TIL you could make xkcd-like plots with matplotlib • Hacker News Board

Re: TIL you could make xkcd-like plots with matplotlib

#11

Post by baumschubser » Mon, Nov 20, 2023, 7:05 AM UTC

zshrdlu wrote: post #6

kristopolous wrote: post #3

is that how he does it? I wouldn't be surprised.

I would be. It's much quicker to draw this than to write code for it.

https://xkcd.com/1205/

Re: TIL you could make xkcd-like plots with matplotlib

#12

Post by cmcaleer » Mon, Nov 20, 2023, 7:32 AM UTC

While I'm not a fan of the plot style, I use the xkcd colors from matplotlib.colors.XKCD_COLORS all the time. 954 colors named from the xkcd color survey [0].

[0] https://xkcd.com/color/rgb/

Re: TIL you could make xkcd-like plots with matplotlib

#13

Post by mr_mitm » Mon, Nov 20, 2023, 7:49 AM UTC

cmcaleer wrote: post #12

While I'm not a fan of the plot style, I use the xkcd colors from matplotlib.colors.XKCD_COLORS all the time. 954 colors named from the xkcd color survey [0]. [0] https://xkcd.com/color/rgb/

Do we really need "baby poop green" and "baby shit green" though?

Re: TIL you could make xkcd-like plots with matplotlib

#14

Post by rented_mule » Mon, Nov 20, 2023, 7:51 AM UTC

I've used this for documenting concepts where I don't want people getting bogged down in trying to glean precise relationships from the plots, just general ideas. People have also commented that it made some deeply technical documentation more approachable because it felt less formal.

Re: TIL you could make xkcd-like plots with matplotlib

#15

Post by mr_mitm » Mon, Nov 20, 2023, 7:52 AM UTC

asicsp wrote: post #5

Related: Xkcd-Style Plots in Matplotlib https://jakevdp.github.io/blog/2012/10/07/xkcd-style-plots-i... (discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19293129 ) XKCD Plots in Matplotlib: Going the Whole Way https://jakevdp.github.io/blog/2013/07/10/XKCD-plots-in-matp... ( https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11642344 )

Also, this: https://mathematica.stackexchange.com/questions/11350/xkcd-s...

Re: TIL you could make xkcd-like plots with matplotlib

#16

Post by Maledictus » Mon, Nov 20, 2023, 8:01 AM UTC

mr_mitm wrote: post #13

cmcaleer wrote: post #12

While I'm not a fan of the plot style, I use the xkcd colors from matplotlib.colors.XKCD_COLORS all the time. 954 colors named from the xkcd color survey [0]. [0] https://xkcd.com/color/rgb/

Do we really need "baby poop green" and "baby shit green" though?

Yes

Re: TIL you could make xkcd-like plots with matplotlib

#17

Post by francios_de » Mon, Nov 20, 2023, 9:46 AM UTC

angry_moose wrote: post #7

Fun plot style, but the "noise" is too regular to really look right. Seems like like it basically just superimposes a sine wave onto all the straight lines. Compare the axes of the plots, or the vertical lines on the bar chart which have a pretty distinct periodicity, to the original: https://xkcd.com/373/

> but the "noise" is too regular to really look right

They probably did add the randomness (haven't checked nor confirmed), but it could be the higher resolution that makes it look really clear.

Re: TIL you could make xkcd-like plots with matplotlib

#18

Post by mock-possum » Mon, Nov 20, 2023, 10:23 AM UTC

angry_moose wrote: post #7

Fun plot style, but the "noise" is too regular to really look right. Seems like like it basically just superimposes a sine wave onto all the straight lines. Compare the axes of the plots, or the vertical lines on the bar chart which have a pretty distinct periodicity, to the original: https://xkcd.com/373/

Yeah more wavy than scribbly