Question

Does anyone have sample code for plotting ellipsoids? There is one for sphere on matplotlib site, but nothing for ellipsoids. I am trying to plot

x**2 + 2*y**2 + 2*z**2 = c

where c is a constant (like 10) that defines an ellipsoid. I tried the meshgrid(x,y) route, reworked the equation so z is on one side, but the sqrt is a problem. The matplotlib sphere example works with angles, u,v, but I am not sure how to work that for ellipsoid.

Answer 1

Here is how you can do it via spherical coordinates:

# from mpl_toolkits.mplot3d import Axes3D  # Not needed with Matplotlib 3.6.3
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
import numpy as np

fig = plt.figure(figsize=plt.figaspect(1))  # Square figure
ax = fig.add_subplot(111, projection='3d')

coefs = (1, 2, 2)  # Coefficients in a0/c x**2 + a1/c y**2 + a2/c z**2 = 1 
# Radii corresponding to the coefficients:
rx, ry, rz = 1/np.sqrt(coefs)

# Set of all spherical angles:
u = np.linspace(0, 2 * np.pi, 100)
v = np.linspace(0, np.pi, 100)

# Cartesian coordinates that correspond to the spherical angles:
# (this is the equation of an ellipsoid):
x = rx * np.outer(np.cos(u), np.sin(v))
y = ry * np.outer(np.sin(u), np.sin(v))
z = rz * np.outer(np.ones_like(u), np.cos(v))

# Plot:
ax.plot_surface(x, y, z,  rstride=4, cstride=4, color='b')

# Adjustment of the axes, so that they all have the same span:
max_radius = max(rx, ry, rz)
for axis in 'xyz':
    getattr(ax, 'set_{}lim'.format(axis))((-max_radius, max_radius))

plt.show()

The resulting plot is similar to

The program above actually produces a nicer looking "square" graphics.

This solution is strongly inspired from the example in Matplotlib’s gallery.