Plotting 3D scatter plots

In this recipe, we will learn how to plot 3D scatterplots and visualize them in three dimensions.

How to do it…

1. Create a new Python file, and import the following packages:

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

2. Create the empty figure:

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

3. Define the number of values that we should generate:

   # Define the number of values
   n = 250

4. Create a lambda function to generate values in a given range:

   # Create a lambda function to generate the random values in the given range
   f = lambda minval, maxval, n: minval + (maxval - minval) * np.random.rand(n)

5. Generate X, Y, and Z values using this function:

   # Generate the values
   x_vals = f(15, 41, n)
   y_vals = f(-10, 70, n)
   z_vals = f(-52, -37, n)

6. Plot these values:

   # Plot the values
   ax.scatter(x_vals, y_vals, z_vals, c='k', marker='o')
   ax.set_xlabel('X axis')
   ax.set_ylabel...