diff --git a/devtools/test_dashboard/test_gl3d.js b/devtools/test_dashboard/test_gl3d.js
index dce47915ce0..4cb2ed9bd48 100644
--- a/devtools/test_dashboard/test_gl3d.js
+++ b/devtools/test_dashboard/test_gl3d.js
@@ -36,5 +36,6 @@ plots['scatter3d-colorscale'] = require('@mocks/gl3d_scatter3d-colorscale.json')
 plots['autocolorscale'] = require('@mocks/gl3d_autocolorscale.json');
 plots['nan-holes'] = require('@mocks/gl3d_nan-holes.json');
 plots['tetrahedra'] = require('@mocks/gl3d_tet.json');
+plots['surface-intensity'] = require('@mocks/gl3d_surface_intensity.json');
 
 plotButtons(plots, figDir);
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index 8fd5469086b..85b0109351a 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -64,7 +64,7 @@
     "gl-scatter3d": "^1.0.4",
     "gl-select-box": "^1.0.1",
     "gl-spikes2d": "^1.0.1",
-    "gl-surface3d": "^1.1.1",
+    "gl-surface3d": "^1.2.2",
     "mouse-change": "^1.1.1",
     "mouse-wheel": "^1.0.2",
     "ndarray": "^1.0.16",
diff --git a/src/plot_api/plot_api.js b/src/plot_api/plot_api.js
index 1753264abf2..60c34ffecb9 100644
--- a/src/plot_api/plot_api.js
+++ b/src/plot_api/plot_api.js
@@ -761,6 +761,11 @@ function cleanData(data, existingData) {
             if(cont.colorscale === 'YIGnBu') cont.colorscale = 'YlGnBu';
             if(cont.colorscale === 'YIOrRd') cont.colorscale = 'YlOrRd';
         }
+        if(Plots.traceIs(trace, 'surface')) {
+            if('zmin' in trace) trace.cmin = trace.zmin;
+            if('zmax' in trace) trace.cmax = trace.zmax;
+            if('zauto' in trace) trace.cauto = trace.zauto;
+        }
 
         // prune empty containers made before the new nestedProperty
         if(emptyContainer(trace, 'line')) delete trace.line;
diff --git a/src/traces/surface/attributes.js b/src/traces/surface/attributes.js
index b8af834d412..479f9f71e09 100644
--- a/src/traces/surface/attributes.js
+++ b/src/traces/surface/attributes.js
@@ -95,9 +95,16 @@ module.exports = {
         valType: 'data_array',
         description: 'Sets the text elements associated with each z value.'
     },
-    zauto: colorscaleAttrs.zauto,
-    zmin: colorscaleAttrs.zmin,
-    zmax: colorscaleAttrs.zmax,
+    surfacecolor: {
+        valType: 'data_array',
+        description: [
+            'Sets the surface intensity values,',
+            'used for setting a color scale independent of z'
+        ].join(' ')
+    },
+    cauto: colorscaleAttrs.zauto,
+    cmin: colorscaleAttrs.zmin,
+    cmax: colorscaleAttrs.zmax,
     colorscale: colorscaleAttrs.colorscale,
     autocolorscale: extendFlat({}, colorscaleAttrs.autocolorscale,
         {dflt: false}),
@@ -161,5 +168,11 @@ module.exports = {
 
     _nestedModules: {  // nested module coupling
         'colorbar': 'Colorbar'
+    },
+
+    _deprecated: {
+        zauto: colorscaleAttrs.zauto,
+        zmin: colorscaleAttrs.zmin,
+        zmax: colorscaleAttrs.zmax
     }
 };
diff --git a/src/traces/surface/calc.js b/src/traces/surface/calc.js
index d6137f6d5fb..4ac8bc03d2d 100644
--- a/src/traces/surface/calc.js
+++ b/src/traces/surface/calc.js
@@ -14,5 +14,9 @@ var colorscaleCalc = require('../../components/colorscale/calc');
 
