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Numerical radial derivative of function evaluated on Cartesian grid

I have a radially symmetric function evaluated on a 3D Cartesian grid. How can I numerically calculate the radial derivative of the function?
For a simple example (spherical Gaussian), calculate derivatives df/dx, df/dy and df/dz:
# Parameters
start = 0
end = 5
n = 20
# Variables
x = np.linspace(start, end, num=n)
y = np.linspace(start, end, num=n)
z = np.linspace(start, end, num=n)
dx = (end - start) / n
dy = (end - start) / n
dz = (end - start) / n
x_grid, y_grid, z_grid = np.meshgrid(x, y, z)
eval_xyz = np.exp(-(x_grid ** 2 + y_grid ** 2 + z_grid ** 2))
# Allocate
df_dx = np.zeros((n, n, n))
df_dy = np.zeros((n, n, n))
df_dz = np.zeros((n, n, n))
# Calculate Cartesian gradient numerically
for x in range(eval_xyz.shape[0] - 1):
for y in range(eval_xyz.shape[1] - 1):
for z in range(eval_xyz.shape[2] - 1):
df_dx[x, y, z] = (eval_xyz[x + 1, y, z] - eval_xyz[x, y, z]) / dx
df_dy[x, y, z] = (eval_xyz[x, y + 1, z] - eval_xyz[x, y, z]) / dy
df_dz[x, y, z] = (eval_xyz[x, y, z + 1] - eval_xyz[x, y, z]) / dz
Is it then possible to easily calculate the radial derivative df/dr from the Cartesian derivatives?

The trick is to express the radial derivatives as sum of Cartesian derivatives, taking into account theta and phi at each point which can be expressed in Cartesian coordiantes as:
The code therefore becomes:
theta_val = theta(i * dx, j * dy, k * dz)
phi_val = phi(i * dx, j * dy)
df_dr[i, j, k] = df_dx[i, j, k] * np.sin(theta_val) * np.cos(phi_val) \
+ df_dy[i, j, k] * np.sin(theta_val) * np.sin(phi_val) \
+ df_dz[i, j, k] * np.cos(theta_val)
Where theta and phi are calculated carefully to deal with divide by zero
def theta(x, y, z):
if x == 0 and y == 0 and z == 0:
return 0
elif z == 0:
return np.pi / 2
elif x == 0 and y == 0:
return 0
else:
return np.arctan(np.sqrt(x ** 2 + y ** 2) / z)
def phi(x, y):
if x == 0 and y == 0:
return 0
elif x == 0:
return np.pi / 2
elif y == 0:
return 0
else:
return math.atan2(y, x)

