1.14.1 Surface plotting

The surface plot style is similar to the colormap and contourmap plot styles, but produces maps of the values $$$$ z(x,y) $of functions of two variables using three-dimensional surfaces. The surface is displayed as a grid of four-sided elements, whose number may be specified using the {\tt set samples} command\index{set samples command@{\tt set samples} command}, as in the example \begin{verbatim} set samples grid 40x40 \end{verbatim} If data is supplied from a data file, then it is first re-sampled onto a regular grid using one of the methods described in Section~ \ref{sec:colormaps}. The example below plots a surface indicating the magnitude of the imaginary part of$ (x+iy) $: \vspace{2mm} \input{examples/tex/ex_ surface_ log_1.tex} \vspace{2mm} \centerline{\includegraphics[width=10cm]{examples/eps/ex_ surface_ log}} \vspace{2mm} \upshape \mdseries \rm \vspace{-5mm} \begin{longtable}{|>{\columncolor {LightGrey}}p{\textwidth }|} In this example, we plot a surface showing the value of the expression \end{longtable}$ x^3/20+y^2 $, and project below it a series of contours in the$ (x,y) $plane. \vspace{3mm}\\ \noindent \input{examples/tex/ex_ surface_ polynomial_1.tex} \vspace{3mm}\\ \noindent \begin{center} \includegraphics[width=10cm]{examples/eps/ex_ surface_ polynomial} \end{center}$

In this example, we produce a surface showing the function

$$$$ sinc(r) $where$ r=x^2+y^2 $. To produce a prettier result, we vary the color of the surface such that the hue of the surface varies with azimuthal position, its saturation varies with radius$ r $, and its brightness varies with height$ z $. \vspace{3mm}\\ \noindent \input{examples/tex/ex_ surface_ sinc_1.tex} \vspace{3mm}\\ \noindent \begin{center} \includegraphics[width=10cm]{examples/eps/ex_ surface_ sinc} \end{center}$