Contour plot under surface plot (2024)

Table of Contents
Syntax Description Examples Display Contour Plot Under Surface Plot Specify Colormap Colors for Surface and Contour Plot Modify Appearance of Surface and Contour Plots Change Location of Contour Lines Input Arguments X — x-coordinates matrix | vector Y — y-coordinates matrix | vector Z — z-coordinates matrix C — Color array matrix | m-by-n-by-3 array of RGB triplets ax — Axes to plot in axes object Name-Value Arguments Extended Capabilities GPU Arrays Accelerate code by running on a graphics processing unit (GPU) using Parallel Computing Toolbox™. Distributed ArraysPartition large arrays across the combined memory of your cluster using Parallel Computing Toolbox™. Version History See Also Functions Properties Topics MATLAB Command Americas Europe Asia Pacific

Contour plot under surface plot

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  • Contour plot under surface plot (1)

Syntax

surfc(X,Y,Z)

surfc(X,Y,Z,C)

surfc(Z)

surfc(Z,C)

surfc(ax,___)

surfc(___,Name,Value)

sc = surfc(___)

Description

example

surfc(X,Y,Z) creates a three-dimensional surface plot with a contour plot underneath. A surface plot is a three-dimensional surface that has solid edge colors and solid face colors. The function plots the values in matrix Z as heights above a grid in the x-y plane defined by X and Y. The color of the surface varies according to the heights specified by Z.

example

surfc(X,Y,Z,C) additionally specifies the surface color.

surfc(Z) creates a surface and contour plot and uses the column and row indices of the elements in Z as the x- and y -coordinates.

surfc(Z,C) additionally specifies the surface color.

surfc(ax,___) plots into the axes specified by ax instead of the current axes. Specify the axes as the first input argument.

example

surfc(___,Name,Value) specifies surface properties using one or more name-value pair arguments. For example, 'FaceAlpha',0.5 creates a semitransparent surface.

example

sc = surfc(___) returns a graphics array that includes the chart surface object and the contour object. Use sc to modify the surface and contour plots after they are created. For a list of properties, see Surface Properties and Contour Properties.

Examples

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Display Contour Plot Under Surface Plot

Open Live Script

Create three matrices of the same size. Then plot them as a surface and display a contour plot under the surface plot. The surface uses Z for both height and color.

[X,Y] = meshgrid(1:0.5:10,1:20);Z = sin(X) + cos(Y);surfc(X,Y,Z)
See Also
Color bar for filled contour map display

Contour plot under surface plot (2)

Specify Colormap Colors for Surface and Contour Plot

Open Live Script

Specify the colors for a surface and a contour plot by including a fourth matrix input, C. The surface plot uses Z for height and C for color. Specify the colors using a colormap, which uses single numbers to stand for colors on a spectrum. When you use a colormap, C is the same size as Z. Add a color bar to the graph to show how the data values in C correspond to the colors in the colormap.

[X,Y] = meshgrid(-3:.125:3);Z = peaks(X,Y);C = X.*Y;surfc(X,Y,Z,C)colorbar

Contour plot under surface plot (3)

Modify Appearance of Surface and Contour Plots

Open Live Script

Create a blue surface plot with a contour plot underneath it by specifying the FaceColor name-value pair with 'b' as the value. To allow further modifications, assign the graphics array containing the surface and contour objects to the variable sc.

[X,Y] = meshgrid(-5:.5:5);Z = Y.*sin(X) - X.*cos(Y);sc = surfc(X,Y,Z,'FaceColor','b');

Contour plot under surface plot (4)

Index into sc to access and modify properties of the surface and contour plots after they are created. The surface plot is accessible as sc(1) and the contour plot as sc(2). For example, change the edge colors of the two plots by setting the EdgeColor properties.

sc(1).EdgeColor = 'r';sc(2).EdgeColor = 'b';

Contour plot under surface plot (5)

Change Location of Contour Lines

Open Live Script

The contour lines appear at the minimum z-level by default, but you can change the location by setting the ZLocation property.

Display the peaks data set as a surface plot with the contours at the minimum z-level. Specify a return argument when you call the surfc function so that you can access the Contour object.

