gnuplot Cookbook

Drawing parametric surfaces

gnuplot allows us to define surfaces parametrically, which allows us to plot complex and possibly self-intersecting shapes.

The previous figure shows a surface that slices through itself in 3D.

How to do it…

Following is the script for the previous figure:

set param
set iso 50
set ztics .5
set xtics .4
set ytics .4
set urange [-pi:pi]
set vrange [-pi:pi]
set hidd
splot cos(u)*cos(v), sin(u)*cos(v), sin(u)

How it works…

As in the previous recipe, we provide the x, y, and z components, but the provision of components that depend on both parameters (u and v) defines a surface rather than merely a path through the 3D space.

There's ...