3D surface plot from 2D matrix

Question

Using a 2d matrix in R, how can I create a 3d surface plot, where columns=x, rows=y and the values are the heights in z?

In the example below, x values would be 1:5,

Answer 1

Package rgl should get you started...

require(rgl)
#  open renderer
open3d()
#  plot surface
rgl.surface( 1:10 , 1:10 , runif(100))
#  Export to png
rgl.snapshot( "sample.png" , fmt="png", top=TRUE )

Answer 2

To get a 3D surface plot of a 2D matrix that contains the Z-values, try:

require(plot3D)

persp3D(z = TheMatrix2D, theta = 120)

Use theta to adjust the viewing angle. With my data, I get the following plot: