mlab scripts for instructions on running the examples.

# Other functions

## animate

mayavi.mlab.animate(func=None, delay=500, ui=True, support_movie=True)

  :: A convenient decorator to animate a generator performing an animation.

  > The delay parameter specifies the delay (in milliseconds) between calls to the decorated function. If ui is True, then a simple UI for the animator is also popped up. The decorated function will return the Animator instance used and a user may call its Stop method to stop the animation. The support_movie parameter is True by default and this makes it easy to record a movie with the decorator. If this is turned off, one cannot record a movie of the animation.

  > If an ordinary function is decorated a TypeError will be raised.

  > Parameters

  > delay

  >   int specifying the time interval in milliseconds between calls to the function.

  > ui

  >   bool specifying if a UI controlling the animation is to be provided.

  > support_movie

  >   bool specifying if the animation will support recording of a movie.

  > Returns

  > The decorated function returns an Animator instance.

  > Examples

  > Here is the example provided in the Animator class documentation:

  >     >>> from mayavi import mlab
  >     >>> @mlab.animate
  >     ... def anim():
  >     ...     f = mlab.gcf()
  >     ...     while 1:
  >     ...         f.scene.camera.azimuth(10)
  >     ...         f.scene.render()
  >     ...         yield
  >     ...
  >     >>> a = anim() # Starts the animation.

  > For more specialized use you can pass arguments to the decorator:

  >     >>> from mayavi import mlab
  >     >>> @mlab.animate(delay=500, ui=False)
  >     ... def anim():
  >     ...     f = mlab.gcf()
  >     ...     while 1:
  >     ...         f.scene.camera.azimuth(10)
  >     ...         f.scene.render()
  >     ...         yield
  >     ...
  >     >>> a = anim() # Starts the animation without a UI.

  > Notes

  > If you want to modify the data plotted by an mlab function call, please refer to the section on: Animating the data.

## axes

mayavi.mlab.axes(*args, **kwargs)

  Creates axes for the current (or given) object.

  Keyword arguments:

  > color

  >   the color of the vtk object. Overides the colormap, if any, when specified. This is specified as a triplet of float ranging from 0 to 1, eg (1, 1, 1) for white.

  > extent

  >   [xmin, xmax, ymin, ymax, zmin, zmax] Default is the object’s extents.

  > figure

  >   Must be a Scene or None.

  > line_width

  >   The width of the lines, if any used. Must be a float. Default: 2.0

  > name

  >   the name of the vtk object created.

  > nb_labels

  >   The number of labels along each direction Must be a legal value. Default: 2

  > opacity

  >   The overall opacity of the vtk object. Must be a float. Default: 1.0

  > ranges

  >   [xmin, xmax, ymin, ymax, zmin, zmax] Ranges of the labels displayed on the axes. Default is the object’s extents.

  > x_axis_visibility

  >   Whether or not the x axis is visible (boolean)

  > xlabel

  >   the label of the x axis

  > y_axis_visibility

  >   Whether or not the y axis is visible (boolean)

  > ylabel

  >   the label of the y axis

  > z_axis_visibility

  >   Whether or not the z axis is visible (boolean)

  > zlabel

  >   the label of the z axis

## get_engine

mayavi.mlab.get_engine(self)

  Returns an engine in agreement with the options.

## init_notebook

mayavi.mlab.init_notebook(backend='ipy', width=None, height=None, local=True)

  Initialize a suitable backend for Jupyter notebooks.

  Parameters

  backend :str: one of (‘png’, ‘x3d’, ‘ipy’) width :int: suggested default width of the element height :int: suggested default height of the element local :bool: Use local copy of x3dom.js instead of online version.

## orientation_axes

mayavi.mlab.orientation_axes(*args, **kwargs)

  Applies the OrientationAxes mayavi module to the given VTK data object.

  Keyword arguments:

  > color

  >   the color of the vtk object. Overides the colormap, if any, when specified. This is specified as a triplet of float ranging from 0 to 1, eg (1, 1, 1) for white.

  > figure

  >   Must be a Scene or None.

  > line_width

  >   The width of the lines, if any used. Must be a float. Default: 2.0

  > name

  >   the name of the vtk object created.

  > opacity

  >   The overall opacity of the vtk object. Must be a float. Default: 1.0

  > xlabel

  >   the label of the x axis

  > ylabel

  >   the label of the y axis

  > zlabel

  >   the label of the z axis

## outline

mayavi.mlab.outline(*args, **kwargs)

  Creates an outline for the current (or given) object.

  Keyword arguments:

  > color

  >   the color of the vtk object. Overides the colormap, if any, when specified. This is specified as a triplet of float ranging from 0 to 1, eg (1, 1, 1) for white.

  > extent

  >   [xmin, xmax, ymin, ymax, zmin, zmax] Default is the object’s extents.

  > figure

  >   Must be a Scene or None.

  > line_width

  >   The width of the lines, if any used. Must be a float. Default: 2.0

  > name

  >   the name of the vtk object created.

