Set 3D Maple plot options

These 3D Maple plot options are:

  • Used within the plot statement argument (plotstatement) of the plotmaple command.
  • Entered with plot3d at the beginning of the plotstatment argument.
  • Entered as equations of the form of option=value after the function(s), horizontal range, and vertical range. Exampleplotmaple("plot3d(sin(x)*y, x=-Pi..Pi, y=-1..1, lightmodel=light1)");

IMPORTANT: You can only have 1 set of quotations in your plotmaple function.

Example$a=plotmaple("plot3d(x^2+y^2, x=-5..5, y=-5..5, axes="normal")"); will give an error.

Example$a=plotmaple("plot3d(x^2+y^2, x=-5..5, y=-5..5, axes=`normal`)"); will be displayed properly.

TIP: Check out Set 2D Maple plot options to create 2D Maple plots.

Available 3D Maple plot options

TIP: Check out MapleTM Online Help for more details on 3D Maple plot options.

3D Maple plot option

Default setting (if applicable)

Description
ambientlight 
  • ambientlight=[r, g, b]

Sets the red, green, and blue intensity of the ambient light for user-defined lighting.

r, g, and b values must be numeric in the range 0 to 1.

axesboxed
  • axes=f

Specifies the type of axes.

Choose from: boxed, frame, none, or normal.

axesfont 
  • axesfont=l

Font for the labels on the tick marks of the axes (specified in the same manner as font).

Overrides values specified for font.

axis 
  • axis=t or axis[dir]=t

Specifies information about the x -axis, y-axis, and z-axis.

axis=t applies the information given in t to all 3 axes.

axis[dir]=t allows the information to be specified for a single axis or 2 axes, with dir taking the value 1 ( x -axis), 2 ( y -axis), and 3 (z-axis), or a sequence of 2 of these values.

TIP: Check out MapleTM Online Help for more information on axis.

captionno caption
  • caption=c

The caption for the plot.

The value of c must be a string or a list consisting of the caption followed by the captionfont option.

TIP: You can create multi-line captions for standard plots. Use the characters \n to start a new caption line.

TIP: Check out MapleTM Online Help for more information on caption.

captionfont 
  • captionfont=l

Specifies the font for a plot caption (specified in the same manner as font).

Overrides values specified for font.

color 
  • color=c or colour=c

Specifies the color of the plot.

c should be spelled without capital letters. Exampleblue, not Blue.

NOTE: Color specification takes precedence over shading specification, regardless of the order of the options in the command.

TIP: Check out MapleTM Online Help for more information on color.

contours10
  • contours=n

Specifies the number of contours or a list of contour values.

n is a positive integer or a list of contour values.

coordsCartesian
  • coords=c

The coordinate system.

The value c is a choice from the list of coords.

TIP: Check out MapleTM Online Help for more information on coords.

filled 
  • filled=true/false or list

If set to true, the area between the surface and the x-y plane is given a solid color.

The value of the filled option can also be a list containing 1 or more sub-options (color, style, or transparency).

The options in the list are applied only to the filled area, and not to the original surface itself.

NOTE: This option doesn't work with non-Cartesian coordinate systems.

filledregions 
  • filledregions=true/false

If set to true, the regions defined by the curves on a surface are filled with different colors.

Only valid with the following commands: contourplot3d, listcontplot3d, and plot3d with the style=contour option.

NOTE: This option doesn't work with non-Cartesian coordinate systems.

font 
  • font=l

Defines the font for the plot title, caption, axis tickmark labels, and axis labels if no values have been specified for the axesfont, captionfont, labelfont, or titlefont options.

The value l is a list of the form [family, style, size].

The value of family can be: Times, Courier, Helvetica, or Symbol.

TIP: family can also be any font name supported by your system. Example — Tahoma and Lucida in Windows.

NOTE: The first letter of the family value must be capitalized.

style can be omitted or can be: roman, bold, italic, bolditalic, oblique, or boldoblique.

NOTE: The Symbol family doesn't accept a style option.

size is the point size to be used.

glossiness1
  • glossiness=g

Specifies the glossiness of a plotted surface.

g controls the amount of light reflected from the surface and must evaluate to a floating-point number in the range 0 to 1.

A g value of 0 results in no light reflected, giving the surface a matte or dull finish.

A g value of 1 results in maximum reflection, giving a glossy finish.

