Skip to content
tikzfigure

Subfigures and Grid Layouts

Arrange multiple plots side-by-side or in grid layouts using subfigure_axis() and subfigure().

import math
from tikzfigure import TikzFigure, arrows

Side-by-side subfigures

Section titled “Side-by-side subfigures”

Create horizontally arranged plots with subfigure_axis():

fig = TikzFigure()


ax1 = fig.subfigure_axis(
    xlabel="x",
    ylabel="y",
    xlim=(0, 360),
    ylim=(-1.5, 1.5),
    grid=True,
    width=0.45,
)
ax1.add_plot(
    func="sin(x)",
    label="sin(x)",
    color="red",
    line_width="1.5pt",
)
ax1.set_legend(position="north east")


ax2 = fig.subfigure_axis(
    xlabel="x",
    ylabel="y",
    xlim=(0, 360),
    ylim=(-1.5, 1.5),
    grid=True,
    width=0.45,
)
ax2.add_plot(
    func="cos(x)",
    label="cos(x)",
    color="blue",
    line_width="1.5pt",
)
ax2.set_legend(position="north east")


fig.show()

Show Tikz code 
print(fig)
\begin{tikzpicture}
    \begin{groupplot}[group style={group size=2 by 1, horizontal sep=1.5cm}]
            \nextgroupplot[domain=0:360, xlabel=x, ylabel=y, xmin=0, xmax=360, ymin=-1.5, ymax=1.5, grid=major, legend pos=north east]
            \addplot[color=red, line width=1.5pt] {sin(x)};
            \legend{sin(x)}


            \nextgroupplot[domain=0:360, xlabel=x, ylabel=y, xmin=0, xmax=360, ymin=-1.5, ymax=1.5, grid=major, legend pos=north east]
            \addplot[color=blue, line width=1.5pt] {cos(x)};
            \legend{cos(x)}


    \end{groupplot}
\end{tikzpicture}

Call subfigure_axis() multiple times to add more. Use width (0.0-1.0) to control sizing (typically 0.3-0.45 for 2-3 plots).

Grid layouts

Section titled “Grid layouts”

Specify rows and cols when creating the figure for multi-row layouts:

fig = TikzFigure(rows=2, cols=2)


ax1 = fig.subfigure_axis(
    xlabel="x",
    ylabel="y",
    width=0.45,
)
ax1.add_plot([0, 1], [0, 1], label="linear")
ax1.set_legend()


ax2 = fig.subfigure_axis(
    xlabel="x",
    ylabel="y",
    width=0.45,
)
ax2.add_plot([0, 1], [1, 0], label="inverse")
ax2.set_legend()


ax3 = fig.subfigure_axis(
    xlabel="x",
    ylabel="y",
    width=0.45,
)
ax3.add_plot([0, 1], [0, 2], label="double")
ax3.set_legend()


# Bottom-right left empty (partial grids are OK)
fig.show()

Show Tikz code 
print(fig)
\begin{tikzpicture}
    \begin{groupplot}[group style={group size=2 by 2, horizontal sep=1.5cm, vertical sep=2.0cm}]
            \nextgroupplot[xlabel=x, ylabel=y, grid=major, legend pos=north east]
            \addplot[] coordinates {(0,0) (1,1)};
            \legend{linear}


            \nextgroupplot[xlabel=x, ylabel=y, grid=major, legend pos=north east]
            \addplot[] coordinates {(0,1) (1,0)};
            \legend{inverse}


            \nextgroupplot[xlabel=x, ylabel=y, grid=major, legend pos=north east]
            \addplot[] coordinates {(0,0) (1,2)};
            \legend{double}


    \end{groupplot}
\end{tikzpicture}

Axes fill left-to-right, top-to-bottom automatically.

