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[Bug]: ax.relim() ignores scatter artist #30859
Description
Bug summary
ax.relim() completely ignores changes to scatterplots with .set_offsets().
Code for reproduction
import tkinter as tk
from matplotlib.backends.backend_tkagg import FigureCanvasTkAgg, NavigationToolbar2Tk
from matplotlib.figure import Figure
import numpy as np
class App:
def __init__(self, root):
self.root = root
fig = Figure(figsize=(5, 5), dpi=100)
self.ax = fig.add_subplot(111)
self.canvas = FigureCanvasTkAgg(fig, root)
self.canvas.get_tk_widget().pack(fill="both", expand=True)
self.toolbar = NavigationToolbar2Tk(self.canvas, root)
# Create artists once
self.scatter = self.ax.scatter([], [])
self.line, = self.ax.plot([], [])
root.after(1000, self.update_plot)
def update_plot(self):
# New data every update
xs = np.linspace(0, 10, 100)
ys = np.sin(xs) + np.random.normal(scale=0.1, size=100)
# Update artists
self.scatter.set_offsets(np.column_stack((xs, ys)))
#self.line.set_data(xs, ys) #Uncomment this to see the expected behaviour
# Autoscale (not working)
self.ax.relim()
self.ax.autoscale_view()
self.canvas.draw_idle()
# Keep updating
self.root.after(1000, self.update_plot)
root = tk.Tk()
App(root)
root.mainloop()Actual outcome
Expected outcome
Additional information
No response
Operating system
Windows
Matplotlib Version
3.9.1
Matplotlib Backend
tkAgg
Python version
3.11.9
Jupyter version
None
Installation
pip
Activity
timhoffm commented on Dec 15, 2025
Limit handling has historically been quite a mess, unfortunately there is little consistency across artists. See #15595 (comment).
mp-007 commented on Jan 26, 2026
@CyfralCoot maybe it can help you, but I did an autoscale function to handle all kind of artist. You can have a look here: https://github.com/mp-007/kivy_matplotlib_widget/blob/main/kivy_matplotlib_widget/uix/graph_subplot_widget.py#L186
It is a built-in function inside my kivy widget, but it can give you some guidelines.
Archiljain commented on Feb 9, 2026
Hi, I’d like to work on this issue.
I’ll start by reproducing the bug locally and then look into how relim() handles scatter artists.
QuLogic commented on Mar 7, 2026
The PR that "fixed" this was only marked as merged because its commits were contained in a second PR that was merged, but that second PR reverted all the changes from the first PR, so this isn't actually fixed.
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