Saving images in Python at a very high quality

Question

If you are using Matplotlib and are trying to get good figures in a LaTeX document, save as an EPS. Specifically, try something like this after running the commands to plot the image:

plt.savefig('destination_path.eps', format='eps')

I have found that EPS files work best and the dpi parameter is what really makes them look good in a document.

To specify the orientation of the figure before saving, simply call the following before the plt.savefig call, but after creating the plot (assuming you have plotted using an axes with the name ax):

ax.view_init(elev=elevation_angle, azim=azimuthal_angle)

Where elevation_angle is a number (in degrees) specifying the polar angle (down from vertical z axis) and the azimuthal_angle specifies the azimuthal angle (around the z axis).

I find that it is easiest to determine these values by first plotting the image and then rotating it and watching the current values of the angles appear towards the bottom of the window just below the actual plot. Keep in mind that the x, y, z, positions appear by default, but they are replaced with the two angles when you start to click+drag+rotate the image.

Just to add my results, also using Matplotlib.

.eps made all my text bold and removed transparency. .svg gave me high-resolution pictures that actually looked like my graph.

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
fig, ax = plt.subplots()
# Do the plot code
fig.savefig('myimage.svg', format='svg', dpi=1200)

I used 1200 dpi because a lot of scientific journals require images in 1200 / 600 / 300 dpi, depending on what the image is of. Convert to desired dpi and format in GIMP or Inkscape.

Obviously the dpi doesn't matter since .svg are vector graphics and have "infinite resolution".

You can save to a figure that is 1920x1080 (or 1080p) using:

fig = plt.figure(figsize=(19.20,10.80))

You can also go much higher or lower. The above solutions work well for printing, but these days you want the created image to go into a PNG/JPG or appear in a wide screen format.

Okay, I found spencerlyon2's answer working. However, in case anybody would find himself/herself not knowing what to do with that one line, I had to do it this way:

beingsaved = plt.figure()

# Some scatter plots
plt.scatter(X_1_x, X_1_y)
plt.scatter(X_2_x, X_2_y)

beingsaved.savefig('destination_path.eps', format='eps', dpi=1000)

In case you are working with seaborn plots, instead of Matplotlib, you can save a .png image like this:

Let's suppose you have a matrix object (either Pandas or NumPy), and you want to take a heatmap:

import seaborn as sb

image = sb.heatmap(matrix)   # This gets you the heatmap
image.figure.savefig("C:/Your/Path/ ... /your_image.png")   # This saves it

This code is compatible with the latest version of Seaborn. Other code around Stack Overflow worked only for previous versions.

Another way I like is this. I set the size of the next image as follows:

plt.subplots(figsize=(15,15))

And then later I plot the output in the console, from which I can copy-paste it where I want. (Since Seaborn is built on top of Matplotlib, there will not be any problem.)