NOTE: Reflections can be rendered only if point light sources are enabled, such as:

  • A built-in light models
  • User-specified lightmodel with at least 1 light source must be enabled, using the lightmodel or light option.
grid[49, 49]
  • grid=[m,n]

Specifies the dimensions of a rectangular grid on which the points are generated (equally spaced).

NOTE: The value of the grid option may affect the look of the surface wireframe. For more information, see the note under the style option below.

NOTE: The surface is rendered using the specified grid option and can affect the look of the surface of the wireframe. When the style option is set to surfacewireframe, a wireframe corresponding to the grid is drawn. Some gridlines may be omitted to avoid a very dense wireframe.

gridstyle 
  • gridstyle=x

Specifies the grid shape.

x can be: rectangular or triangular.

NOTE: This option is not available for all 3-D plot objects. Examplegridstyle has no effect on polyhedra created with the plots[polyhedraplot] command or with the plot3d command combined with the filled=true option.

labeldirectionshorizontal
  • labeldirections=[x, y, z]

Specifies the direction in which labels are printed along the axes.

The values of x, y, and z must be horizontal or vertical.

NOTE:  The axes option must be set to boxed, frame, or normal.

labelfont 
  • labelfont=l

Font for the labels on the axes of the plot (specified in the same manner as font).

Overrides values specified for font.

labelsthe names of the variables in the original function to be plotted (if available)
  • labels=[x, y, z]

Specifies labels for the axes.

If labels aren't specified and there aren't available variable names in the plotted function, no labels are applied.

x, y, and z must be a string.

light 
  • light=[phi, theta, r, g, b]

Adds a directed light source from the direction of phi, theta in spherical coordinates.

Red, green, and blue intensities are given by r, g, and b.

r, g, and b must be numeric in the range 0 to 1.

lightmodellight3
  • lightmodel=x

Selects a predefined light model to illuminate the plot.

Valid light models: none, light1, light2, light3, and light4.

NOTE: The value x must be in lowercase.

linestylesolid
  • linestyle=t

Controls the line style of curves.

t can be an integer from 1 to 7, where each integer represents a line style, as given in the order of: (1) solid, (2) dot, (3) dash, (4) dashdot, (5) longdash, (6) spacedash, or (7) spacedot.

t can also be the name of an available line styles. Exampledash

numpoints49
  • numpoints=n

Specifies the minimum number of points to be generated for a curve or a surface.

NOTE: If numpoints=n option is defined, then the plot3d command uses a rectangular grid of dimension isqrt(n+3)+1. Otherwise, the plot3d command uses the default value for the grid option.

orientation[55, 75, 0] (if the orientation option is not specified)
  • orientation=[theta, phi, psi]

Orientation is specified by angles in degrees.

psi defines the plot rotation about the x-axis.

phi defines the plot rotation (transformation) about the y-axis.

theta defines the plot rotation (transformation) about the z-axis.

These angles are the Euler angles for the transformation matrix, using the axes specified.

The angle psi is optional and is assumed to be 0 if not given.

projectionorthogonal
  • projection=r

Specifies the perspective from which the surface is viewed.

r is a real number between 0 and 1.

1 results in orthogonal projection.

0 results in wide-angle perspective rendering.

r can also be: fisheye(0), normal(0.5), or orthogonal(1).

scalingunconstrained (plot is scaled to fit the window)
  • scaling=s

Specifies the scaling of the graph.

The constrained value causes all axes to use the same scale. Example — A sphere appears perfectly round.

shading(device-dependent)
  • shading=s

Specifies how the surface is colored.

s can be: xy, xyz, z, zgrayscale, zhue, or none.

NOTE: The color option takes precedence over the shading option, regardless of the order of the options in the command.

size 
  • size=[w,h]

Specifies the size of the plot window.

You can set the size of the plot window by specifying the number of pixels, a proportion of worksheet width, a ratio (Example — a square), the golden ratio, or a custom ratio.

w (width) must be a positive numeric value or the string default.

h (height) must be a positive numeric value, or: default, golden, or square.

If w or h is a number greater than or equal to 10, it specifies the number of pixels for the width or height.

If w or h is default, then the default size (which may be interface-specific) is used.

If w is a number less than 10, then the plot window width is w multiplied by the width of the worksheet.

NOTE: This form for w is ignored if the plot is part of a plot array.

