Matplotlib unknown projection ‘3d’

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In this Python tutorial, we will discuss the value error “matplotlib unknown projection ‘3d’ in python”. Here we’ll cover the reason and solution related to this error using matplotlib. And we’ll also cover the following topics:

  • Oldest Version Issue
  • Installation Issue
  • Syntax Error
Matplotlib unknown projection '3d'
Matplotlib unknown projection ‘3d’

Matplotlib unknown projection ‘3d’

Here in this section, we will discuss various reasons and their solution for the error “Matplotlib unknown projection ‘3d’“

Error#1: Oldest Version

Firstly understand that mplot3D works differently in different versions of matplotlib. Here we discuss the ValueError: matplotlib unknown projection ‘3d‘ in matplotlib version 0.99.

So firstly you have to confirm that which version are you using?

Syntax to check the version:

# Import library

import matplotlib

# Check Version

print matplotlib."__version__"

If you’re using matplotlib 0.99, in which case you’ll need to use slightly different syntax or upgrade to a more recent version.

Let’s see the solution for this:

Solution#1

The first and easiest way, to resolve this attribute error is to upgrade matplotlib to a recent version.

Jupyter Notebook:

The below command is used to upgrade matplotlib to the latest version in Jupyter Notebook.

pip install --upgrade matplotlib

Anaconda Distribution:

If you have Anaconda Prompt in your system, you can easily update matplotlib to the latest version, from here using the below-mentioned commands.

conda update matplotlib
           #OR
conda update -all

Here the first command only updates the matplotlib package and the second updates all the packages.

Solution#2

The second way to resolve this error is to use a slightly different syntax instead of using the projection keyword argument.

Use the following syntax:

# Import Library

from mpl_toolkits.mplot3d import axes3d, Axes3D

# Set Projection

Axes3D()

Error #2 Installation Issue

The first, reason is that maybe matplotlib is not installed.

Jupyter Notebook:

  • To install matplotlib use the pip command.
pip install matplotlib

Anaconda Distribution:

  • To install matplotlib use the conda command.
conda install matplotlib

The second, reason is that may be matplotlib is not properly installed. So, firstly, uninstall the matplotlib package and again install it. Above we discuss the installation of matplotlib. Here we discuss the uninstallation of matplotlib.

Jupyter Notebook:

  • To uninstall matplotlib use the pip command.
pip uninstall matplotlib

Anaconda Distribution:

  • To uninstall matplotlib use the conda command.
conda uninstall matplotlib

Error#3 Syntax Error

If you are not using matplotlib’s oldest version and the matplotlib package is properly installed, but still, you get an error then maybe you have a syntax error.

Below is the proper syntax:

# Import Library

from mpl_toolkits import mplot3d

# Projection

ax = plt.axes(projection="3d")

You may also like to read the following Matplotlib tutorials.

In this Python tutorial, we have discussed “matplotlib unknown projection ‘3d’” and we have also covered the reason and solution related to it. These are the following topics that we have discussed in this tutorial.

  • Oldest Version
  • Installation Issue
  • Syntax Error