Panning is done by clicking the middle mouse button, and zooming is done by

right-clicking the scene and dragging the mouse up and down. Unlike 2D plots,

the toolbar pan and zoom buttons are not used.

mplot3d/view_angles.rst

.. _toolkit_mplot3d-view-angles:

mplot3d View Angles

How to define the view angle

The position of the viewport "camera" in a 3D plot is defined by three angles:

elevation, azimuth, and roll. From that position it always points towards the

center of the plot box volume. The angle direction convention is shared with

`PyVista <https://www.pyvista.org/>`_ and MATLAB (though MATLAB lacks a roll

angle).

.. image:: /_static/mplot3d_view_angles.png

:align: center

Rotating the plot using the mouse will control only the azimuth and elevation,

but all three angles can be set programmatically.

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt

ax = plt.figure().add_subplot(projection='3d')

ax.view_init(elev=30, azim=45, roll=15)

Primary view planes

To look directly at the primary view planes, the required elevation, azimuth,

and roll angles are shown in the diagram of an "unfolded" plot below. These are

further documented in the `.mplot3d.axes3d.Axes3D.view_init` API.

.. image:: /_static/mplot3d_primary_view_planes.png

:align: center