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I have a problem with drawing a 3d plot in TikZ. I have a matrix of size (n*m) n is the number of points in the x-direction and m is the number of points in the y-direction and the values in the matrix are the z coordinates. For example the array matrix in (1,2) in z value for point 1 in x direction and point 2 in y direction. How can I plot this matrix in LaTeX?

EDIT Here is a sample of the matrix I would like to plot (z coordinate), with the row index as the x coordinate and the column index as the y coordinate:

(1.0514 ,1.1092 ,1.2479,1.383, 1.4261) 
(1.1294 ,1.247, 1.36, 1.392, 1.304) 
(1.1049,1.1466, 1.2459, 1.3397, 1.362) 
(1.1257,1.161, 1.2445, 1.3218, 1.3356)
Ludovic C.
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Hana
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  • can you include a small portion of your data to make sure you are looking for either a scatter plot or a surface parametrization? – percusse Sep 22 '13 at 13:30
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    you can edit your question instead – percusse Sep 22 '13 at 13:58
  • a part of my matrix is in the following and I want to plot a surface, (1.0514 ,1.1092 ,1.2479,1.383, 1.4261 ) (1.1294 ,1.247, 1.36, 1.392, 1.304 ) (1.1049,1.1466, 1.2459, 1.3397, 1.362 ) (1.1257,1.161, 1.2445, 1.3218, 1.3356) – Hana Sep 22 '13 at 14:04

1 Answers1

6

Using the data you provided, here is a simple way to plot the surface:

\documentclass{article}

\usepackage{pgfplots}

\begin{document}

\begin{tikzpicture} 
\begin{axis} 
\addplot3[surf] coordinates{
(0,0,1.0514) (0,1,1.1092) (0,2,1.2479) (0,3,1.3830) (0,4,1.4261)

(1,0,1.1294) (1,1,1.2470) (1,2,1.3600) (1,3,1.3920) (1,4,1.3040)

(2,0,1.1049) (2,1,1.1466) (2,2,1.2459) (2,3,1.3397) (2,4,1.3620)

(3,0,1.1257) (3,1,1.1610) (3,2,1.2445) (3,3,1.3218) (3,4,1.3356)
};
\end{axis}
\end{tikzpicture}

\end{document}

It yields this output

Output

Remark 1 This is a very simple code and it is possible to much more complex things using the pgfplots (cf this webpage).

Remark 2 If your matrix is big, you may want to process it first to get the coordinates in a file rather than entering them manually. For this many options are available using different softwares.

EDIT Another method for the same output (and for big matrices), the idea is adapted from this answer:

\documentclass{article}

\usepackage{pgfplots}
\pgfplotsset{compat=newest}
\usepgfplotslibrary{groupplots} 

\begin{document}

\begin{tikzpicture}
\begin{axis}[view={-65}{45}]
\addplot3[raw gnuplot,surf]
            gnuplot[id={surf}]{%
set pm3d map interpolate 0,0;
splot 'data.txt' matrix using 1:2:($3);};
\end{axis}
\end{tikzpicture}

%This part of the code is here only for comparison purpose
\begin{tikzpicture} 
\begin{axis}[view={-65}{45}]
\addplot3[surf] coordinates{
(0,0,1.0514) (1,0,1.1092) (2,0,1.2479) (3,0,1.3830) (4,0,1.4261)

(0,1,1.1294) (1,1,1.2470) (2,1,1.3600) (3,1,1.3920) (4,1,1.3040)

(0,2,1.1049) (1,2,1.1466) (2,2,1.2459) (3,2,1.3397) (4,2,1.3620)

(0,3,1.1257) (1,3,1.1610) (2,3,1.2445) (3,3,1.3218) (4,3,1.3356)
};
\end{axis}
\end{tikzpicture}

\end{document}

NOTE The data.txt file is the following

1.0514 1.1092 1.2479 1.3830 1.4261
1.1294 1.2470 1.3600 1.3920 1.3040
1.1049 1.1466 1.2459 1.3397 1.3620
1.1257 1.1610 1.2445 1.3218 1.3356

And its output:

Second Output

Community
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Ludovic C.
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  • Is there any way to plot 3D in Latex without reshaping my Matrix? – Hana Sep 22 '13 at 18:28
  • @Hana In which kind of file is your matrix stored? Which format exactly are you using within this file? – Ludovic C. Sep 22 '13 at 18:50
  • @Hana See my edit for plotting directly your matrix without reshaping it (or at least not with LaTeX ;)). – Ludovic C. Sep 22 '13 at 19:24
  • my data is in txt format, thank you for your Helpful answer Ludovic. – Hana Sep 22 '13 at 19:31
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    Typically, matrix data is serialized either in rowwise ordering or in column-wise ordering and is written to a file (i.e. one triple X Y Z per line). This is understood out-of-the-box by pgfplots and its \addplot table handle. – Christian Feuersänger Sep 23 '13 at 18:40