Matplotlib – Delete lines from a 3d quiver plot

I would like to graphically represent the time trend of a three-dimensional reference frame using Matplotlib and the quiver function. In an event, I simulated the data representing the reference frame through the definition of a 3×3 rotation matrix. Each time the event occurs, it should delete the previous reference frame and display the new one. Here is my code in Python:

import random as rnd
import numpy as np
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
from matplotlib.animation import FuncAnimation


def timerTick_Event(i):
   #%% DATA SIMULATION
   temp1 = np.array([rnd.uniform(-1.0, 1.0), rnd.uniform(-1.0, 1.0), rnd.uniform(-1.0, 1.0)]).astype(float)
   temp1 = temp1 / np.linalg.norm(temp1)
   
   v2 = np.array([rnd.uniform(-1.0, 1.0), rnd.uniform(-1.0, 1.0), rnd.uniform(-1.0, 1.0)]).astype(float)
   v2 = v2 / np.linalg.norm(v2)
   
   v3 = np.cross(temp1, v2)
   v3 = v3 / np.linalg.norm(v3)
   
   v1 = np.cross(v2, v3)
   v1 = v1 / np.linalg.norm(v1)    
       
   mat = np.column_stack((v1, v2, v3))
   
   
   #%% DATA REPRESENTATION
   f = plt.gcf()
   ax = f.gca()    


   #INSERT DELETE FUNCTION HERE


   u = ax.quiver(0, 0, 0, mat[0,0], mat[0,1], mat[0,2], color="r")
   v = ax.quiver(0, 0, 0, mat[1,0], mat[1,1], mat[1,2], color="g")
   w = ax.quiver(0, 0, 0, mat[2,0], mat[2,1], mat[2,2], color="b")
    
   plt.show()


f1 = plt.figure(1)
ax = f1.add_subplot(projection='3d')

u = ax.quiver(0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, color="r")
v = ax.quiver(0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, color="g")
w = ax.quiver(0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, color="b")
# set empty line plots with colors associate to the
# quivers. Doing so we can show a legend.
ax.plot([], [], [], color="r", label="X")
ax.plot([], [], [], color="g", label="Y")
ax.plot([], [], [], color="b", label="Z")

ax.set_xlim(-1.1, 1.1); ax.set_ylim(-1.1, 1.1); ax.set_zlim(-1.1, 1.1)
ax.set_xlabel("X_AXIS"); ax.set_ylabel("Y_AXIS"); ax.set_zlabel("Z_AXIS")
ax.legend();



timerTickInterval = 1000
ani = FuncAnimation(f1, timerTick_Event, interval=timerTickInterval)
plt.show()

This code works fine except for the missing delete function. In a 2d plot, I used this code to delete annotations

for child in ax.get_children():
        if isinstance(child, mTxt.Annotation):
            child.remove()

and this command to delete the first plotted line

ax.lines.pop(0)

Any suggestion? Thank you in advance!

Answer

If you keep track of the quiver artists, you can use them to remove the previously plotted quivers:

import random as rnd
import numpy as np
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
from matplotlib.animation import FuncAnimation

quivers_artist = []

def timerTick_Event(i):
    global quivers_artist
    #%% DATA SIMULATION
    temp1 = np.array([rnd.uniform(-1.0, 1.0), rnd.uniform(-1.0, 1.0), rnd.uniform(-1.0, 1.0)]).astype(float)
    temp1 = temp1 / np.linalg.norm(temp1)
    v2 = np.array([rnd.uniform(-1.0, 1.0), rnd.uniform(-1.0, 1.0), rnd.uniform(-1.0, 1.0)]).astype(float)
    v2 = v2 / np.linalg.norm(v2)
    v3 = np.cross(temp1, v2)
    v3 = v3 / np.linalg.norm(v3)
    v1 = np.cross(v2, v3)
    v1 = v1 / np.linalg.norm(v1)    
    mat = np.column_stack((v1, v2, v3))
    #%% DATA REPRESENTATION
    f = plt.gcf()
    ax = f.gca()    
    #INSERT DELETE FUNCTION HERE
    if len(quivers_artist) > 0:
        for q in quivers_artist:
            q.remove()
        quivers_artist.clear()
    quivers_artist.append(ax.quiver(0, 0, 0, mat[0,0], mat[0,1], mat[0,2], color="r"))
    quivers_artist.append(ax.quiver(0, 0, 0, mat[1,0], mat[1,1], mat[1,2], color="g"))
    quivers_artist.append(ax.quiver(0, 0, 0, mat[2,0], mat[2,1], mat[2,2], color="b"))


f1 = plt.figure(1)
ax = f1.add_subplot(projection='3d')

u = ax.quiver(0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, color="r")
v = ax.quiver(0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, color="g")
w = ax.quiver(0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, color="b")
# set empty line plots with colors associate to the
# quivers. Doing so we can show a legend.
ax.plot([], [], [], color="r", label="X")
ax.plot([], [], [], color="g", label="Y")
ax.plot([], [], [], color="b", label="Z")

ax.set_xlim(-1.1, 1.1); ax.set_ylim(-1.1, 1.1); ax.set_zlim(-1.1, 1.1)
ax.set_xlabel("X_AXIS"); ax.set_ylabel("Y_AXIS"); ax.set_zlabel("Z_AXIS")
ax.legend();



timerTickInterval = 1000
ani = FuncAnimation(f1, timerTick_Event, interval=timerTickInterval)
plt.show()