Your own answer is a step in the right direction, but there are some issues both in the answer and in the code generating the Cartesian derivatives.
These lines have a problem:
x = np.linspace(start, end, num=n)
dx = (end - start) / n
The step size is actually (end-start)/(n-1).
Here:
x_grid, y_grid, z_grid = np.meshgrid(x, y, z)
df_dx[x, y, z] = (eval_xyz[x + 1, y, z] - eval_xyz[x, y, z]) / dx
you fell in the trap of meshgrid's default setting: meshgrid(np.arange(n1), np.arange(n2)) will return arrays in the shape (n2, n1) unless you add the parameter indexing='ij'. Because you have size n in all dimensions, you will not get indexing errors to alert you, but you might be spending a lot of time trying to debug why the numbers make no sense.
When you manipulate multidimensional arrays, it's a good idea to set the sizes in different directions to slightly different values, so that you can easily check that the array shapes are what you want them to be.
Also, you should generally evaluate the derivative as (f[i+1]-f[i-1])/(2*dx), which is correct up to the second order in x.
for x in range(eval_xyz.shape[0] - 1):
for y in range(eval_xyz.shape[1] - 1):
for z in range(eval_xyz.shape[2] - 1):
When working with numpy, you should always try to vectorize operations rather than writing out for loops that potentially need to iterate over thousands of elements.
Here is code that calculates the Cartesian derivative and then the radial derivative.
import numpy as np
def get_cartesian_gradient(f, xyzsteps):
"""For f shape (nx, ny, nz), return gradient as (3, nx, ny, nz) shape.
xyzsteps is a (3,) array.
Note: edge points of the gradient array are set to NaN.
(Exercise for the reader to implement those).
"""
fshape = f.shape
grad = np.full((3,) + fshape, np.nan, dtype=np.float64)
sl, sm, sr = slice(0, -2), slice(1, -1), slice(2, None)
# Note: multiplying is faster than dividing.
grad[0, sm, sm, sm] = (f[sr, sm, sm] - f[sl, sm, sm]) * (0.5/xyzsteps[0])
grad[1, sm, sm, sm] = (f[sm, sr, sm] - f[sm, sl, sm]) * (0.5/xyzsteps[1])
grad[2, sm, sm, sm] = (f[sm, sm, sr] - f[sm, sm, sl]) * (0.5/xyzsteps[2])
return grad
def get_dfdr_from_cartesian(grad, x1s, y1s, z1s):
"""Return df/dr array from gradient(f).
grad.shape must be (3, nx, ny, nz)
return shape (nx, ny, nz).
"""
_, nx, ny, nz = grad.shape
# we need sin(theta), cos(theta), sin(phi), and cos(phi)
# rxy: shape (nx, ny, 1)
rxy = np.sqrt(x1s.reshape(-1, 1, 1)**2 + y1s.reshape(1, -1, 1)**2)
# r: shape (nx, ny, nz)
r = np.sqrt(rxy**2 + z1s.reshape(1, 1, -1)**2)
# change zeros to NaN
r = np.where(r==0, np.nan, r)
rxy = np.where(rxy==0, np.nan, rxy)
cos_theta = z1s.reshape(1, 1, -1) / r
sin_theta = rxy / r
cos_phi = x1s.reshape(-1, 1, 1) / rxy
sin_phi = y1s.reshape(1, -1, 1) / rxy
# and the derivative
dfdr = (grad[0]*cos_phi + grad[1]*sin_phi)*sin_theta + grad[2]*cos_theta
return dfdr
x1s = np.linspace(-1, 1, 19)
y1s = np.linspace(-1, 1, 21)
z1s = np.linspace(-1, 1, 23)
xs, ys, zs = np.meshgrid(x1s, y1s, z1s, indexing='ij')
xyzsteps = [x1s[1]-x1s[0], y1s[1]-y1s[0], z1s[1]-z1s[0]]
def func(x, y, z):
return x**2 + y**2 + z**2
def dfdr_analytical(x, y, z):
r = np.sqrt(x**2 + y**2 + z**2)
return 2*r
# grad has shape (3, nx, ny, nz)
grad = get_cartesian_gradient(func(xs, ys, zs), xyzsteps)
dfdr = get_dfdr_from_cartesian(grad, x1s, y1s, z1s)
# test
diff = dfdr - dfdr_analytical(xs, ys, zs)
assert np.nanmax(np.abs(diff)) < 1e-14
Note that I've chosen to return NaN values for points on the z-axis, because df/dr is not defined there unless f(x,y,z) is rotationally symmetric around the z-axis and has df/dr=0 in all directions. This is something that is not guaranteed for an arbitrary dataset.
The reason for replacing zeros in the denominators by np.nan using np.where is because dividing by zero will give warning messages, whereas dividing by nan won't.

How to use scipy.optimize.minimize(...) to find the optimal parameters of z = f(x, y) (like an ellipse)?

