Intersection of two surfaces

We would like to intersect a 3D plot with a plane. The problem is not to get the two functions into a plot, but to get the two functions to visual intersect with each other, i.e the nearest surface is in the foreground.

This can’t be done automatically, unfortunately, since pgfplots can’t do z buffering between different addplot commands.

For this concrete application, you could construct the plot “by hand”, however:

First, you draw the part of the cone below 0, then you draw the plane and the circle, then you draw the part of the cone above 0.

I’ve used a polar coordinate system for this, since it makes the input of polar functions easier.

This code was written by Jake on TeX.SE.

Intersection of two surfaces

Edit and compile if you like:
\documentclass[border=10pt]{standalone}
\usepackage{pgfplots}
\pgfplotsset{width=7cm,compat=1.8}
\begin{document}
  \begin{tikzpicture}
    \begin{axis}[grid=major,view={20}{40},z buffer=sort, data cs=polar]
      \addplot3 [surf, domain=0:360, domain y=5:10,samples=30, samples y=10]
      {-y+5};
      \addplot3 [data cs=cart,surf,domain=-10:10,samples=2, opacity=0.5]
      {0};
      \addplot3 [domain=0:360, samples y=0, samples=30, thick, z buffer=auto]
      (x,5.1,0);
      \addplot3 [surf,domain=0:360, domain y=0:5,samples=30, samples y=10]
      {-y+5};
    \end{axis}
  \end{tikzpicture}  
\end{document}
Click to download: intersection-surfaces.texintersection-surfaces.pdf