Chris suggested this PR for plotting this 3d heat map type plot.

cmeutils/plotting.py

@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
+import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
 import numpy as np
 
-
 def get_histogram(data, normalize=False, bins="auto"):
     """Bins a 1-D array of data into a histogram using
     the numpy.histogram method.
@@ -31,3 +31,63 @@ def get_histogram(data, normalize=False, bins="auto"):
     bin_widths = np.diff(bin_borders)
     bin_centers = bin_borders[:-1] + bin_widths / 2
     return bin_centers, bin_heights
+
+def threedplot(
+    x,
+    y,
+    z,
+    xlabel = "xlabel",
+    ylabel = "ylabel",
+    zlabel = "zlabel",
+    plot_name = "plot_name"
+    ):
+
+    '''Plot a 3d heat map from 3 lists of numbers. This function is useful
+    for plotting a dependent variable as a function of two independent variables.
+    In the example below we use f(x,y)= -x^2 - y^2 +6 because it looks cool.
+
+    Example
+    -------
+
+    We create two indepent variables and a dependent variable in the z axis and
+    plot the result. Here z is the equation of an elliptic paraboloid.
+
+    import random
+
+    x = []
+    for i in range(0,1000):
+        n = random.uniform(-20,20)
+        x.append(n)
+
+    y = []
+    for i in range(0,1000):
+        n = random.uniform(-20,20)
+        y.append(n)
+
+    z = []
+    for i in range(0,len(x)):
+        z.append(-x[i]**2 - y[i]**2 +6)
+
+    fig = threedplot(x,y,z)
+    fig.show()
+
+    Parameters
+    ----------
+
+    x,y,z : list of int/floats
+
+    xlabel, ylabel, zlabel : str
+
+    plot_name : str
+
+
+    '''
+    fig = plt.figure(figsize = (10, 10), facecolor = 'white')
+    ax = plt.axes(projection='3d')
+    ax.set_xlabel(xlabel,fontdict=dict(weight='bold'),fontsize=12)
+    ax.set_ylabel(ylabel,fontdict=dict(weight='bold'),fontsize=12)
+    ax.set_zlabel(zlabel,fontdict=dict(weight='bold'),fontsize=12)
+    p = ax.scatter(x, y, z, c=z, cmap='rainbow', linewidth=7);
+    plt.colorbar(p, pad = .1, aspect = 2.3)
+
+    return fig

cmeutils/tests/test_plotting.py

@@ -2,6 +2,8 @@
 import pytest
 
 from cmeutils.plotting import get_histogram
+from cmeutils.plotting import threedplot
+
 from base_test import BaseTest
 
 
@@ -16,3 +18,9 @@ def test_histogram_normalize(self):
         bin_c, bin_h = get_histogram(sample, normalize=True)
         assert all(bin_h <= 1)
 
+    def test_3dplot(self):
+        x = [1,2,3,4,5]
+        y = [1,2,3,4,5]
+        z = [1,2,3,4,5]
+        threedplot(x,y,z)
+