I am trying to learn how to optimize data fits in higher dimensions using python / numpy / scipy. Having successfully used scipy to fit a line of the form y = f(x), I tried extending the logic to fit an ellipse of the form z = f(x, y); both are shown below. I'm hoping this approach can be generalized to fit shapes in higher dimensions (ie, sphere).
import numpy as np
from scipy.optimize import minimize
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
from mpl_toolkits.mplot3d import Axes3D
## LINE EXAMPLE
npoints = 30
x = np.linspace(-5, 5, npoints)
m, b = 3, -4 # slope, y-intercept
initial_parameter_guess = (2.5, -1)
y = m * x + b # exact line
noise = np.random.uniform(-1, 1, size=x.size)
yn = y + noise # line with noise
def get_residuals(prms, x, y):
""" """
return (y - (prms[0] * x + prms[1]))**2
def f_error(prms, x, y):
""" """
resid = get_residuals(prms, x, y)
return np.sum(resid)
result = minimize(f_error, x0=initial_parameter_guess, args=(x, yn))
# print(result)
yf = result.x[0] * x + result.x[1]
fig, ax = plt.subplots()
ax.scatter(x, yn, color='b', marker='.')
ax.plot(x, yf, color='r', alpha=0.5)
ax.grid(color='k', alpha=0.3, linestyle=':')
plt.show()
plt.close(fig)
Applying this logic to the case of an ellipse,
## ELLIPSE EXAMPLE
npoints = 75
theta = np.random.uniform(0, 2*np.pi, size=npoints)
a, b = (3, 5)
initial_parameter_guess = (2.5, 6)
xnoise = np.random.uniform(-1, 1, size=theta.size)
ynoise = np.random.uniform(-1, 1, size=theta.size)
x = a**2 * np.cos(theta)
xn = x + xnoise
y = b**2 * np.sin(theta)
yn = y + ynoise
def get_residuals(prms, x, y):
""" """
return 1 - ((x/prms[0])**2 + (y/prms[1])**2)
def f_error(prms, x, y):
""" """
resid = get_residuals(prms, x, y)
return np.sum(resid)
result = minimize(f_error, x0=initial_parameter_guess, args=(xn, yn))
# print(result)
The minimize algorithm via scipy does not find the optimal parameters; the following output is shown with print(result):
fun: -4243.611573066522
hess_inv: array([[41.44400248, 39.68101343],
[39.68101343, 37.99343048]])
jac: array([-1496.81719971, 2166.68896484])
message: 'Desired error not necessarily achieved due to precision loss.'
nfev: 174
nit: 1
njev: 42
status: 2
success: False
x: array([-1.51640333, 2.93879038])
I have seen another solution to this problem, which use the matrix formulation of least squares, but the example is a bit difficult for me to follow. Almost all approaches I've seen are based on the approach in the posted link. I'd prefer using minimize unless the linear algebra approach was better for a reason that I am currently unaware of.
Anyways, can my approach above be adapted/tweaked in a way that will work and can be generalized for higher dimensions?

Two issues with the code . Instead of minimizing the sum of residuals , minimize the sum of squares of residuals. Secondly , elliptic equation should be defined as x=a*np.cos(theta) and y=b*np.sin(theta)
npoints = 75
theta = np.random.uniform(0, 2*np.pi, size=npoints)
a, b = (3, 5)
initial_parameter_guess = (2.5, 6)
xnoise = np.random.uniform(-1, 1, size=theta.size)
ynoise = np.random.uniform(-1, 1, size=theta.size)
x = a * np.cos(theta)
xn = x + xnoise
y = b * np.sin(theta)
yn = y + ynoise
def get_residuals(prms, x, y):
""" """
return 1 - ((x/prms[0])**2 + (y/prms[1])**2)
def f_error(prms, x, y):
""" """
resid = get_residuals(prms, x, y)
return np.sum(np.square(resid))
result = minimize(f_error, x0=initial_parameter_guess,args=(xn, yn))
result
fun: 5.85099318913613
hess_inv: array([[ 0.07025572, -0.02902779],
[-0.02902779, 0.12040811]])
jac: array([-5.96046448e-08, 1.19209290e-07])
message: 'Optimization terminated successfully.'
nfev: 48
nit: 10
njev: 12
status: 0
success: True
x: array([3.35248219, 5.13728323])

