How To Make A 3d Effect On Bars In Matplotlib?

I have a very simple basic bar's graphic like this one but i want to display the bars with some 3d effect, like this I just want the bars to have that 3d effect...my code is: fi

Solution 1:

I certainly understand your reason for needing a 3d bar plot; i suspect that's why they were created.

The libraries ('toolkits') in Matplotlib required to create 3D plots are not third-party libraries, etc., rather they are included in the base Matplotlib installation. (This is true for the current stable version, which is 1.0, though i don't believe it was for 0.98, so the change--from 'add-on' to part of the base install--occurred within the past year, i believe)

So here you are:

from mpl_toolkits.mplot3d import Axes3D
import matplotlib.pyplot as PLT
import numpy as NP

fig = PLT.figure()
ax1 = fig.add_subplot(111, projection='3d')

xpos = NP.random.randint(1, 10, 10)
ypos = NP.random.randint(1, 10, 10)
num_elements = 10
zpos = NP.zeros(num_elements)
dx = NP.ones(10)
dy = NP.ones(10)
dz = NP.random.randint(1, 5, 10)

ax1.bar3d(xpos, ypos, zpos, dx, dy, dz, color='#8E4585')
PLT.show()

To create 3d bars in Maplotlib, you just need to do three (additional) things:

1. import Axes3D from mpl_toolkits.mplot3d

2. call the bar3d method (in my scriptlet, it's called by ax1 an instance of the Axes class). The method signature:

   bar3d(x, y, z, dy, dz, color='b', zsort="average", *args, **kwargs)

3. pass in an additional argument to add_subplot, projection='3d'

Solution 2:

As far as I know Matplotlib doesn't by design support features like the "3D" effect you just mentioned. I remember reading about this some time back. I don't know it has changed in the meantime.

See this discussion thread for more details.

Update

Take a look at John Porter's mplot3d module. This is not a part of standard matplotlib but a custom extension. Never used it myself so can't say much about its usefulness.