How to turn off transparency in Matplotlib's 3D Scatter plot?

In Matplotlib's 3D scatter plot, transparency effects can make data points appear faded or overlapped. To create solid, non-transparent scatter points, you need to control the alpha and depthshade parameters.

Key Parameters

Two main parameters control transparency in 3D scatter plots:

• alpha − Controls overall transparency (0=transparent, 1=opaque)
• depthshade − When False, prevents automatic depth-based shading

Example

Here's how to create a 3D scatter plot with no transparency effects ?

import numpy as np
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
from mpl_toolkits.mplot3d import Axes3D

# Set figure size
plt.rcParams["figure.figsize"] = [8, 6]
plt.rcParams["figure.autolayout"] = True

# Create figure and 3D axis
fig = plt.figure()
ax = fig.add_subplot(111, projection='3d')

# Generate random data points
N = 50
x = np.random.rand(N)
y = np.random.rand(N) 
z = np.random.rand(N)

# Create scatter plot with no transparency
ax.scatter(x, y, z, c=y, cmap='viridis', alpha=1.0, depthshade=False, s=50)

# Add labels
ax.set_xlabel('X axis')
ax.set_ylabel('Y axis')
ax.set_zlabel('Z axis')
ax.set_title('3D Scatter Plot - No Transparency')

plt.show()

Comparison

With vs Without Transparency

Compare the effects of different transparency settings ?

import numpy as np
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt

# Create sample data
N = 30
x = np.random.rand(N)
y = np.random.rand(N)
z = np.random.rand(N)

# Create subplots for comparison
fig = plt.figure(figsize=(12, 5))

# Plot 1: With transparency effects
ax1 = fig.add_subplot(121, projection='3d')
ax1.scatter(x, y, z, c=z, cmap='plasma', alpha=0.6, depthshade=True, s=60)
ax1.set_title('With Transparency (alpha=0.6, depthshade=True)')

# Plot 2: Without transparency effects  
ax2 = fig.add_subplot(122, projection='3d')
ax2.scatter(x, y, z, c=z, cmap='plasma', alpha=1.0, depthshade=False, s=60)
ax2.set_title('No Transparency (alpha=1.0, depthshade=False)')

plt.tight_layout()
plt.show()

Conclusion

Set alpha=1.0 and depthshade=False to turn off transparency in 3D scatter plots. This creates solid, clearly visible data points without any depth-based fading effects.