# 3D Surface Plots in Python

How to make 3D-surface plots in Python

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#### Topographical 3D Surface Plot¶

In [1]:
import plotly.graph_objects as go

import pandas as pd

# Read data from a csv
z_data = pd.read_csv('https://raw.githubusercontent.com/plotly/datasets/master/api_docs/mt_bruno_elevation.csv')

fig = go.Figure(data=[go.Surface(z=z_data.values)])

fig.update_layout(title='Mt Bruno Elevation', autosize=False,
width=500, height=500,
margin=dict(l=65, r=50, b=65, t=90))

fig.show()


### Passing x and y data to 3D Surface Plot¶

If you do not specify x and y coordinates, integer indices are used for the x and y axis. You can also pass x and y values to go.Surface.

In [2]:
import plotly.graph_objects as go
import pandas as pd
import numpy as np
# Read data from a csv
z_data = pd.read_csv('https://raw.githubusercontent.com/plotly/datasets/master/api_docs/mt_bruno_elevation.csv')
z = z_data.values
sh_0, sh_1 = z.shape
x, y = np.linspace(0, 1, sh_0), np.linspace(0, 1, sh_1)
fig = go.Figure(data=[go.Surface(z=z, x=x, y=y)])
fig.update_layout(title='Mt Bruno Elevation', autosize=False,
width=500, height=500,
margin=dict(l=65, r=50, b=65, t=90))
fig.show()


#### Surface Plot With Contours¶

Display and customize contour data for each axis using the contours attribute (reference).

In [3]:
import plotly.graph_objects as go

import pandas as pd

# Read data from a csv
z_data = pd.read_csv('https://raw.githubusercontent.com/plotly/datasets/master/api_docs/mt_bruno_elevation.csv')

fig = go.Figure(data=[go.Surface(z=z_data.values)])
fig.update_traces(contours_z=dict(show=True, usecolormap=True,
highlightcolor="limegreen", project_z=True))
fig.update_layout(title='Mt Bruno Elevation', autosize=False,
scene_camera_eye=dict(x=1.87, y=0.88, z=-0.64),
width=500, height=500,
margin=dict(l=65, r=50, b=65, t=90)
)

fig.show()


#### Configure Surface Contour Levels¶

This example shows how to slice the surface graph on the desired position for each of x, y and z axis. contours.x.start sets the starting contour level value, end sets the end of it, and size sets the step between each contour level.

In [4]:
import plotly.graph_objects as go

fig = go.Figure(go.Surface(
contours = {
"x": {"show": True, "start": 1.5, "end": 2, "size": 0.04, "color":"white"},
"z": {"show": True, "start": 0.5, "end": 0.8, "size": 0.05}
},
x = [1,2,3,4,5],
y = [1,2,3,4,5],
z = [
[0, 1, 0, 1, 0],
[1, 0, 1, 0, 1],
[0, 1, 0, 1, 0],
[1, 0, 1, 0, 1],
[0, 1, 0, 1, 0]
]))
fig.update_layout(
scene = {
"xaxis": {"nticks": 20},
"zaxis": {"nticks": 4},
'camera_eye': {"x": 0, "y": -1, "z": 0.5},
"aspectratio": {"x": 1, "y": 1, "z": 0.2}
})
fig.show()


#### Multiple 3D Surface Plots¶

In [5]:
import plotly.graph_objects as go
import numpy as np

z1 = np.array([
[8.83,8.89,8.81,8.87,8.9,8.87],
[8.89,8.94,8.85,8.94,8.96,8.92],
[8.84,8.9,8.82,8.92,8.93,8.91],
[8.79,8.85,8.79,8.9,8.94,8.92],
[8.79,8.88,8.81,8.9,8.95,8.92],
[8.8,8.82,8.78,8.91,8.94,8.92],
[8.75,8.78,8.77,8.91,8.95,8.92],
[8.8,8.8,8.77,8.91,8.95,8.94],
[8.74,8.81,8.76,8.93,8.98,8.99],
[8.89,8.99,8.92,9.1,9.13,9.11],
[8.97,8.97,8.91,9.09,9.11,9.11],
[9.04,9.08,9.05,9.25,9.28,9.27],
[9,9.01,9,9.2,9.23,9.2],
[8.99,8.99,8.98,9.18,9.2,9.19],
[8.93,8.97,8.97,9.18,9.2,9.18]
])

z2 = z1 + 1
z3 = z1 - 1

fig = go.Figure(data=[
go.Surface(z=z1),
go.Surface(z=z2, showscale=False, opacity=0.9),
go.Surface(z=z3, showscale=False, opacity=0.9)

])

fig.show()


### What About Dash?¶

Dash is an open-source framework for building analytical applications, with no Javascript required, and it is tightly integrated with the Plotly graphing library.

Learn about how to install Dash at https://dash.plot.ly/installation.

Everywhere in this page that you see fig.show(), you can display the same figure in a Dash application by passing it to the figure argument of the Graph component from the built-in dash_core_components package like this:

import plotly.graph_objects as go # or plotly.express as px
fig = go.Figure() # or any Plotly Express function e.g. px.bar(...)
# fig.add_trace( ... )
# fig.update_layout( ... )

import dash
import dash_core_components as dcc
import dash_html_components as html

app = dash.Dash()
app.layout = html.Div([
dcc.Graph(figure=fig)
])

app.run_server(debug=True, use_reloader=False)  # Turn off reloader if inside Jupyter