Re: [Matplotlib-users] mplot3d stays?

[John H. <jd...@gm...>]

On Sun, Feb 21, 2010 at 4:02 PM, Ben Axelrod <BAx...@co...> wrote:
> I am not a MPL developer,

You are now :-)

> but I am using mplot3d quite heavily right now to support 3D plots for a client of mine.  I have found many bugs and
> lacking features which I require in the mplot3d library and have modified my local copy of the code significantly.  I am
> eagerly awaiting Reinier's return from vacation so that I can work with him to integrate my improvements.  For the most
> part, these fixes simply make the 3D plots behave more like the 2D plots.  Here is a tentative list of my changes so far:
>
>  * bug fix: placement of title in 3D plots to match 2D plot behavior
>  * bug fix: allow facecolors and edgecolors to be specified as 'none' in 3D scatter plots to match the 2D scatter plot behavior
>  * bug fix: allow all keyword arguments to be used in text3D
>  * bug fix: allow an array of colors to be passed into bar3d to specify the colors on a per-bar or per-face basis
>  * bug fix: allow all keyword arguments to be used in bar3d
>  * bug fix: allow 3d scatter plots with 3 or 4 points with colors specified
>  * new feature: new method to disable mouse rotation in 3D plots
>  * new feature: new Z-order sorting heuristic to eliminate rendering issues for the common case of using bar3d to visualize a 2D histogram
>  * new feature: new method text2D
>  * code cleanup: warn when canvas is None which disables mouse callbacks
>  * code cleanup: fully document more methods in mplot3d


I'd be happy to take a look at this patch and commit it - Reinier can
review it and make any necessary changes when he gets back.

> Although I haven't written them yet, I can probably create a couple more example codes:
>  * example code: demonstrate use of transform() to do rectangle selection in 3D scatter plots
>  * example code: mplot3d with wx - demonstrate turning off mouse rotations to make pan and zoom toolbar buttons work properly
>
> There are a few other bugs that I would really like fixed, but can't quite figure out right now.  Hopefully Reinier will be able to shed some light on these:
>  * axis label picking for 3D axes
>  * how to set axis tick label properties for 3D axes
>  * allow 3d boxes with transparent faces to make "wireframe" boxes
>  * fix z-order sorting across multiple calls to bar3d()
>
> I should note that because of my client, I have a vested interest in seeing mplot3d (with the above bug fixes) make it
> into a stable release of MPL.  But at the same time, I don't have a lot of spare time to spend on MPL development.

I see no reason why they can't make it into the (overdue, upcoming)
1.0 if you can get a patch together in the next week or two.

JDH