 // Compute auto-z and autocolorscale if applicable
 module.exports = function calc(gd, trace) {
-    colorscaleCalc(trace, trace.z, '', 'z');
+    if(trace.surfacecolor) {
+        colorscaleCalc(trace, trace.surfacecolor, '', 'c');
+    } else {
+        colorscaleCalc(trace, trace.z, '', 'c');
+    }
 };
diff --git a/src/traces/surface/colorbar.js b/src/traces/surface/colorbar.js
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..26d1fd475f5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/traces/surface/colorbar.js
@@ -0,0 +1,47 @@
+/**
+* Copyright 2012-2016, Plotly, Inc.
+* All rights reserved.
+*
+* This source code is licensed under the MIT license found in the
+* LICENSE file in the root directory of this source tree.
+*/
+
+
+'use strict';
+
+var d3 = require('d3');
+var isNumeric = require('fast-isnumeric');
+
+var Lib = require('../../lib');
+var Plots = require('../../plots/plots');
+var getColorscale = require('../../components/colorscale/get_scale');
+var drawColorbar = require('../../components/colorbar/draw');
+
+
+module.exports = function colorbar(gd, cd) {
+    var trace = cd[0].trace,
+        cbId = 'cb' + trace.uid,
+        scl = getColorscale(trace.colorscale),
+        zmin = trace.cmin,
+        zmax = trace.cmax,
+        vals = trace.surfacecolor || trace.z;
+
+    if(!isNumeric(zmin)) zmin = Lib.aggNums(Math.min, null, vals);
+    if(!isNumeric(zmax)) zmax = Lib.aggNums(Math.max, null, vals);
+
+    gd._fullLayout._infolayer.selectAll('.' + cbId).remove();
+
+    if(!trace.showscale) {
+        Plots.autoMargin(gd, cbId);
+        return;
+    }
+
+    var cb = cd[0].t.cb = drawColorbar(gd, cbId);
+    cb.fillcolor(d3.scale.linear()
+            .domain(scl.map(function(v) { return zmin + v[0]*(zmax-zmin); }))
+            .range(scl.map(function(v) { return v[1]; })))
+        .filllevels({start: zmin, end: zmax, size: (zmax-zmin)/254})
+        .options(trace.colorbar)();
+
+    Lib.markTime('done colorbar');
+};
diff --git a/src/traces/surface/convert.js b/src/traces/surface/convert.js
index 3097561dc2b..290657f370b 100644
--- a/src/traces/surface/convert.js
+++ b/src/traces/surface/convert.js
@@ -20,7 +20,6 @@ var str2RgbaArray = require('../../lib/str2rgbarray');
 
 var MIN_RESOLUTION = 128;
 
-
 function SurfaceTrace(scene, surface, uid) {
     this.scene = scene;
     this.uid = uid;
@@ -136,7 +135,7 @@ function refine(coords) {
             Math.floor((coords[0].shape[1]) * scaleF+1)|0 ];
         var nsize = nshape[0] * nshape[1];
 
-        for(var i = 0; i < 3; ++i) {
+        for(var i = 0; i < coords.length; ++i) {
             var padImg = padField(coords[i]);
             var scaledImg = ndarray(new Float32Array(nsize), nshape);
             homography(scaledImg, padImg, [scaleF, 0, 0,
@@ -230,9 +229,6 @@ proto.update = function(data) {
         });
     }
 
-    //Refine if necessary
-    this.dataScale = refine(coords);
-
     var params = {
         colormap: colormap,
         levels: [[], [], []],
@@ -249,10 +245,24 @@ proto.update = function(data) {
         dynamicColor: [[1, 1, 1, 1], [1, 1, 1, 1], [1, 1, 1, 1]],
         dynamicWidth: [1, 1, 1],
         dynamicTint: [1, 1, 1],
-        opacity: 1,
-        colorBounds: [data.zmin * scaleFactor[2], data.zmax * scaleFactor[2]]
+        opacity: 1
     };
 
+    //Refine if necessary
+    if(data.surfacecolor) {
+        var intensity = ndarray(
+          new Float32Array(xlen * ylen), [xlen, ylen]);
+        fill(intensity, function(row, col) {
+            return data.surfacecolor[col][row];
+        });
+        coords.push(intensity);
+    }
+
+    this.dataScale = refine(coords);
+
+    if(data.surfacecolor) {
+        params.intensity = coords.pop();
+    }
 
     if('opacity' in data) {
         if(data.opacity < 1) {
@@ -300,6 +310,7 @@ proto.update = function(data) {
     }
 
     params.coords = coords;
+
     surface.update(params);
 
     surface.highlightEnable = highlightEnable;
diff --git a/src/traces/surface/defaults.js b/src/traces/surface/defaults.js
index 653b9df5638..7894eb46d02 100644
--- a/src/traces/surface/defaults.js
+++ b/src/traces/surface/defaults.js
@@ -58,6 +58,8 @@ module.exports = function supplyDefaults(traceIn, traceOut, defaultColor, layout
     coerce('hidesurface');
     coerce('opacity');
 