Partial grids

Section titled “Partial grids”

Leave some grid cells empty by not filling all positions:

fig = TikzFigure(rows=2, cols=3)


ax1 = fig.subfigure_axis(
    xlabel="Linear",
    ylabel="$y$",
    width=0.3,
)
ax1.add_plot([0, 1], [0, 1])


ax2 = fig.subfigure_axis(
    xlabel="Quadratic",
    ylabel="$y$",
    width=0.3,
)
ax2.add_plot([0, 1], [0, 1], plot_style="dashed")


ax3 = fig.subfigure_axis(
    xlabel="Cubic",
    ylabel="$y$",
    width=0.3,
)
ax3.add_plot([0, 1], [0, 1], plot_style="dotted")


ax4 = fig.subfigure_axis(
    xlabel="Square Root",
    ylabel="$y$",
    width=0.3,
)
x_vals = [0, 0.5, 1]
y_vals = [x**0.5 for x in x_vals]
ax4.add_plot(x_vals, y_vals)


# Bottom-right 2 cells are empty
fig.show()

Show Tikz code 
print(fig)
\begin{tikzpicture}
    \begin{groupplot}[group style={group size=3 by 2, horizontal sep=1.5cm, vertical sep=2.0cm}]
            \nextgroupplot[xlabel=Linear, ylabel=$y$, grid=major]
            \addplot[] coordinates {(0,0) (1,1)};


            \nextgroupplot[xlabel=Quadratic, ylabel=$y$, grid=major]
            \addplot[plot style=dashed] coordinates {(0,0) (1,1)};


            \nextgroupplot[xlabel=Cubic, ylabel=$y$, grid=major]
            \addplot[plot style=dotted] coordinates {(0,0) (1,1)};


            \nextgroupplot[xlabel=Square Root, ylabel=$y$, grid=major]
            \addplot[] coordinates {(0,0.0) (0.5,0.7071067811865476) (1,1.0)};


    \end{groupplot}
\end{tikzpicture}

Grid data comparison

Section titled “Grid data comparison”

A practical 2x2 comparison:

fig = TikzFigure(rows=2, cols=2)


# Linear
ax1 = fig.subfigure_axis(
    xlabel="Time",
    ylabel="Value",
    width=0.45,
)
ax1.add_plot(
    [0, 1, 2, 3, 4],
    [0, 2, 4, 6, 8],
    label="Linear",
    marker="*",
)
ax1.set_legend()


# Exponential
ax2 = fig.subfigure_axis(
    xlabel="Time",
    ylabel="Value",
    width=0.45,
)
ax2.add_plot(
    [0, 1, 2, 3, 4],
    [1, 2, 4, 8, 16],
    label="Exponential",
    marker="o",
)
ax2.set_legend()


# Sine wave
ax3 = fig.subfigure_axis(
    xlabel="Time",
    ylabel="Amplitude",
    width=0.45,
)
x = [i * 0.2 for i in range(26)]
ax3.add_plot(
    x,
    [math.sin(xi) for xi in x],
    label="Sine",
)
ax3.set_legend()


# All together
ax4 = fig.subfigure_axis(
    xlabel="Time",
    ylabel="Value",
    width=0.45,
)
ax4.add_plot(
    [0, 1, 2, 3, 4],
    [0, 2, 4, 6, 8],
    label="Linear",
)
ax4.add_plot(
    [0, 1, 2, 3],
    [1, 2, 4, 8],
    label="Exponential",
)
ax4.set_legend()


fig.show()

Show Tikz code 
print(fig)
\begin{tikzpicture}
    \begin{groupplot}[group style={group size=2 by 2, horizontal sep=1.5cm, vertical sep=2.0cm}]
            \nextgroupplot[xlabel=Time, ylabel=Value, grid=major, legend pos=north east]
            \addplot[marker=*] coordinates {(0,0) (1,2) (2,4) (3,6) (4,8)};
            \legend{Linear}


            \nextgroupplot[xlabel=Time, ylabel=Value, grid=major, legend pos=north east]
            \addplot[marker=o] coordinates {(0,1) (1,2) (2,4) (3,8) (4,16)};
            \legend{Exponential}


