title: Matplotlib 3d plot - associate colorbar with different axis
body: <p>I'm currently conducting some 3D plots in Python 2.7.9 using Matplotlib 1.4.3.  (Sorry, my rating does not allow me to attach pictures yet).  I would like to switch the data of the x- and z-axes (as in the code example), but then also have the colorbar associate itself with the x-axis and not the z-axis anymore.  </p>
  
  <pre><code>import pylab as py
  import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
  from mpl_toolkits.mplot3d import axes3d
  import matplotlib as mpl
  from matplotlib import cm
  
  # Create figure and get data
  fig = plt.figure()
  ax = fig.gca(projection='3d')
  X, Y, Z = axes3d.get_test_data(0.05)
  
  # Plot surface and colorbar
  c1 = ax.plot_surface(Z, Y, X, rstride=8, cstride=8, alpha=0.9, cmap='PiYG_r')
  cbar = plt.colorbar(c1)
  
  # Labels
  ax.set_xlabel('X')
  ax.set_xlim3d(-100, 100)
  ax.set_ylabel('Y')
  ax.set_ylim3d(-40, 40)
  ax.set_zlabel('Z')
  ax.set_zlim3d(-40, 40)
  
  plt.show()
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>When I switch the x- and z-axis data at this stage, the colorbar understandably also automatically changes to suit the new z-axis values (originally the x-axis values), since it is associated with the z-variable only.  Is there a way of manipulating this in python to make the colorbar associate itself with one of the other axes (x- or y-axes)? </p>
  
  <p>I've tried looking at the colorbar documentation.  I currently suspect the config_axis() function might do the job, but there is no text explaining how it is used (<a href="http://matplotlib.org/api/colorbar_api.html" rel="nofollow">http://matplotlib.org/api/colorbar_api.html</a>).</p>
  
  <p>Thanks in advance.</p>
  
  <p>Regards</p>
  
  <p>Francois</p>