Using matplotlib to generate 3D surfaces from 2D matrices

Using a 2d matrix in python, how can I create a 3d surface plot, where columns=x, rows=y and the values are the heights in z?
I can't understand how to creat 3D surface plot using matplotlib.
Maybe it's different from MatLab.
example:
from pylab import *
from mpl_toolkits.mplot3d import Axes3D
def p(eps=0.9, lmd=1, err=10e-3, m=60, n=40):
delta_phi = 2 * np.pi / m
delta_lmd = 2 / n
k = 1
P0 = np.zeros([m + 1, n + 1])
P = np.zeros([m + 1, n + 1])
GAP = 1
while GAP >= err:
k = k + 1
for i in range(0, m):
for j in range(0, n):
if (i == 1) or (j == 1) or (i == m + 1) or (i == n + 1):
P[i,j] = 0
else:
A = (1+eps*np.cos((i+1/2)*delta_phi))**3
B = (1+eps*np.cos((i-1/2)*delta_phi))**3
C = (lmd*delta_phi/delta_lmd)**2 * (1+eps*np.cos((i)*delta_phi))**3
D = C
E = A + B + C + D
F = 3*delta_phi*((1+eps*np.cos((i+1/2)*delta_phi))-(1+eps*np.cos((i-1/2)*delta_phi)))
P[i,j] = (A*P[i+1,j] + B*P[i-1,j] + C*P[i,j+1] + D*P[i,j-1] - F)/E
if P[i,j] < 0:
P[i,j] = 0
S = P.sum() - P0.sum()
T = P.sum()
GAP = S / T
P0 = P.copy()
return P, k
def main():
start = time.time()
eps = 0.9
lmd = 1
err = 10e-8
m = 60
n = 40
P, k = p()
fig = figure()
ax = Axes3D(fig)
X = np.linspace(0, 2*np.pi, m+1)
Y = np.linspace(-1, 1, n+1)
X, Y = np.meshgrid(X, Y)
#Z = P[0:m, 0:n]
#Z = Z.reshape(X.shape)
ax.set_xticks([0, np.pi/2, np.pi, np.pi*1.5, 2*np.pi])
ax.set_yticks([-1, -0.5, 0, 0.5, 1])
ax.plot_surface(X, Y, P)
show()
if __name__ == '__main__':
main()
ValueError: shape mismatch: objects cannot be broadcast to a single
shape
And the pic
pic by matplotlic
And I also use MatLab to generate,the pic:
pic by MatLab

I should think this is a problem of getting the notaton straight. A m*n matrix is a matrix with m rows and n columns. Hence Y should be of length m and X of length n, such that after meshgridding X,Y and P all have shape (m,n).
At this point there would be no need to reshape of reindex and just plotting
ax.plot_surface(X, Y, P)
would give your the desired result.

Let's assume if you have a matrix mat.
import numpy as np
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
from mpl_toolkits import mplot3d
h, w = mat.shape
plt.figure(figsize=(16, 8))
ax = plt.axes(projection='3d')
X, Y = np.meshgrid(np.arange(w), np.arange(h))
ax.plot_surface(X, Y, mat, rstride=1, cstride=1, cmap='viridis', edgecolor='none', antialiased=False)

How can I use multiple dimensional polynomials with numpy.polynomial?

I'm able to use numpy.polynomial to fit terms to 1D polynomials like f(x) = 1 + x + x^2. How can I fit multidimensional polynomials, like f(x,y) = 1 + x + x^2 + y + yx + y x^2 + y^2 + y^2 x + y^2 x^2? It looks like numpy doesn't support multidimensional polynomials at all: is that the case? In my real application, I have 5 dimensions of input and I am interested in hermite polynomials. It looks like the polynomials in scipy.special are also only available for one dimension of inputs.
# One dimension of data can be fit
x = np.random.random(100)
y = np.sin(x)
params = np.polynomial.polynomial.polyfit(x, y, 6)
np.polynomial.polynomial.polyval([0, .2, .5, 1.5], params)
array([ -5.01799432e-08, 1.98669317e-01, 4.79425535e-01,
9.97606096e-01])
# When I try two dimensions, it fails.
x = np.random.random((100, 2))
y = np.sin(5 * x[:,0]) + .4 * np.sin(x[:,1])
params = np.polynomial.polynomial.polyvander2d(x, y, [6, 6])
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
ValueError Traceback (most recent call last)
<ipython-input-13-5409f9a3e632> in <module>()
----> 1 params = np.polynomial.polynomial.polyvander2d(x, y, [6, 6])
/usr/local/lib/python2.7/site-packages/numpy/polynomial/polynomial.pyc in polyvander2d(x, y, deg)
1201 raise ValueError("degrees must be non-negative integers")
1202 degx, degy = ideg
-> 1203 x, y = np.array((x, y), copy=0) + 0.0
1204
1205 vx = polyvander(x, degx)
ValueError: could not broadcast input array from shape (100,2) into shape (100)

