IDL> !p.color=0 IDL> !p.background=16777215 IDL> surface,z,x,y,charsize=2.5,xtitle='East',ytitle='North',ztitle='Alt.'
``!p.color'' and ``!.background'' are global variables i.e. the defaults used if color=blah and background=blah are not set. Note these are not reset by the ``.f'' command. Many keywords can be used like this, e.g. !p.charsize, !p.thick, !x.thick, !y.thick etc
Like most IDL procedures, surface has lots of keywords to enable you to tweak the plot to look how you want it to look. Note particularly the ax and az keywords, which let you look at the plot from different angles. Try these examples:
IDL> surface,z,x,y,ax=5 IDL> surface,z,x,y,ax=85
You can also do:
IDL> surface,z,x,y ,bottom=200
to colour the lower surface in a different colour.
An alternative to the wire frame is a shaded surface. This is produced by the shade_surf command:
IDL> shade_surf,z,x,y