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# 3D Surface Plots in R

How to make interactive 3D surface plots in R.

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library(plotly)
packageVersion('plotly')

## [1] '4.9.1'


# Basic 3D Surface Plot

library(plotly)
# volcano is a numeric matrix that ships with R
p <- plot_ly(z = ~volcano) %>% add_surface()

p


# Surface Plot With Contours

library(plotly)
# volcano is a numeric matrix that ships with R
p <- plot_ly(z = ~volcano) %>% add_surface(
contours = list(
z = list(
show=TRUE,
usecolormap=TRUE,
highlightcolor="#ff0000",
project=list(z=TRUE)
)
)
) %>%
layout(
scene = list(
camera=list(
eye = list(x=1.87, y=0.88, z=-0.64)
)
)
)

p


### 2D Kernel Density Estimation

kd <- with(MASS::geyser, MASS::kde2d(duration, waiting, n = 50))
p <- plot_ly(x = kd$x, y = kd$y, z = kd\$z) %>% add_surface()

p


#### 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.

x = c(1,2,3,4,5)
y = c(1,2,3,4,5)
z = rbind(
c(0, 1, 0, 1, 0),
c(1, 0, 1, 0, 1),
c(0, 1, 0, 1, 0),
c(1, 0, 1, 0, 1),
c(0, 1, 0, 1, 0))

library(plotly)
p <- plot_ly(
type = 'surface',
contours = list(
x = list(show = TRUE, start = 1.5, end = 2, size = 0.04, color = 'white'),
z = list(show = TRUE, start = 0.5, end = 0.8, size = 0.05)),
x = ~x,
y = ~y,
z = ~z) %>%
layout(
scene = list(
xaxis = list(nticks = 20),
zaxis = list(nticks = 4),
camera = list(eye = list(x = 0, y = -1, z = 0.5)),
aspectratio = list(x = .9, y = .8, z = 0.2)))

p


### Multiple Surfaces

z <- c(
c(8.83,8.89,8.81,8.87,8.9,8.87),
c(8.89,8.94,8.85,8.94,8.96,8.92),
c(8.84,8.9,8.82,8.92,8.93,8.91),
c(8.79,8.85,8.79,8.9,8.94,8.92),
c(8.79,8.88,8.81,8.9,8.95,8.92),
c(8.8,8.82,8.78,8.91,8.94,8.92),
c(8.75,8.78,8.77,8.91,8.95,8.92),
c(8.8,8.8,8.77,8.91,8.95,8.94),
c(8.74,8.81,8.76,8.93,8.98,8.99),
c(8.89,8.99,8.92,9.1,9.13,9.11),
c(8.97,8.97,8.91,9.09,9.11,9.11),
c(9.04,9.08,9.05,9.25,9.28,9.27),
c(9,9.01,9,9.2,9.23,9.2),
c(8.99,8.99,8.98,9.18,9.2,9.19),
c(8.93,8.97,8.97,9.18,9.2,9.18)
)
dim(z) <- c(15,6)
z2 <- z + 1
z3 <- z - 1

p <- plot_ly(showscale = FALSE) %>%