matplotlib的动画不能在spyder中工作

Question

I'm new to both python and stackoverflow, and I'm going over examples at matplotlib. I've searched for the solution to this problem with no luck, although I was able to locate a previously unanswered question in stackoverflow with the same issue.

Basically, I copied the code available from the examples at matplotlib ; for instance:

import numpy as np
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
import matplotlib.animation as animation
def data_gen(t=0):
    cnt = 0
    while cnt < 1000:
        cnt += 1
        t += 0.1
        yield t, np.sin(2*np.pi*t) * np.exp(-t/10.)
def init():
    ax.set_ylim(-1.1, 1.1)
    ax.set_xlim(0, 10)
    del xdata[:]
    del ydata[:]
    line.set_data(xdata, ydata)
    return line,

fig, ax = plt.subplots()
line, = ax.plot([], [], lw=2)
ax.grid()
xdata, ydata = [], []


def run(data):
    # update the data
    t, y = data
    xdata.append(t)
    ydata.append(y)
    xmin, xmax = ax.get_xlim()

    if t >= xmax:
        ax.set_xlim(xmin, 2*xmax)
        ax.figure.canvas.draw()
    line.set_data(xdata, ydata)

    return line,

ani = animation.FuncAnimation(fig, run, data_gen, blit=False, interval=10,
                          repeat=False, init_func=init)
plt.show()

I've run various animation examples in both Anaconda 2 (python 2.7) & 3 (python 3.5), and both give me a blank plot without animation. However, each animation works perfectly well in Enthought Canopy.

Is there something simple I'm missing when using spyder?

Answer 1

You have to change the backend to run an animation in the IPython console. You can do that by running %matplotlib qt command before the animation.

If You don't want to use this command every time, You can go to: Tools > Preferences > IPython Console > Graphics > Backend and change it from "Inline" to "Automatic" .

Update: Feb 2018, this is now in python>Preferences In the window select IPython console in the LH pane of the window. Select the Graphics tab and backend is in there.

For more details please read this .