If h is a number less than 10, then the height is h multiplied by the width of the plot window as given by w.

If h is square, then this is equivalent to h having the value 1.0.

If h is golden, then this is equivalent to h having the value equal to the reciprocal of the golden ratio ( 1/2 + sqrt(5)/2 ).

stylesurfacewireframe
  • style=s

The plot style can be: surface (patchnogrid), surfacewireframe (patch), contour, surfacecontour (patchcontour), wireframe (line), wireframeopaque (hidden), point, or pointline.

surface results in a colored surface patch rendering.

wireframe produce a wireframe.

contour produce contour lines.

wireframeopaque produces a wireframe over an opaque surface.

point results in a plot of the sample points only.

NOTE: The surface is rendered using the specified grid option. When the style option is set to surfacewireframe, a wireframe corresponding to the grid is drawn. Some gridlines may be omitted to avoid a very dense wireframe.

symbolplot device-specific if style=point
  • symbol=s

Specifies the symbol to use for plotted points.

Choose from: asterisk, box, circle, cross, diagonalcross, diamond, point, solidsphere, or sphere.

symbolsize10
  • symbolsize=n

The size (in points) of a symbol used in plotting can be given by a positive integer.

NOTE: This doesn't affect symbol=point.

thickness0
  • thickness=n

Specifies the thickness of lines in the plot.

n must be a non-negative number.

A value of 0 produces the thinnest line that looks good in most contexts.

tickmarks 
  • tickmarks=[m, n, p]

m, n, and z specify the tickmark placement for the x-axis, y-axis, and z-axis, respectively.

Choose from: an integer specifying the number of tickmarks, a list of values specifying locations, a list of equations each having the form location=label, a name, or a spacing structure.

For greater control over the appearance of tickmarks, use the axis option.

If the axis option is also provided and contains a tickmarks sub-option, then that option overrides this tickmarks option.

TIP: Check out MapleTM Online Help for more information on tickmarks.

titleno title
  • title=t

The title for the plot.

t must be a string or a list consisting of the title followed by the font option.

TIP: You can create multi-line titles for standard plots. Use the characters \n to start a new title line.

TIP: Check out MapleTM Online Help for more information on title.

titlefont 
  • titlefont=l

Font for the title of the plot (specified in the same manner as font).

Overrides values specified for font.

transparency 
  • transparency=t

Specifies the transparency of the plot surface.

t must evaluate to a floating-point number in the range 0 to 1.

A value of 0 means opaque.

A value of 1 means fully transparent.

viewentire surface
  • view=zmin..zmax or [xmin..xmax, ymin..ymax, zmin..zmax]

Indicates the minimum and maximum coordinates of the surface to be displayed on the screen.

viewpoint 
  • viewpoint=v

Allows you to create an animation by varying the viewpoint through a 3-D plot, as if a camera were flying through the plot.

v is a name or list of sub-options that defines the camera path.

NOTE: If the same option is provided more than once with different values, then the final value specified is generally the setting that's used.

TIP: Check out MapleTM Online Help for more information on viewpoint.

Examples of 3D Maple plots

Here are some examples of using 3D Maple plot options within the plotstatement argument:

Example 1

Use the following 3D Maple plot options:

  • lightmodel = light1

Enter into the Algorithm Editor:

$a=plotmaple("plot3d(sin(x)*y, x=-Pi..Pi, y=-1..1, lightmodel=light1)");

  • Returns:

Example 2

Use the following 3D Maple plot options:

  • axes = normal

Enter into the Algorithm Editor:

$a=plotmaple("plot3d(x^2+y^2, x=-5..5, y=-5..5, axes=normal)");

  • Returns:

Example 3

Use the following 3D Maple plot options:

  • coords = toroidal(10)
  • scaling = constrained
  • style = contour

Enter into the Algorithm Editor:

$a=plotmaple("plot3d([1, x, y], x = 0 .. 2*Pi, y = 0 .. 2*Pi, coords = toroidal(10), scaling = constrained, style = contour)");

  • Returns:

Example 4

Use the following 3D Maple plot options:

  • viewpoint = `circleleft`, frames=20

Enter into the Algorithm Editor:

$a=plotmaple("plot3d(sin(x+y), x=-5..5, y=-5..5, viewpoint=`circleleft`, frames=20)");

NOTE: This example has animation using the viewpoint option!

  • Returns: