How to generate figures in colab, and avoiding type3 font errors on latex submissions.

colab_figures_example.md

import plotting libs

import numpy as np
import pandas as pd
import seaborn as sns

import matplotlib.font_manager as fm

import matplotlib
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
from matplotlib import rc
from mpl_toolkits.mplot3d import Axes3D
import itertools

install latex to colab instance

! sudo apt-get install texlive-latex-recommended 
! sudo apt install texlive-latex-extra
! sudo apt install dvipng

download font files (some different options commented)

# !wget https://github.com/MaxGhenis/random/raw/master/Roboto-Regular.ttf
# !wget https://github.com/googlefonts/Inconsolata/raw/master/fonts/ttf/Inconsolata-Regular.ttf
# !wget https://github.com/googlefonts/opensans/raw/main/fonts/ttf/OpenSans-Regular.ttf

# !wget https://github.com/googlefonts/noto-fonts/raw/master/hinted/ttf/NotoSans/NotoSans-Regular.ttf
!wget https://github.com/googlefonts/noto-fonts/raw/master/hinted/ttf/NotoSans/NotoSans-Medium.ttf

# !wget https://github.com/googlefonts/noto-fonts/raw/master/hinted/ttf/NotoSansMono/NotoSansMono-Regular.ttf
!wget https://github.com/googlefonts/noto-fonts/raw/master/hinted/ttf/NotoSansMono/NotoSansMono-Medium.ttf

set pyplot font, use tex fonts (type=42)

# fm.fontManager.addfont('NotoSans-Regular.ttf')
fm.fontManager.addfont('NotoSans-Medium.ttf')
# fm.fontManager.addfont('NotoSansMono-Regular.ttf')
fm.fontManager.addfont('NotoSansMono-Medium.ttf')

rc('font', family='Noto Sans', weight='regular')
matplotlib.rcParams['pdf.fonttype'] = 42

Example title font, position:

def scope()
    marksize = 9
    figsize = (3.4, 2.2)
    fontsize = 13
    
    x = np.arange(-4, 5)

    y = x+1
    
    plt.figure(figsize=figsize)
    plt.plot(x, y, '.', markersize=marksize, color='k')
    plt.gca().spines['right'].set_visible(False)
    plt.gca().spines['top'].set_visible(False)
    plt.gca().spines['bottom'].set_linewidth(1.5)
    plt.gca().spines['left'].set_linewidth(1.5)
    plt.xticks([0,4,8], fontsize=fontsize)
    plt.yticks([1,5,9], fontsize=fontsize)
    plt.gca().set_xticklabels([0,4,8])
    plt.gca().set_yticklabels([1,5,9])

    plt.ylim([0,10])
    plt.xlim([-0.5,8.5])

    plt.title('y = x+1', fontsize=fontsize+2, 
              **{'fontname':'Noto Sans Mono','weight':'medium'},
              y=0.95)
    plt.xlabel('x (int)',**{'fontsize':fontsize+1,
                            'fontname':'Noto Sans', 'weight':'medium'})
    plt.ylabel('y (int)',**{'fontsize':fontsize+1,
                            'fontname':'Noto Sans', 'weight':'medium'})
    
    plt.tick_params(
        which='both', 
        bottom=True,      
        top=False,         
        left=True,
        right=False,
        labelbottom=True) 
        
    plt.tight_layout()
    
    plt.savefig('example1.pdf')
    
scope()