Table of Contents

Themes

Install: dotnet add package MatPlotLibNet

Applying a theme

Plt.Create()
    .WithTheme(Theme.Dracula)
    .Plot(x, y, s => s.Label = "Data")
    .WithLegend()
    .Save("dracula.svg");

30 built-in themes

Light themes

Theme Usage Style
Theme.Default General purpose White bg, tab10 colors
Theme.Seaborn Statistical Light gray bg, subtle grid
Theme.Ggplot R ggplot2 style Gray bg, white grid
Theme.FiveThirtyEight Journalism Bold, no spines
Theme.Bmh Academic Teal/salmon cycle
Theme.Solarize Solarized palette Cream bg
Theme.Grayscale Print-friendly Grayscale-only series palette (no hues)
Theme.Paper Academic papers Serif font, size 11, no grid
Theme.Presentation Slides Bold weight, size 16
Theme.Poster Conference posters Bold weight, size 20, thicker grid (1.5 linewidth)
Theme.GitHub GitHub style GitHub brand palette (#0366D6, #28A745, #6F42C1, #D73A49, #E36209), subtle #E1E4E8 grid
Theme.Minimal Tufte-inspired No grid, size 11
Theme.Retro Vintage Warm yellows/browns
Theme.MatplotlibClassic Pre-2.0 matplotlib bgrcmyk cycle
Theme.MatplotlibV2 Modern matplotlib tab10, soft-black

Dark themes

Theme Usage Style
Theme.Dark General dark mode Dark bg, bright colors
Theme.Cyberpunk Neon on dark Green neon on purple/black
Theme.Nord Nord palette Arctic blues/greens
Theme.Dracula Dracula palette Purple/pink/cyan
Theme.Monokai Editor classic Monokai colors
Theme.Catppuccin Warm pastels Pastel on dark
Theme.Gruvbox Retro warm Gruvbox tones
Theme.OneDark Atom editor Subtle muted
Theme.Neon Bright neon Neon green on black

Accessibility themes

Theme Usage
Theme.ColorBlindSafe Okabe-Ito palette
Theme.HighContrast WCAG AAA

Operator themes

Four grounds for a control-room wall. They differ in background and in the brightness of the alarm colours, never in what those colours mean. Each carries an AlarmPalette (theme.Alarm) for the dashboard tiles and timelines.

Theme Usage
Theme.OpsNight Cool dark neutral, for a dimmed room
Theme.OpsPanel The light grey of a physical control panel
Theme.OpsWarm Warm dark, where a cool grey reads clinical
Theme.OpsContrast Near-black with brightened alarms, for a video wall read from across the room

Theme comparison

string[] themes = ["Default", "Dark", "Nord", "Dracula", "Cyberpunk",
                   "Monokai", "Catppuccin", "Gruvbox", "OneDark", "Neon"];

foreach (var name in themes)
{
    var theme = typeof(Theme).GetProperty(name)!.GetValue(null) as Theme;
    Plt.Create()
        .WithTheme(theme!)
        .WithTitle(name)
        .Plot(x, y, s => s.Label = "sin(x)")
        .WithLegend()
        .Save($"theme_{name}.svg");
}

Theme comparison

Custom theme with ThemeBuilder

Build your own theme from scratch or derive from an existing one:

var custom = Theme.CreateFrom(Theme.Dark)
    .WithBackground(Color.FromHex("#1e1e2e"))
    .WithForegroundText(Colors.White)
    .WithAxesBackground(Color.FromHex("#282a36"))
    .WithCycleColors(Colors.Cyan, Css4Colors.Pink, Colors.Green, Colors.Yellow)
    .WithFont(f => f with { Family = "JetBrains Mono", Size = 11 })
    .WithGrid(g => g with
    {
        Color = Color.FromHex("#44475a"),
        LineStyle = LineStyle.Dotted,
        Alpha = 0.5
    })
    .Build();

Plt.Create()
    .WithTheme(custom)
    .WithTitle("Custom Theme")
    .Plot(x, y1, s => s.Label = "Series 1")
    .Plot(x, y2, s => s.Label = "Series 2")
    .WithLegend()
    .Save("custom_theme.svg");

Custom PropCycler

Control how colors, line styles, line widths and markers cycle across the series of a multi-series plot. The series at place i takes the cycler's entry i, in the plot and in its legend entry; a series that sets one of these itself keeps its own:

var cycler = new PropCyclerBuilder()
    .WithColors(Colors.Cyan, Colors.Magenta, Colors.Gold, Css4Colors.LimeGreen)
    .WithLineStyles(LineStyle.Solid, LineStyle.Dashed, LineStyle.DashDot, LineStyle.Dotted)
    .Build();

var theme = Theme.CreateFrom(Theme.Dark)
    .WithPropCycler(cycler)
    .Build();

Theme with 3D pane colors

var theme3d = Theme.CreateFrom(Theme.Dark)
    .WithBackground(Color.FromHex("#1a1a2e"))
    .WithForegroundText(Colors.White)
    .Build();

Plt.Create()
    .WithTheme(theme3d)
    .AddSubPlot(1, 1, 1, ax => ax
        .Surface(x, y, z)
        .WithPane3D(p => p with
        {
            FloorColor = Color.FromHex("#2A2A2A"),
            LeftWallColor = Color.FromHex("#222222"),
            RightWallColor = Color.FromHex("#333333"),
            Alpha = 0.8,
        })
        .WithCamera(elevation: 30, azimuth: -50))
    .Save("themed_3d.svg");

Theme background shortcut

// Quick way to set just the background
Plt.Create()
    .WithBackground(Color.FromHex("#f5f5dc"))  // beige
    .WithTheme(Theme.Paper)
    .Plot(x, y)
    .Save("paper_bg.svg");

Fluent API reference

Method Description
.WithTheme(Theme preset) Apply a built-in or custom theme
.WithBackground(Color) Override figure background
Theme.CreateFrom(base) Start a ThemeBuilder from existing theme
.WithForegroundText(Color) Text/foreground color
.WithAxesBackground(Color) Axes area background
.WithCycleColors(params Color[]) Color cycle for series
.WithFont(Func<Font, Font>) Default font (family, size, weight)
.WithGrid(Func<GridStyle, GridStyle>) Grid appearance
.WithPropCycler(PropCycler) Multi-property cycler
.Build() Return customized Theme
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