Interchange location of y and z axis in 3D matplotlib plot
Question:
By default, plotting a set of points (or whatever) in 3D with matplotlib, locates the z axis vertically, as seen here (code below):
I need to interchange the z and y axis, so that that y axis is shown vertically.
I’ve looked around but found no way to tell matplotlib to do this.
Add: I do not want to have to resort to a hack where I interchange the data and labels. This is a simple 3 points 3D plot, but I have to plot much more complicated surfaces. I’m looking for a general solution, not just something that works with scatter plots. A simple way to tell matplotlib to put the y axis vertically instead of the z axis is the clean way to do it.
MWE
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
from mpl_toolkits.mplot3d import Axes3D
fig = plt.figure()
ax = Axes3D(fig)
ax.scatter([0.2, 0.5, 0.8], [2.3, 0.47, 1.], [2.1, 5.3, 0.7])
ax.set_xlabel('x')
ax.set_ylabel('y')
ax.set_zlabel('z')
plt.show()
Answers:
One possibility is to interchange the position of y and z in the data and label accordingly. instead of
ax.scatter([0.2, 0.5, 0.8], [2.3, 0.47, 1.], [2.1, 5.3, 0.7])
use
ax.scatter([0.2, 0.5, 0.8], [2.1, 5.3, 0.7], [2.3, 0.47, 1.])
and label as ax.set_ylabel('z') and ax.set_zlabel('y')
I don’t think that this is currently possible. ax.view_init() would need to accept a third angle too.
I opened an issue over at github, https://github.com/matplotlib/matplotlib/issues/14453#issue-452397120, let’s hope someone is committed to implement this feature.
Update
The third view angle was recently implemented and has been merged into the matplotlib main branch: https://github.com/matplotlib/matplotlib/pull/21426
It should appear in Matplotlib 3.6.0.
Matplotlib 3.6.0 is now out, and allows you to set this third view angle via the command ax.view_init(elev, azim, roll). See the official documentation.
By default, plotting a set of points (or whatever) in 3D with matplotlib, locates the z axis vertically, as seen here (code below):
I need to interchange the z and y axis, so that that y axis is shown vertically.
I’ve looked around but found no way to tell matplotlib to do this.
Add: I do not want to have to resort to a hack where I interchange the data and labels. This is a simple 3 points 3D plot, but I have to plot much more complicated surfaces. I’m looking for a general solution, not just something that works with scatter plots. A simple way to tell matplotlib to put the y axis vertically instead of the z axis is the clean way to do it.
MWE
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
from mpl_toolkits.mplot3d import Axes3D
fig = plt.figure()
ax = Axes3D(fig)
ax.scatter([0.2, 0.5, 0.8], [2.3, 0.47, 1.], [2.1, 5.3, 0.7])
ax.set_xlabel('x')
ax.set_ylabel('y')
ax.set_zlabel('z')
plt.show()
One possibility is to interchange the position of y and z in the data and label accordingly. instead of
ax.scatter([0.2, 0.5, 0.8], [2.3, 0.47, 1.], [2.1, 5.3, 0.7])
use
ax.scatter([0.2, 0.5, 0.8], [2.1, 5.3, 0.7], [2.3, 0.47, 1.])
and label as ax.set_ylabel('z') and ax.set_zlabel('y')
I don’t think that this is currently possible. ax.view_init() would need to accept a third angle too.
I opened an issue over at github, https://github.com/matplotlib/matplotlib/issues/14453#issue-452397120, let’s hope someone is committed to implement this feature.
Update
The third view angle was recently implemented and has been merged into the matplotlib main branch: https://github.com/matplotlib/matplotlib/pull/21426
It should appear in Matplotlib 3.6.0.
Matplotlib 3.6.0 is now out, and allows you to set this third view angle via the command ax.view_init(elev, azim, roll). See the official documentation.