\pgfplotsset{ colormap={whitered}{ color(0cm)=(white); color(1cm)=(orange!75!red) } } \begin{tikzpicture}[scale=0.5] \begin{axis}[ colormap name=whitered, width=15cm, view={155}{45}, enlargelimits=false, grid=major, domain=-5:5, y domain=-5:5, samples=56, %57 : TeX capacity exceeded, sorry [main memory size=3000000]. % see also http://tex.stackexchange.com/a/7954/5645 xlabel=$x$, ylabel=$y$, zlabel={$z$}, colorbar, colorbar style={ at={(-0.1,0)}, anchor=south west, height=0.25*\pgfkeysvalueof{/pgfplots/parent axis height}, title={$f(x,y)$} } ] \addplot3[surf] {y*y-x*x*x}; \end{axis} \end{tikzpicture}