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3-D Contour Charts

3-D Contour of Matrix Data and 3-D Mesh (Wire Frame)

These graphs are 3-D projections of regularly spaced data using a matrix layout. Your worksheet is like a map, i.e., the matrix itself. Each cell value represents a Z value. Aabel plots the Z values while using the row direction as Y, and the variable direction as X, and initially uses the number of rows and columns as X and Y values. From the axis dialog you can set the real world coordinates for the X- and Y- axis range, and change the axes titles.

A 3-D Contour Chart of Matrix Data

A 3-D Mesh Chart (Wire Frame)

XYZ Contour Points

This chart is a 3-D projection of irregularly spaced data, using three or more variables.

  • In XYZ 3-D contour points, contouring is by triangulation.
  • It can display the values of a 4th dimension using a color scale.
    • How to create a continuous surface from unevenly spaced data?
  • If your data are unevenly spaced, but prefer to create a continuous surface such as those illustrated above, use the Aabel gridder to perform the required interpolation.
  • The gridder uses the n-nearest neighbors method, with or without a quadrant or octant constraint on the search pattern.
  • The resulting matrix can be used to generate 2-D surface, 3-D surface, or 3-D mesh (wire frame).