+    coerce('surfacecolor');
+
     coerce('colorscale');
 
     var dims = ['x', 'y', 'z'];
@@ -86,6 +88,6 @@ module.exports = function supplyDefaults(traceIn, traceOut, defaultColor, layout
     }
 
     colorscaleDefaults(
-        traceIn, traceOut, layout, coerce, {prefix: '', cLetter: 'z'}
+        traceIn, traceOut, layout, coerce, {prefix: '', cLetter: 'c'}
     );
 };
diff --git a/src/traces/surface/index.js b/src/traces/surface/index.js
index 9a3c5795f16..11cfbc6bd20 100644
--- a/src/traces/surface/index.js
+++ b/src/traces/surface/index.js
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ var Surface = {};
 
 Surface.attributes = require('./attributes');
 Surface.supplyDefaults = require('./defaults');
-Surface.colorbar = require('../heatmap/colorbar');
+Surface.colorbar = require('./colorbar');
 Surface.calc = require('./calc');
 Surface.plot = require('./convert');
 
diff --git a/test/image/baselines/gl3d_surface_intensity.png b/test/image/baselines/gl3d_surface_intensity.png
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..cc7797b85cb
Binary files /dev/null and b/test/image/baselines/gl3d_surface_intensity.png differ
diff --git a/test/image/mocks/gl3d_autocolorscale.json b/test/image/mocks/gl3d_autocolorscale.json
index 743cb6149a5..491b0ffe1dc 100644
--- a/test/image/mocks/gl3d_autocolorscale.json
+++ b/test/image/mocks/gl3d_autocolorscale.json
@@ -25,8 +25,8 @@
                 ["zero two", "one two", "two two"]
             ],
             "autocolorscale": true,
-            "zmin": 0,
-            "zmax": "50"
+            "cmin": 0,
+            "cmax": "50"
         }
     ],
     "layout": {
diff --git a/test/image/mocks/gl3d_autocolorscale.png b/test/image/mocks/gl3d_autocolorscale.png
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..6fc121e7845
Binary files /dev/null and b/test/image/mocks/gl3d_autocolorscale.png differ
diff --git a/test/image/mocks/gl3d_chrisp-nan-1.png b/test/image/mocks/gl3d_chrisp-nan-1.png
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..e394d258779
Binary files /dev/null and b/test/image/mocks/gl3d_chrisp-nan-1.png differ
diff --git a/test/image/mocks/gl3d_contour-lines.png b/test/image/mocks/gl3d_contour-lines.png
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..a33f8bb82c0
Binary files /dev/null and b/test/image/mocks/gl3d_contour-lines.png differ
diff --git a/test/image/mocks/gl3d_cufflinks.png b/test/image/mocks/gl3d_cufflinks.png
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..25e3f05ead3
Binary files /dev/null and b/test/image/mocks/gl3d_cufflinks.png differ
diff --git a/test/image/mocks/gl3d_surface-lighting.png b/test/image/mocks/gl3d_surface-lighting.png
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..2def5a05890
Binary files /dev/null and b/test/image/mocks/gl3d_surface-lighting.png differ
diff --git a/test/image/mocks/gl3d_surface_intensity.json b/test/image/mocks/gl3d_surface_intensity.json
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..83f22028b9d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/image/mocks/gl3d_surface_intensity.json
@@ -0,0 +1,254 @@
+{
+  "data": [
+    {
+      "z": [
+        [
+          1,
+          1,
+          1,
+          1,
+          1,
+          1,
+          1,
+          1,
+          1,
+          1
+        ],
+        [
+          0.955336489125606,
+          0.955336489125606,
+          0.955336489125606,
+          0.955336489125606,
+          0.955336489125606,
+          0.955336489125606,
+          0.955336489125606,
+          0.955336489125606,
+          0.955336489125606,
+          0.955336489125606
+        ],
+        [
+          0.8253356149096783,
+          0.8253356149096783,
+          0.8253356149096783,
+          0.8253356149096783,
+          0.8253356149096783,
+          0.8253356149096783,
+          0.8253356149096783,
+          0.8253356149096783,
+          0.8253356149096783,
+          0.8253356149096783
+        ],
+        [
+          0.6216099682706645,
+          0.6216099682706645,
+          0.6216099682706645,
+          0.6216099682706645,
+          0.6216099682706645,
+          0.6216099682706645,
+          0.6216099682706645,
+          0.6216099682706645,
+          0.6216099682706645,
+          0.6216099682706645