            \nextgroupplot[xlabel=Time, ylabel=Amplitude, grid=major, legend pos=north east]
            \addplot[] coordinates {(0.0,0.0) (0.2,0.19866933079506122) (0.4,0.3894183423086505) (0.6000000000000001,0.5646424733950355) (0.8,0.7173560908995228) (1.0,0.8414709848078965) (1.2000000000000002,0.9320390859672264) (1.4000000000000001,0.9854497299884603) (1.6,0.9995736030415051) (1.8,0.9738476308781951) (2.0,0.9092974268256817) (2.2,0.8084964038195901) (2.4000000000000004,0.6754631805511506) (2.6,0.5155013718214642) (2.8000000000000003,0.33498815015590466) (3.0,0.1411200080598672) (3.2,-0.058374143427580086) (3.4000000000000004,-0.25554110202683167) (3.6,-0.44252044329485246) (3.8000000000000003,-0.6118578909427193) (4.0,-0.7568024953079282) (4.2,-0.8715757724135882) (4.4,-0.951602073889516) (4.6000000000000005,-0.9936910036334645) (4.800000000000001,-0.9961646088358406) (5.0,-0.9589242746631385)};
            \legend{Sine}


            \nextgroupplot[xlabel=Time, ylabel=Value, grid=major, legend pos=north east]
            \addplot[] coordinates {(0,0) (1,2) (2,4) (3,6) (4,8)};
            \addplot[] coordinates {(0,1) (1,2) (2,4) (3,8)};
            \legend{Linear, Exponential}


    \end{groupplot}
\end{tikzpicture}

Mixing plots and diagrams

Section titled “Mixing plots and diagrams”

Use subfigure() to place bare TikZ diagrams alongside axis-based plots. The returned object supports node(), draw(), and all TikZ API methods:

fig = TikzFigure(rows=1, cols=2)


# Left: axis with plot
ax = fig.subfigure_axis(
    xlabel="Iteration",
    ylabel="Error",
    width=0.4,
)
ax.add_plot(
    [1, 2, 3, 4, 5],
    [0.8, 0.4, 0.2, 0.1, 0.05],
    marker="o",
    label="Convergence",
)
ax.set_legend()


# Right: algorithm flowchart
flowchart = fig.subfigure(width=0.4, height=6)
start = flowchart.node(
    1.5,
    3.5,
    label="start",
    content="Start",
    shape="circle",
    fill="green!40",
)
process = flowchart.node(
    1.5,
    2,
    label="process",
    content="Iterate",
    shape="rectangle",
    fill="yellow!40",
)
end = flowchart.node(
    1.5,
    0.5,
    label="end",
    content="Done",
    shape="circle",
    fill="red!40",
)
flowchart.draw([start, process], arrows=arrows.forward)
flowchart.draw([process, end], arrows=arrows.forward)


fig.show()

Show Tikz code 
print(fig)
\begin{tikzpicture}
    \begin{scope}[xshift=0.0cm, yshift=0.0cm]
            \begin{axis}[width=5.6cm, xlabel=Iteration, ylabel=Error, grid=major, legend pos=north east]
                \addplot[marker=o] coordinates {(1,0.8) (2,0.4) (3,0.2) (4,0.1) (5,0.05)};
                \legend{Convergence}
            \end{axis}
    \end{scope}
    \begin{scope}[xshift=7.1cm, yshift=0.0cm]
            \node[shape=circle, fill=green!40] (start) at ({1.5}, {3.5}) {Start};
            \node[shape=rectangle, fill=yellow!40] (process) at ({1.5}, {2}) {Iterate};
            \node[shape=circle, fill=red!40] (end) at ({1.5}, {0.5}) {Done};
            \draw[->] (start) to (process);
            \draw[->] (process) to (end);
    \end{scope}
\end{tikzpicture}

See Mixed Subfigures for more detailed examples.