  > opacity

  >   The overall opacity of the vtk object. Must be a float. Default: 1.0

## process_ui_events

mayavi.mlab.process_ui_events()

  Process GUI events.

  This function merely abstracts the function so nothing is done when no UI is running.

## set_engine

mayavi.mlab.set_engine(self, engine)

  Sets the mlab engine.

## show

mayavi.mlab.show(func=None, stop=False)

  Start interacting with the figure.

  By default, this function simply creates a GUI and starts its event loop if needed.

  If it is used as a decorator, then it may be used to decorate a function which requires a UI. If the GUI event loop is already running it simply runs the function. If not the event loop is started and function is run in the toolkit’s event loop. The choice of UI is via ETSConfig.toolkit.

  If the argument stop is set to True then it pops up a UI where the user can stop the event loop. Subsequent calls to show will restart the event loop.

  Parameters

  > stop

  >   A boolean which specifies if a UI dialog is displayed which allows the event loop to be stopped.

  Examples

  Here is a simple example demonstrating the use of show:

      >>> from mayavi import mlab
      >>> mlab.test_contour3d()
      >>> mlab.show()

  You can stop interaction via a simple pop up UI like so:

      >>> mlab.test_contour3d()
      >>> mlab.show(stop=True)

  The decorator can be used like so:

      >>> @mlab.show
      ... def do():
      ...    mlab.test_contour3d()
      ...
      >>> do()

  The decorator can also be passed the stop argument:

      >>> @mlab.show(stop=True)
      ... def do():
      ...    mlab.test_contour3d()
      ...
      >>> do()

## show_engine

mayavi.mlab.show_engine()

  This function is deprecated, please use show_pipeline.

## show_pipeline

mayavi.mlab.show_pipeline(self, engine=None, rich_view=True)

  Show a dialog with the mayavi pipeline. This dialog allows to edit graphicaly the properties of the different objects on the scenes.

## start_recording

mayavi.mlab.start_recording(ui=True)

  Start automatic script recording. If the ui parameter is True, it creates a recorder with a user interface, if not it creates a vanilla recorder without a UI.

  Returns

    The Recorder instance created.

## stop_recording

mayavi.mlab.stop_recording(file=None)

  Stop the automatic script recording.

  Parameters

  > file

  >   An open file or a filename or None. If this is None, nothing is saved.

## text

mayavi.mlab.text(*args, **kwargs)

  Adds a text on the figure.

  Function signature:

      text(x, y, text, ...)

  x, and y are the position of the origin of the text. If no z keyword argument is given, x and y are the 2D projection of the figure, they belong to [0, 1]. If a z keyword argument is given, the text is positioned in 3D, in figure coordinates.

  Keyword arguments:

  > color

  >   the color of the vtk object. Overides the colormap, if any, when specified. This is specified as a triplet of float ranging from 0 to 1, eg (1, 1, 1) for white.

  > figure

  >   Must be a Scene or None.

  > line_width

  >   The width of the lines, if any used. Must be a float. Default: 2.0

  > name

  >   the name of the vtk object created.

  > opacity

  >   The opacity of the text.

  > width

  >   width of the text.

  > z

  >   Optional z position. When specified, the text is positioned in 3D

## text3d

mayavi.mlab.text3d(*args, **kwargs)

  Positions text at a 3D location in the scene.

  Function signature:

      text3d(x, y, z, text, ...)

  x, y, and z are the position of the origin of the text. The text is positioned in 3D, in figure coordinates.

  Keyword arguments:

  > color

  >   the color of the vtk object. Overides the colormap, if any, when specified. This is specified as a triplet of float ranging from 0 to 1, eg (1, 1, 1) for white.

  > figure

  >   Must be a Scene or None.

  > line_width

  >   The width of the lines, if any used. Must be a float. Default: 2.0

  > name

  >   the name of the vtk object created.

  > opacity

  >   The overall opacity of the vtk object. Must be a float. Default: 1.0

  > orient_to_camera

  >   if the text is kept oriented to the camera, or is pointing in a specific direction, regardless of the camera position. Must be a boolean. Default: True

  > orientation

  >   the angles giving the orientation of the text. If the text is oriented to the camera, these angles are referenced to the axis of the camera. If not, these angles are referenced to the z axis. Must be an array with shape (3,).

  > scale

  >   The scale of the text, in figure units. Either a float, or 3-tuple of floats.

## title

mayavi.mlab.title(*args, **kwargs)

  Creates a title for the figure.

  Function signature:

      title(text, ...)

  Keyword arguments:

  > color

  >   the color of the vtk object. Overides the colormap, if any, when specified. This is specified as a triplet of float ranging from 0 to 1, eg (1, 1, 1) for white.

  > figure

  >   Must be a Scene or None.

  > height

  >   height of the title, in portion of the figure height

  > line_width

  >   The width of the lines, if any used. Must be a float. Default: 2.0

  > name

  >   the name of the vtk object created.

  > opacity

  >   The overall opacity of the vtk object. Must be a float. Default: 1.0

  > size

  >   the size of the title