@@ -20,13 +20,15 @@ more information.
 
 The interactive backends also provide the ability to rotate and zoom the 3D
 scene.  One can rotate the 3D scene by simply clicking-and-dragging the scene.
-Zooming is done by right-clicking the scene and dragging the mouse up and down
-(unlike 2D plots, the toolbar zoom button is not used).
+Panning is done by clicking the middle mouse button, and zooming is done by
+right-clicking the scene and dragging the mouse up and down. Unlike 2D plots,
+the toolbar pan and zoom buttons are not used.
 
 .. toctree::
    :maxdepth: 2
 
    mplot3d/faq.rst
+   mplot3d/view_angles.rst
 
 .. note::
    `.pyplot` cannot be used to add content to 3D plots, because its function
 
@@ -0,0 +1,36 @@
+.. _toolkit_mplot3d-view-angles:
+
+*******************
+mplot3d View Angles
+*******************
+
+How to define the view angle
+============================
+
+The position of the viewport "camera" in a 3D plot is defined by three angles:
+elevation, azimuth, and roll. From that position it always points towards the
+center of the plot box volume. The angle direction convention is shared with
+`PyVista <https://www.pyvista.org/>`_ and MATLAB (though MATLAB lacks a roll
+angle).
+
+.. image:: /_static/mplot3d_view_angles.png
+   :align: center
+
+
+Rotating the plot using the mouse will control only the azimuth and elevation,
+but all three angles can be set programmatically.
+
+    import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
+    ax = plt.figure().add_subplot(projection='3d')
+    ax.view_init(elev=30, azim=45, roll=15)
+
+
+Primary view planes
+===================
+
+To look directly at the primary view planes, the required elevation, azimuth,
+and roll angles are shown in the diagram of an "unfolded" plot below. These are
+further documented in the `.mplot3d.axes3d.Axes3D.view_init` API.
+
+.. image:: /_static/mplot3d_primary_view_planes.png
+   :align: center