diff --git a/src/backends/gr.jl b/src/backends/gr.jl
index 227a122f..56693c00 100644
--- a/src/backends/gr.jl
+++ b/src/backends/gr.jl
@@ -1732,14 +1732,18 @@ function gr_draw_contour(series, x, y, z, clims)
 end
 
 function gr_draw_surface(series, x, y, z, clims)
+    
     if series[:seriestype] === :surface
+        fillalpha = get_fillalpha(series)
+        fillcolor = get_fillcolor(series)
         if length(x) == length(y) == length(z)
             x, y, z = GR.gridit(x, y, z, 200, 200)
         end
-        try
-            GR.gr3.surface(x, y, z, GR.OPTION_COLORED_MESH)
-        catch
+        if (!isnothing(fillalpha) && fillalpha < 1) || alpha(first(fillcolor)) < 1
+            gr_set_transparency(fillcolor, fillalpha)
             GR.surface(x, y, z, GR.OPTION_COLORED_MESH)
+        else
+            GR.gr3.surface(x, y, z, GR.OPTION_COLORED_MESH)
         end
     else # wireframe
         GR.setfillcolorind(0)
diff --git a/src/backends/pgfplotsx.jl b/src/backends/pgfplotsx.jl
index 9bf2a6c9..f2e09073 100644
--- a/src/backends/pgfplotsx.jl
+++ b/src/backends/pgfplotsx.jl
@@ -497,6 +497,7 @@ function pgfx_add_series!(::Val{:surface}, axis, series_opt, series, series_func
         "mesh/rows" => length(opt[:x]),
         "mesh/cols" => length(opt[:y]),
         "z buffer" => "sort",
+        "opacity" => get_fillalpha(series),
     )
     pgfx_add_series!(axis, series_opt, series, series_func, opt)
 end
@@ -836,7 +837,7 @@ function pgfx_colormap(v::Vector{<:Colorant})
 end
 function pgfx_colormap(cg::ColorGradient)
     join(map(1:length(cg)) do i
-        @sprintf("rgb(%.8fcm)=(%.8f,%.8f,%.8f)", cg.values[i], red(cg.colors[i]), green(cg.colors[i]), blue(cg.colors[i]))
+        @sprintf("rgb(%.8f)=(%.8f,%.8f,%.8f)", cg.values[i], red(cg.colors[i]), green(cg.colors[i]), blue(cg.colors[i]))
     end, "\n")
 end
 
diff --git a/src/backends/pyplot.jl b/src/backends/pyplot.jl
index 8dc2a4ae..83899620 100644
--- a/src/backends/pyplot.jl
+++ b/src/backends/pyplot.jl
@@ -205,9 +205,15 @@ function fix_xy_lengths!(plt::Plot{PyPlotBackend}, series::Series)
     end
 end
 
-py_linecolormap(series::Series)       = py_colormap(series[:linecolor])
-py_markercolormap(series::Series)     = py_colormap(series[:markercolor])
-py_fillcolormap(series::Series)       = py_colormap(series[:fillcolor])
+function py_linecolormap(series::Series)
+    py_colormap(cgrad(get_linecolor(series), alpha=get_linealpha(series)))
+end
+function py_markercolormap(series::Series)
+    py_colormap(cgrad(get_markercolor(series), alpha=get_markeralpha(series)))
+end
+function py_fillcolormap(series::Series)
+    py_colormap(cgrad(get_fillcolor(series), alpha=get_fillalpha(series)))
+end
 
 # ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
@@ -924,7 +930,7 @@ function _before_layout_calcs(plt::Plot{PyPlotBackend})
             kw[:spacing] = "proportional"
 
             if RecipesPipeline.is3d(sp) || ispolar(sp)
-                cbax = fig."add_axes"([0.9, 0.1, 0.03, 0.8])
+                cbax = fig."add_axes"([0.9, 0.1, 0.03, 0.8], label=string("cbar", sp[:subplot_index]))
                 cb = fig."colorbar"(handle; cax=cbax, kw...)
             else
                 # divider approach works only with 2d plots
@@ -949,7 +955,7 @@ function _before_layout_calcs(plt::Plot{PyPlotBackend})
                     colorbar_orientation="horizontal"
                 end
 
-                cbax = divider.append_axes(colorbar_position, size="5%", pad=colorbar_pad)  # Reasonable value works most of the usecases
+                cbax = divider.append_axes(colorbar_position, size="5%", pad=colorbar_pad, label=string("cbar", sp[:subplot_index]))  # Reasonable value works most of the usecases
                 cb = fig."colorbar"(handle; cax=cbax, orientation = colorbar_orientation, kw...)
 
                 if sp[:colorbar] == :left
@@ -1257,11 +1263,10 @@ function _update_min_padding!(sp::Subplot{PyPlotBackend})
 
 
     # optionally add the width of colorbar labels and colorbar to rightpad
-    # if haskey(sp.attr, :cbar_ax)
-    #     bb = py_bbox(sp.attr[:cbar_handle]."ax"."get_yticklabels"())
-    #     sp.attr[:cbar_width] = width(bb) + (sp[:colorbar_title] == "" ? 0px : 30px)
-    #     rightpad = rightpad + sp.attr[:cbar_width]
-    # end
+    if RecipesPipeline.is3d(sp) || haskey(sp.attr, :cbar_ax)
+        bb = py_bbox(sp.attr[:cbar_handle]."ax"."get_yticklabels"())
+        sp.attr[:cbar_width] = width(bb) + (sp[:colorbar_title] == "" ? 0px : 30px)
+    end
 
     # add in the user-specified margin
     leftpad   += sp[:left_margin]