On Thu, Jul 21, 2011 at 1:10 AM, gary ruben <gary.ru...@gmail.com> wrote:
> I'm trying to make a surface plot using the latest version of mplot3d
> from the git trunk and I have a couple of questions. The attached
> image is close to what I would like. The associated plot command I am
> using is
>
> ax.plot_surface(X, Y, Z, rstride=1, cstride=1, alpha=0.8, shade=True,
> cmap=plt.cm.summer,
> color='k',
> facecolors='k',
> lightsource = LightSource(azdeg=0, altdeg=0),
> )
>
> 1. Is there support now to automatically annotate the axis so that a
> multiplier is added, as occurs in 2D plots, or should I do this
> manually by rescaling the data for the moment?
>
Yes, offset text is now automatic and should activate in similar manner as
it does for regular 2D axis formatters. You were one order of magnitude off
from automatically triggering it. Also, I should note that it might be
better to use "ax = fig.gca(projection='3d')" instead of "ax = Axes3D(fig)"
because the former will leave more of a margin, which would allow the offset
text to be fully visible. If you want the full figure area, then you may
need to fiddle with the ax.zaxis._axinfo['label']['space_factor'] to bring
it and the axis label closer to the axis.
The odd thing that I am encountering right now while investigating your
problem is that I can't seem to force the use of the offset. It could just
be that I am doing it wrong, but I will look closer.
> 2. Currently, it doesn't appear possible to shade the surface patches
> according to just a base facecolor and their orientation to a light
> source. Do I have to define a new colormap with a constant/single
> colour to achieve this?
Looking over the plot_surface code, this appears to be the case, however,
looking back over the LightSource code, I believe it might be possible to
update plot_surface to operate on situations where no cmap is specified. I
will take a look today at that possibility and see if I can get it out for
the v1.1.0 release.
> 3. I have set alpha=0.8 to allow the wireframe lines to show through a
> little. When shade=False, the wireframe is visible but I lose
> orientation-based shading. Is there a way to overlay the wireframe
> properly when shade=True?
>
>
In plot_surface, when shade=True, it appears that both the facecolors and
the edgecolors are set to the same colors. The only reason why the lines
show up when you set transparency is that that alpha value is applied only
to the faces and not the edges. Specifically, the logic is as follows:
if fcolors is specified, then set that color for both facecolor and
edgecolor.
Else, if a cmap is specified, then give the polygon collection the data,
limits and norm it needs to determine color itself.
Else, then use the value of "color" to specify only the facecolors.
I think the first branch of this logic is a bit wonky. I am inclined to
make a small change that would only set the edgecolors if 'edgecolors' was
not provided as a kwarg. This would enable users to specify the edgecolor
they want without worrying about something else over-riding it. The only
problem seems to be that there would be no shading of these grid lines.
Would that still be acceptable to you?
Thanks for your valuable feedback!
Ben Root
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