3D Scatter Plots in R

How to make interactive 3D scatter plots in R.

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Plotly is a free and open-source graphing library for R. We recommend you read our Getting Started guide for the latest installation or upgrade instructions, then move on to our Plotly Fundamentals tutorials or dive straight in to some Basic Charts tutorials.

Basic 3D Scatter Plot

library(plotly)

mtcars$am[which(mtcars$am == 0)] <- 'Automatic'
mtcars$am[which(mtcars$am == 1)] <- 'Manual'
mtcars$am <- as.factor(mtcars$am)

fig <- plot_ly(mtcars, x = ~wt, y = ~hp, z = ~qsec, color = ~am, colors = c('#BF382A', '#0C4B8E'))
fig <- fig %>% add_markers()
fig <- fig %>% layout(scene = list(xaxis = list(title = 'Weight'),
                     yaxis = list(title = 'Gross horsepower'),
                     zaxis = list(title = '1/4 mile time')))

fig

3D Scatter Plot with Color Scaling

library(plotly)

fig <- plot_ly(mtcars, x = ~wt, y = ~hp, z = ~qsec,
               marker = list(color = ~mpg, colorscale = c('#FFE1A1', '#683531'), showscale = TRUE))
fig <- fig %>% add_markers()
fig <- fig %>% layout(scene = list(xaxis = list(title = 'Weight'),
                                   yaxis = list(title = 'Gross horsepower'),
                                   zaxis = list(title = '1/4 mile time')),
                      annotations = list(
                        x = 1.13,
                        y = 1.05,
                        text = 'Miles/(US) gallon',
                        xref = 'paper',
                        yref = 'paper',
                        showarrow = FALSE
                        ))
fig

3D Bubble Plot

library(plotly)

data <- read.csv("https://raw.githubusercontent.com/plotly/datasets/master/gapminderDataFiveYear.csv")

data_2007 <- data[which(data$year == 2007),]
data_2007 <- data_2007[order(data_2007$continent, data_2007$country),]
data_2007$size <- data_2007$pop
colors <- c('#4AC6B7', '#1972A4', '#965F8A', '#FF7070', '#C61951')

fig <- plot_ly(data_2007, x = ~gdpPercap, y = ~lifeExp, z = ~pop, color = ~continent, size = ~size, colors = colors,
             marker = list(symbol = 'circle', sizemode = 'diameter'), sizes = c(5, 150),
             text = ~paste('Country:', country, '<br>Life Expectancy:', lifeExp, '<br>GDP:', gdpPercap,
                           '<br>Pop.:', pop))
fig <- fig %>% layout(title = 'Life Expectancy v. Per Capita GDP, 2007',
         scene = list(xaxis = list(title = 'GDP per capita (2000 dollars)',
                      gridcolor = 'rgb(255, 255, 255)',
                      range = c(2.003297660701705, 5.191505530708712),
                      type = 'log',
                      zerolinewidth = 1,
                      ticklen = 5,
                      gridwidth = 2),
               yaxis = list(title = 'Life Expectancy (years)',
                      gridcolor = 'rgb(255, 255, 255)',
                      range = c(36.12621671352166, 91.72921793264332),
                      zerolinewidth = 1,
                      ticklen = 5,
                      gridwith = 2),
               zaxis = list(title = 'Population',
                            gridcolor = 'rgb(255, 255, 255)',
                            type = 'log',
                            zerolinewidth = 1,
                            ticklen = 5,
                            gridwith = 2)),
         paper_bgcolor = 'rgb(243, 243, 243)',
         plot_bgcolor = 'rgb(243, 243, 243)')

fig

Reference

See https://plotly.com/r/reference/#scatter3d for more information and chart attribute options!

What About Dash?

Dash for R 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 for R at https://dashr.plot.ly/installation.

Everywhere in this page that you see fig, you can display the same figure in a Dash for R application by passing it to the figure argument of the Graph component from the built-in dashCoreComponents package like this:

library(plotly)

fig <- plot_ly() 
# fig <- fig %>% add_trace( ... )
# fig <- fig %>% layout( ... ) 

library(dash)
library(dashCoreComponents)
library(dashHtmlComponents)

app <- Dash$new()
app$layout(
    htmlDiv(
        list(
            dccGraph(figure=fig) 
        )
     )
)

app$run_server(debug=TRUE, dev_tools_hot_reload=FALSE)