Note: The word “easy” is relative to the other solutions I found for doing 3D graphics in LaTeX.

The following template is adapted from the annotated 3d box example.

% Template for drawing with tikz 3D package
\documentclass[]{article}
\usepackage{tikz}
\usetikzlibrary{3d}

\begin{document}

% Draw a 3D coordinate system

\begin{center}
\begin{tikzpicture}[x  = {(1cm,0cm)},
                    y  = {(0.4cm,0.6cm)},
                    z  = {(0cm,1cm)},
                    scale = 1,
                    color = {lightgray}]

\begin{scope}[canvas is xy plane at z=0]
  % x-axis
  \draw[blue,->] (0,0) -- (5,0) node (x-axis) [right] {$x$};
  % y-axis
  \draw[red,->] (0,0) -- (0,5) node (y-axis) [above] {$y$};
\end{scope}

\begin{scope}[canvas is yz plane at x=0]
  % z-axis
  \draw[green,->] (0,0) -- (0,5) node (z-axis) [above] {$z$};
\end{scope}

\end{tikzpicture}
\end{center}
\end{document}

The code is almost self-explanatory, but here is the explanation. You can draw in either the xy plane (for z=something), the xz plane (for y=something) or the yz plane (for x=something). If all you want to do is draw in these planes, then the above template is a good place to start. It draws a coordinate system.

The x, y and z values in the following snippet, defines the directions of the x, y and z axis, when projected onto your computer screen. Play around with the values and see what happens if you don’t get it right away:

\begin{tikzpicture}[x  = {(1cm,0cm)},
                    y  = {(0.4cm,0.6cm)},
                    z  = {(0cm,1cm)},

You pick the plane you want to draw in. To draw in the yz plane where it intersects the x-axis at x=0, do the following:

\begin{scope}[canvas is yz plane at x=0]