I got annoyed that there is no simple function for a 2d polynomial fit of any number of degrees so I made my own. Like the other answers it uses numpy lstsq to find the best coefficients.
import numpy as np
from scipy.linalg import lstsq
from scipy.special import binom
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
from mpl_toolkits.mplot3d import Axes3D
def _get_coeff_idx(coeff):
idx = np.indices(coeff.shape)
idx = idx.T.swapaxes(0, 1).reshape((-1, 2))
return idx
def _scale(x, y):
# Normalize x and y to avoid huge numbers
# Mean 0, Variation 1
offset_x, offset_y = np.mean(x), np.mean(y)
norm_x, norm_y = np.std(x), np.std(y)
x = (x - offset_x) / norm_x
y = (y - offset_y) / norm_y
return x, y, (norm_x, norm_y), (offset_x, offset_y)
def _unscale(x, y, norm, offset):
x = x * norm[0] + offset[0]
y = y * norm[1] + offset[1]
return x, y
def polyvander2d(x, y, degree):
A = np.polynomial.polynomial.polyvander2d(x, y, degree)
return A
def polyscale2d(coeff, scale_x, scale_y, copy=True):
if copy:
coeff = np.copy(coeff)
idx = _get_coeff_idx(coeff)
for k, (i, j) in enumerate(idx):
coeff[i, j] /= scale_x ** i * scale_y ** j
return coeff
def polyshift2d(coeff, offset_x, offset_y, copy=True):
if copy:
coeff = np.copy(coeff)
idx = _get_coeff_idx(coeff)
# Copy coeff because it changes during the loop
coeff2 = np.copy(coeff)
for k, m in idx:
not_the_same = ~((idx[:, 0] == k) & (idx[:, 1] == m))
above = (idx[:, 0] >= k) & (idx[:, 1] >= m) & not_the_same
for i, j in idx[above]:
b = binom(i, k) * binom(j, m)
sign = (-1) ** ((i - k) + (j - m))
offset = offset_x ** (i - k) * offset_y ** (j - m)
coeff[k, m] += sign * b * coeff2[i, j] * offset
return coeff
def plot2d(x, y, z, coeff):
# regular grid covering the domain of the data
if x.size > 500:
choice = np.random.choice(x.size, size=500, replace=False)
else:
choice = slice(None, None, None)
x, y, z = x[choice], y[choice], z[choice]
X, Y = np.meshgrid(
np.linspace(np.min(x), np.max(x), 20), np.linspace(np.min(y), np.max(y), 20)
)
Z = np.polynomial.polynomial.polyval2d(X, Y, coeff)
fig = plt.figure()
ax = fig.gca(projection="3d")
ax.plot_surface(X, Y, Z, rstride=1, cstride=1, alpha=0.2)
ax.scatter(x, y, z, c="r", s=50)
plt.xlabel("X")
plt.ylabel("Y")
ax.set_zlabel("Z")
plt.show()
def polyfit2d(x, y, z, degree=1, max_degree=None, scale=True, plot=False):
"""A simple 2D polynomial fit to data x, y, z
The polynomial can be evaluated with numpy.polynomial.polynomial.polyval2d
Parameters
----------
x : array[n]
x coordinates
y : array[n]
y coordinates
z : array[n]
data values
degree : {int, 2-tuple}, optional
degree of the polynomial fit in x and y direction (default: 1)
max_degree : {int, None}, optional
if given the maximum combined degree of the coefficients is limited to this value
scale : bool, optional
Wether to scale the input arrays x and y to mean 0 and variance 1, to avoid numerical overflows.
Especially useful at higher degrees. (default: True)
plot : bool, optional
wether to plot the fitted surface and data (slow) (default: False)
Returns
-------
coeff : array[degree+1, degree+1]
the polynomial coefficients in numpy 2d format, i.e. coeff[i, j] for x**i * y**j
"""
# Flatten input
x = np.asarray(x).ravel()
y = np.asarray(y).ravel()
z = np.asarray(z).ravel()
# Remove masked values
mask = ~(np.ma.getmask(z) | np.ma.getmask(x) | np.ma.getmask(y))
x, y, z = x[mask].ravel(), y[mask].ravel(), z[mask].ravel()
# Scale coordinates to smaller values to avoid numerical problems at larger degrees
if scale:
x, y, norm, offset = _scale(x, y)
if np.isscalar(degree):
degree = (int(degree), int(degree))
degree = [int(degree[0]), int(degree[1])]
coeff = np.zeros((degree[0] + 1, degree[1] + 1))
idx = _get_coeff_idx(coeff)
# Calculate elements 1, x, y, x*y, x**2, y**2, ...
A = polyvander2d(x, y, degree)
# We only want the combinations with maximum order COMBINED power
if max_degree is not None:
mask = idx[:, 0] + idx[:, 1] <= int(max_degree)
idx = idx[mask]
A = A[:, mask]
# Do the actual least squares fit
C, *_ = lstsq(A, z)
# Reorder coefficients into numpy compatible 2d array
for k, (i, j) in enumerate(idx):
coeff[i, j] = C[k]
# Reverse the scaling
if scale:
coeff = polyscale2d(coeff, *norm, copy=False)
coeff = polyshift2d(coeff, *offset, copy=False)
if plot:
if scale:
x, y = _unscale(x, y, norm, offset)
plot2d(x, y, z, coeff)
return coeff
if __name__ == "__main__":
n = 100
x, y = np.meshgrid(np.arange(n), np.arange(n))
z = x ** 2 + y ** 2
c = polyfit2d(x, y, z, degree=2, plot=True)
print(c)

