.. _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 the resulting position, it always points towards the center of the plot box volume. The angle direction is a common convention, and is shared with `PyVista `_ and `MATLAB `_ (though MATLAB lacks a roll angle). Note that a positive roll angle rotates the viewing plane clockwise, so the 3d axes will appear to rotate counter-clockwise. .. image:: /_static/mplot3d_view_angles.png :align: center :scale: 50 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. .. plot:: gallery/mplot3d/view_planes_3d.py :align: center