title: How to create 3D - MATLAB style - surface plots in R
body: <p>I find it challenging to create aesthetically pleasing 3D surfaces in R. I am familiar with the solutions (<code>persp</code>, <code>image</code>, <code>wireframe</code>, <code>lattice</code>, <code>rgl</code> and several other solutions in other questions in SO), but the results are not nice. </p>
  
  <p>Is it possible to create 3D surface plots in R like in MATLAB?</p>
  
  <p><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/RQGwN.png" alt="enter image description here"></p>
  
  <pre><code>Here is the MATLAB code
      % Create a grid of x and y points
      points = linspace(-2, 0, 20);
      [X, Y] = meshgrid(points, -points);
  
      % Define the function Z = f(X,Y)
      Z = 2./exp((X-.5).^2+Y.^2)-2./exp((X+.5).^2+Y.^2);
  
      % "phong" lighting is good for curved, interpolated surfaces. "gouraud"
      % is also good for curved surfaces
      surf(X, Y, Z); view(30, 30);
      shading interp;
      light;
      lighting phong;
      title('lighting phong', 'FontName', 'Courier', 'FontSize', 14);
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>The plot is modern, colorful, aesthetically pleasing, the code syntax is very readable.</p>
  
  <p>Is this possible in base R?</p>