Z = peaks;sc = surfc(Z);

Contour plot under surface plot (6)

Get the current axes and extend the upper limit of the z-axis to 15. Then move the contours to the maximum z-level.

ax = gca;ax.ZLim(2) = 15;sc(2).ZLocation = 'zmax';

Contour plot under surface plot (7)

Input Arguments

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X — x-coordinates
matrix | vector

x-coordinates, specified as a matrix the same size as Z, or as a vector with length n, where [m,n] = size(Z). If you do not specify values for X and Y, surfc uses the vectors (1:n) and (1:m).

When X is a matrix, the values must be strictly increasing or decreasing along one dimension and remain constant along the other dimension. The dimension that varies must be the opposite of the dimension that varies in Y. You can use the meshgrid function to create X and Y matrices.

When X is a vector, the values must be strictly increasing or decreasing.

The XData properties of the surface and contour objects store the x-coordinates.

Example: X = 1:10

Example: X = [1 2 3; 1 2 3; 1 2 3]

Example: [X,Y] = meshgrid(-5:0.5:5)

Data Types: single | double | int8 | int16 | int32 | int64 | uint8 | uint16 | uint32 | uint64 | categorical

Y — y-coordinates
matrix | vector

y-coordinates, specified as a matrix the same size as Z or as a vector with length m, where [m,n] = size(Z). If you do not specify values for X and Y, surfc uses the vectors (1:n) and (1:m).

When Y is a matrix, the values must be strictly increasing or decreasing along one dimension and remain constant along the other dimension. The dimension that varies must be the opposite of the dimension that varies in X. You can use the meshgrid function to create X and Y matrices.

When Y is a vector, the values must be strictly increasing or decreasing.

The YData properties of the surface and contour objects store the y-coordinates.

Example: Y = 1:10

Example: Y = [1 1 1; 2 2 2; 3 3 3]

Example: [X,Y] = meshgrid(-5:0.5:5)

Data Types: single | double | int8 | int16 | int32 | int64 | uint8 | uint16 | uint32 | uint64 | categorical

Z — z-coordinates
matrix

z-coordinates, specified as a matrix. Z must have at least two rows and two columns.

Z specifies the height of the surface plot at each x-y coordinate. If you do not specify the colors, then Z also specifies the surface colors.

The ZData properties of the surface and contour objects store the z-coordinates.

Example: Z = [1 2 3; 4 5 6]

Example: Z = sin(x) + cos(y)

Data Types: single | double | int8 | int16 | int32 | int64 | uint8 | uint16 | uint32 | uint64 | categorical

C — Color array
matrix | m-by-n-by-3 array of RGB triplets

Color array, specified as an m-by-n matrix of colormap indices or as an m-by-n-by-3 array of RGB triplets, where Z is m-by-n.

  • To use colormap colors, specify C as a matrix. For each grid point on the surface, C indicates a color in the colormap. The CDataMapping property of the surface object controls how the values in C correspond to colors in the colormap.

  • To use truecolor colors, specify C as an array of RGB triplets.

For more information, see Differences Between Colormaps and Truecolor.

The CData property of the surface object stores the color array. For additional control over the surface coloring, use the FaceColor and EdgeColor properties.

ax — Axes to plot in
axes object

Axes to plot in, specified as an axes object. If you do not specify the axes, then surfc plots into the current axes.

Name-Value Arguments

Specify optional pairs of arguments as Name1=Value1,...,NameN=ValueN, where Name is the argument name and Value is the corresponding value. Name-value arguments must appear after other arguments, but the order of the pairs does not matter.

Before R2021a, use commas to separate each name and value, and enclose Name in quotes.

Example: surfc(X,Y,Z,'FaceAlpha',0.5,'EdgeColor','none') creates a semitransparent surface with no edges drawn.

Note

The properties listed here are only a subset. For a full list, see Surface Properties.

Extended Capabilities

Version History

Introduced before R2006a

See Also

Functions

  • meshc | surf | meshgrid | imagesc | view | shading | pcolor | colormap | contour

Properties

  • Surface Properties | Contour Properties

Topics

  • Representing Data as a Surface
  • How Surface Plot Data Relates to a Colormap

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                                                        Contour plot under surface plot (2024)
                        

                            
                        

                    

                                                                                                            
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