+        ],
+        [
+          0.3623577544766736,
+          0.3623577544766736,
+          0.3623577544766736,
+          0.3623577544766736,
+          0.3623577544766736,
+          0.3623577544766736,
+          0.3623577544766736,
+          0.3623577544766736,
+          0.3623577544766736,
+          0.3623577544766736
+        ],
+        [
+          0.0707372016677029,
+          0.0707372016677029,
+          0.0707372016677029,
+          0.0707372016677029,
+          0.0707372016677029,
+          0.0707372016677029,
+          0.0707372016677029,
+          0.0707372016677029,
+          0.0707372016677029,
+          0.0707372016677029
+        ],
+        [
+          -0.2272020946930869,
+          -0.2272020946930869,
+          -0.2272020946930869,
+          -0.2272020946930869,
+          -0.2272020946930869,
+          -0.2272020946930869,
+          -0.2272020946930869,
+          -0.2272020946930869,
+          -0.2272020946930869,
+          -0.2272020946930869
+        ],
+        [
+          -0.5048461045998576,
+          -0.5048461045998576,
+          -0.5048461045998576,
+          -0.5048461045998576,
+          -0.5048461045998576,
+          -0.5048461045998576,
+          -0.5048461045998576,
+          -0.5048461045998576,
+          -0.5048461045998576,
+          -0.5048461045998576
+        ],
+        [
+          -0.7373937155412454,
+          -0.7373937155412454,
+          -0.7373937155412454,
+          -0.7373937155412454,
+          -0.7373937155412454,
+          -0.7373937155412454,
+          -0.7373937155412454,
+          -0.7373937155412454,
+          -0.7373937155412454,
+          -0.7373937155412454
+        ],
+        [
+          -0.904072142017061,
+          -0.904072142017061,
+          -0.904072142017061,
+          -0.904072142017061,
+          -0.904072142017061,
+          -0.904072142017061,
+          -0.904072142017061,
+          -0.904072142017061,
+          -0.904072142017061,
+          -0.904072142017061
+        ]
+      ],
+      "surfacecolor": [
+        [
+          10,
+          9,
+          8,
+          7,
+          6,
+          5,
+          6,
+          7,
+          8,
+          9
+        ],
+        [
+          9,
+          8,
+          7,
+          6,
+          5,
+          4,
+          5,
+          6,
+          7,
+          8
+        ],
+        [
+          8,
+          7,
+          6,
+          5,
+          4,
+          3,
+          4,
+          5,
+          6,
+          7
+        ],
+        [
+          7,
+          6,
+          5,
+          4,
+          3,
+          2,
+          3,
+          4,
+          5,
+          6
+        ],
+        [
+          6,
+          5,
+          4,
+          3,
+          2,
+          1,
+          2,
+          3,
+          4,
+          5
+        ],
+        [
+          5,
+          4,
+          3,
+          2,
+          1,
+          0,
+          1,
+          2,
+          3,
+          4
+        ],
+        [
+          6,
+          5,
+          4,
+          3,
+          2,
+          1,
+          2,
+          3,
+          4,
+          5
+        ],
+        [
+          7,
+          6,
+          5,
+          4,
+          3,
+          2,
+          3,
+          4,
+          5,
+          6
+        ],
+        [
+          8,
+          7,
+          6,
+          5,
+          4,
+          3,
+          4,
+          5,
+          6,
+          7
+        ],
+        [
+          9,
+          8,
+          7,
+          6,
+          5,
+          4,
+          5,
+          6,
+          7,
+          8
+        ]
+      ],
+      "type": "surface"
+    }
+  ],
+  "layout": {
+    "title": "Surface intensity test"
+  }
+}
diff --git a/test/image/mocks/gl3d_surface_intensity.png b/test/image/mocks/gl3d_surface_intensity.png
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..b52332217b0
Binary files /dev/null and b/test/image/mocks/gl3d_surface_intensity.png differ
diff --git a/test/image/mocks/gl3d_xy-defined-ticks.png b/test/image/mocks/gl3d_xy-defined-ticks.png
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..f2d2c1f0008
Binary files /dev/null and b/test/image/mocks/gl3d_xy-defined-ticks.png differ