Plotting Themes

PyVista plotting parameters can be controlled on a plot by plot basis or through a global theme, making it possible to control mesh colors and styles through one global configuration.

The default theme parameters in PyVista can be accessed and displayed with:

>>> import pyvista
>>> pyvista.global_theme

Default plotting parameters can be accessed individually by their attribute names:

>>> pyvista.global_theme.color = 'lightblue'

Here’s an example plot of the Stanford Dragon using default plotting parameters:

>>> import pyvista
>>> from pyvista import examples
>>> dragon = examples.download_dragon()
>>> dragon.plot(cpos='xy')

Static Scene

Interactive Scene

These parameters can then be modified globally with:

>>> pyvista.global_theme.color = 'red'
>>> pyvista.global_theme.background = 'white'
>>> pyvista.global_theme.axes.show = False

Now, the mesh will be plotted with the new global parameters:

>>> dragon.plot(cpos='xy')

Static Scene

Interactive Scene

This is identical to plotting the mesh with the following parameters:

>>> dragon.plot(cpos='xy', color='red', background='white', show_axes=False)

Static Scene

Interactive Scene

Creating A Custom Theme

You can customize a theme based on one of the built-in themes and then apply it globally with:

Create a theme based off the DocumentTheme

>>> my_theme = pyvista.plotting.themes.DocumentTheme()
>>> my_theme.cmap = 'jet'
>>> my_theme.show_edges = True

Apply it globally

>>> pyvista.global_theme.load_theme(my_theme)

Alternatively, you can save the theme to disk to be used later with:

>>> my_theme.save('my_theme.json')

And then subsequently loaded in a new session of pyvista with:

>>> pyvista.global_theme.load_theme('my_theme.json')

Theme API

See Themes for the full API definition.