It doesn't look like polyfit supports fitting multivariate polynomials, but you can do it by hand, with linalg.lstsq. The steps are as follows:
Gather the degrees of monomials x**i * y**j you wish to use in the model. Think carefully about it: your current model already has 9 parameters, if you are going to push to 5 variables then with the current approach you'll end up with 3**5 = 243 parameters, a sure road to overfitting. Maybe limit to the monomials of __total_ degree at most 2 or three...
Plug the x-points into each monomial; this gives a 1D array. Stack all such arrays as columns of a matrix.
Solve a linear system with aforementioned matrix and with the right-hand side being the target values (I call them z because y is confusing when you also use x, y for two variables).
Here it is:
import numpy as np
x = np.random.random((100, 2))
z = np.sin(5 * x[:,0]) + .4 * np.sin(x[:,1])
degrees = [(i, j) for i in range(3) for j in range(3)] # list of monomials x**i * y**j to use
matrix = np.stack([np.prod(x**d, axis=1) for d in degrees], axis=-1) # stack monomials like columns
coeff = np.linalg.lstsq(matrix, z)[0] # lstsq returns some additional info we ignore
print("Coefficients", coeff) # in the same order as the monomials listed in "degrees"
fit = np.dot(matrix, coeff)
print("Fitted values", fit)
print("Original values", y)

