Mathematica Plotting 3D Regions in Mathematica 7

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The discussion revolves around creating a 3D plot in Mathematica 7 that visually represents a temperature gradient emanating from a point heat source at the center of a sphere. The user initially encounters issues with the color gradient on the surface of the sphere, which is intended to reflect a radial temperature profile. A key solution proposed is to add the option ColorFunctionScaling -> False, which prevents the automatic scaling of color function parameters between 0 and 1. This scaling was identified as the root of the problem, as it altered the expected color representation based on the actual distance from the center. The conversation highlights the importance of understanding how Mathematica handles color functions and scaling, clarifying that the parameters are scaled rather than the output results.
n00dle0
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Hi!

I am plotting the following in Mathematica 7.

Code:
RegionPlot3D[(x^2 + y^2 + z^2 <= 1) && (x < 0 || y > 0 || 
    z < 0), {x, -1, 1}, {y, -1, 1}, {z, -1, 1}, 
 ColorFunction -> 
  Function[{x, y, z}, ColorData["TemperatureMap"][x^2 + y^2 + z^2]], 
 PlotPoints -> 50, Mesh -> False, 
 Lighting -> {{"Directional", 
    RGBColor[1, 1, 1], {{-1, 1, -1}, {0, 0, 0}}}}, 
 AxesLabel -> {X, Y, Z}, {ViewPoint -> {2, -0.5, 0.5}}]

I need the plot to look such that the color on the cut out surface of the sphere should be a gradient in a radial fashion. Assume that there is a point heat source at the center of the sphere and colors represent the temperature profile within the sphere. Any ideas?

Thanks in advance,
- N
 
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Add the option ColorFunctionScaling -> False

I don't know why, but it seems that the scaling is the problem.
 
DaleSpam said:
Add the option ColorFunctionScaling -> False

I don't know why, but it seems that the scaling is the problem.

Thanks a lot Dale. I had been struggling with it since a week. Now does anyone have idea as to why. Is this behavior a feature or a bug?

- N
 
n00dle0 said:
Thanks a lot Dale. I had been struggling with it since a week. Now does anyone have idea as to why. Is this behavior a feature or a bug?

- N

Well this seems to be the feature, as the help specifies,

Parameters to ColorFunction are normally scaled to be between 0 and 1:
__________________________(by default)_________________________

So, the parameters are scaled, not the results.

- N
 
n00dle0 said:
Well this seems to be the feature, as the help specifies,

Parameters to ColorFunction are normally scaled to be between 0 and 1:
__________________________(by default)_________________________

So, the parameters are scaled, not the results.

- N
That explains it. So it takes x which ranges from -1 to 1 and rescales it to range from 0 to 1, similarly with y and z. Then when you calculate the norm you essentially get a scaled distance from the point (-1,-1,-1)
 

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