Matplotlib: imshow in 3d plot

Question

In the plot below, taken from matplotlib\'s gallery, contourf is used to create a 2d plot beneath the 3d one. My question is, is it possible to use imshow to do the same thing?

Answer 1

Just specify the levels= option for the contourf, e.g.

from mpl_toolkits.mplot3d import axes3d
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt,numpy as np
plt.clf()
fig = plt.figure(1)
ax = fig.gca(projection='3d')
X, Y, Z = axes3d.get_test_data(0.05)
ax.plot_surface(X, Y, Z, rstride=8, cstride=8, alpha=0.3)
cset = ax.contourf(X, Y, Z, zdir='z', offset=-100,
        levels=np.linspace(-100,100,1200),cmap=plt.cm.jet)
cset = ax.contourf(X, Y, Z, zdir='x', offset=-40, cmap=plt.cm.jet)
cset = ax.contourf(X, Y, Z, zdir='y', offset=40, cmap=plt.cm.jet)
ax.set_xlabel('X')
ax.set_xlim(-40, 40)
ax.set_ylabel('Y')
ax.set_ylim(-40, 40)
ax.set_zlabel('Z')
ax.set_zlim(-100, 100)    
plt.show()