I believe you have misunderstood what polyvander2d does and how it should be used. polyvander2d() returns the pseudo-Vandermonde matrix of degrees deg and sample points (x, y).
Here, y is not the value(s) of the polynomial at point(s) x but rather it is the y-coordinate of the point(s) and x is the x-coordinate. Roughly speaking, the returned array is a set of combinations of (x**i) * (y**j) and x and y are essentially 2D "mesh-grids". Therefore, both x and y must have identical shapes.
Your x and y, however, arrays have different shapes:
>>> x.shape
(100, 2)
>>> y.shape
(100,)
I do not believe numpy has a 5D-polyvander of the form polyvander5D(x, y, z, v, w, deg). Notice, all the variables here are coordinates and not the values of the polynomial p=p(x,y,z,v,w). You, however, seem to be using y (in the 2D case) as f.
It appears that numpy does not have 2D or higher equivalents for the polyfit() function. If your intention is to find the coefficients of the best-fitting polynomial in higher-dimensions, I would suggest that you generalize the approach described here: Equivalent of `polyfit` for a 2D polynomial in Python

The option isn't there because nobody wants to do that. Combine the polynomials linearly (f(x,y) = 1 + x + y + x^2 + y^2) and solve the system of equations yourself.

Mayavi: animating an octahedron outline without blocking

I am trying to animate an octahedron. Here is the code for that. A simpler version of this code would be found on this different question on SO. Using the code there and the style of the animate object as used here I tried to make a functional animation. The only problem is- the animation hangs up the plot window!
import numpy as np
import mayavi.mlab as ML
import math
import time
def produce_verts(A,t):
delta=lambda A,t:A*math.sin(t)
verts =lambda d: [(1+d,0,0), (0,1+d,0), (-1-d,0,0), (0,-1-d,0), (0,0,1+d), (0,0,-1-d)]
return zip(*verts(delta(A,t)))
t=0.
dt=0.01
A=0.5
ML.clf()
nverts=6
x, y, z = produce_verts(A,t)
# Each triangle is a 3-tuple of indices. The indices are indices of `verts`.
triangles = [(i, (i+1)%4, j) for i in range(4) for j in (4,5)]
colorval = [x[i]**2+y[i]**2+z[i]**2 for i in range(nverts)]
mesh=ML.triangular_mesh(x, y, z, triangles, scalars=colorval, opacity=1,representation='mesh')
MS=mesh.mlab_source
Bool=True
while Bool:
t=(t+dt)%(2*math.pi)
x,y,z=produce_verts(A,t)
colorval = [x[i]**2+y[i]**2+z[i]**2 for i in range(nverts)]
MS.reset(x=x,y=y,z=z,scalars=colorval)
time.sleep(1.)
print t,dt
if t>4:
Bool=False

I don't think the plot is hanging. It's just that dt is so small and the time.sleep is so large that it tries your patience. If you set dt equal to, say, 0.1, and remove the time.sleep call, then the plot becomes more animated.
Also, use MS.reset when the size of the arrays change. When the size of the arrays stays the same, you'll get better performance using MS.set:
import numpy as np
import mayavi.mlab as ML
import math
import time
def produce_verts(A, t):
def delta(A, t):
return A * math.sin(t)
def verts(d):
return [(1 + d, 0, 0), (0, 1 + d, 0), (-1 - d, 0, 0), (0, -1 - d, 0),
(0, 0, 1 + d), (0, 0, -1 - d)]
return zip(*verts(delta(A, t)))
t = 0.
dt = 0.1
A = 0.5
ML.clf()
nverts = 6
x, y, z = produce_verts(A, t)
# Each triangle is a 3-tuple of indices. The indices are indices of `verts`.
triangles = [(i, (i + 1) % 4, j) for i in range(4) for j in (4, 5)]
colorval = [xi ** 2 + yi ** 2 + zi ** 2 for xi, yi, zi in zip(x, y, z)]
mesh = ML.triangular_mesh(
x, y, z, triangles, scalars=colorval, opacity=1, representation='mesh')
ms = mesh.mlab_source
while True:
t = (t + dt) % (2 * math.pi)
x, y, z = produce_verts(A, t)
colorval = [xi ** 2 + yi ** 2 + zi ** 2 for xi, yi, zi in zip(x, y, z)]
ms.set(x=x, y=y, z=z, scalars=colorval)
# time.sleep(0.1)
print t, dt
if t > 4:
break
ML.show()