How to animate 3D plot_surface in Matplotlib?

To animate 3D plot_surface in Matplotlib, we can create dynamic surface plots that change over time. This technique is useful for visualizing time-dependent data or mathematical functions that evolve.

Key Components

The animation requires several key components ?

• Initialize variables for number of mesh grids (N), frequency per second (fps), and frame numbers (frn)
• Create x, y and z arrays for the surface mesh
• Make a function to generate z-array values for each frame
• Define an update function that removes the previous plot and creates a new surface
• Use FuncAnimation to orchestrate the animation

Example

Here's a complete example that animates a 3D Gaussian surface ?

import numpy as np
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
import matplotlib.animation as animation

plt.rcParams["figure.figsize"] = [7.50, 3.50]
plt.rcParams["figure.autolayout"] = True

# Animation parameters
N = 50
fps = 250
frn = 75

# Create mesh grid
x = np.linspace(-4, 4, N + 1)
x, y = np.meshgrid(x, x)
zarray = np.zeros((N + 1, N + 1, frn))

# Define function to animate
f = lambda x, y, sig: 1 / np.sqrt(sig) * np.exp(-(x ** 2 + y ** 2) / sig ** 2)

# Generate z-values for each frame
for i in range(frn):
   zarray[:, :, i] = f(x, y, 1.5 + np.sin(i * 2 * np.pi / frn))

def change_plot(frame_number, zarray, plot):
    plot[0].remove()
    plot[0] = ax.plot_surface(x, y, zarray[:, :, frame_number], cmap="afmhot_r")

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

# Initial plot
plot = [ax.plot_surface(x, y, zarray[:, :, 0], color='0.75', rstride=1, cstride=1)]

# Set axis properties
ax.set_zlim(0, 1.1)
ax.axis('off')

# Create animation
ani = animation.FuncAnimation(fig, change_plot, frn, fargs=(zarray, plot), interval=1000 / fps)

plt.show()

Output

How It Works

The animation works by creating multiple z-arrays for different time frames. The change_plot function removes the previous surface and draws a new one for each frame. The FuncAnimation class manages the timing and calls the update function repeatedly.

Key Parameters

• N − Controls mesh resolution (higher = smoother surface)
• fps − Frames per second for animation speed
• frn − Total number of animation frames
• interval − Time between frames in milliseconds

Conclusion

Animating 3D surfaces in Matplotlib requires creating multiple z-arrays and using FuncAnimation to update the plot. This technique is perfect for visualizing dynamic mathematical functions or time-series data in three dimensions.