diff --git a/lib/mpl_toolkits/mplot3d/axes3d.py b/lib/mpl_toolkits/mplot3d/axes3d.py
index 73385ec91256..23755d55b6a6 100644
--- a/lib/mpl_toolkits/mplot3d/axes3d.py
+++ b/lib/mpl_toolkits/mplot3d/axes3d.py
@@ -1984,47 +1984,30 @@ def plot_trisurf(self, *args, **kwargs):
             args = args[1:]
 
         triangles = tri.get_masked_triangles()
-        xt = tri.x[triangles][..., np.newaxis]
-        yt = tri.y[triangles][..., np.newaxis]
-        zt = z[triangles][..., np.newaxis]
+        xt = tri.x[triangles]
+        yt = tri.y[triangles]
+        zt = z[triangles]
 
-        verts = np.concatenate((xt, yt, zt), axis=2)
-
-        # Only need these vectors to shade if there is no cmap
-        if cmap is None and shade:
-            totpts = len(verts)
-            v1 = np.empty((totpts, 3))
-            v2 = np.empty((totpts, 3))
-            # This indexes the vertex points
-            which_pt = 0
-
-        colset = []
-        for i in xrange(len(verts)):
-            avgzsum = verts[i,0,2] + verts[i,1,2] + verts[i,2,2]
-            colset.append(avgzsum / 3.0)
-
-            # Only need vectors to shade if no cmap
-            if cmap is None and shade:
-                v1[which_pt] = np.array(verts[i,0]) - np.array(verts[i,1])
-                v2[which_pt] = np.array(verts[i,1]) - np.array(verts[i,2])
-                which_pt += 1
-
-        if cmap is None and shade:
-            normals = np.cross(v1, v2)
-        else:
-            normals = []
+        # verts = np.stack((xt, yt, zt), axis=-1)
+        verts = np.concatenate((
+            xt[..., np.newaxis], yt[..., np.newaxis], zt[..., np.newaxis]
+        ), axis=-1)
 
         polyc = art3d.Poly3DCollection(verts, *args, **kwargs)
 
         if cmap:
-            colset = np.array(colset)
-            polyc.set_array(colset)
+            # average over the three points of each triangle
+            avg_z = verts[:, :, 2].mean(axis=1)
+            polyc.set_array(avg_z)
             if vmin is not None or vmax is not None:
                 polyc.set_clim(vmin, vmax)
             if norm is not None:
                 polyc.set_norm(norm)
         else:
             if shade:
+                v1 = verts[:, 0, :] - verts[:, 1, :]
+                v2 = verts[:, 1, :] - verts[:, 2, :]
+                normals = np.cross(v1, v2)
                 colset = self._shade_colors(color, normals)
             else:
                 colset = color
diff --git a/lib/mpl_toolkits/tests/baseline_images/test_mplot3d/trisurf3d_shaded.png b/lib/mpl_toolkits/tests/baseline_images/test_mplot3d/trisurf3d_shaded.png
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..9faa9d915349
Binary files /dev/null and b/lib/mpl_toolkits/tests/baseline_images/test_mplot3d/trisurf3d_shaded.png differ
diff --git a/lib/mpl_toolkits/tests/test_mplot3d.py b/lib/mpl_toolkits/tests/test_mplot3d.py
index c157433c752a..b948c7381627 100644
--- a/lib/mpl_toolkits/tests/test_mplot3d.py
+++ b/lib/mpl_toolkits/tests/test_mplot3d.py
@@ -216,6 +216,25 @@ def test_trisurf3d():
     ax.plot_trisurf(x, y, z, cmap=cm.jet, linewidth=0.2)
 
 
+@image_comparison(baseline_images=['trisurf3d_shaded'], remove_text=True,
+                  tol=0.03, extensions=['png'])
+def test_trisurf3d_shaded():
+    n_angles = 36
+    n_radii = 8
+    radii = np.linspace(0.125, 1.0, n_radii)
+    angles = np.linspace(0, 2*np.pi, n_angles, endpoint=False)
+    angles = np.repeat(angles[..., np.newaxis], n_radii, axis=1)
+    angles[:, 1::2] += np.pi/n_angles
+
+    x = np.append(0, (radii*np.cos(angles)).flatten())
+    y = np.append(0, (radii*np.sin(angles)).flatten())
+    z = np.sin(-x*y)
+
+    fig = plt.figure()
+    ax = fig.gca(projection='3d')
+    ax.plot_trisurf(x, y, z, color=[1, 0.5, 0], linewidth=0.2)
+
+
 @image_comparison(baseline_images=['wireframe3d'], remove_text=True)
 def test_wireframe3d():
     fig = plt.figure()