I have some data (a function of two parameters) stored in a matlab format, and I'd like to use matlab to plot it. Once I read the data in, I use mesh()
to make a plot. My mesh()
plot gives me the the value of the function as a color and a surface height, like this:
What matlab plotting function should I use to make a 2D mesh plot where the dependent variable is represented as only a color? I'm looking for something like pm3d map
in gnuplot.
To create a custom colormap, specify map as a three-column matrix of RGB triplets where each row defines one color. An RGB triplet is a three-element row vector whose elements specify the intensities of the red, green, and blue components of the color.
The mesh 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.
By default mesh
will color surface values based on the (default) jet
colormap (i.e. hot is higher). You can additionally use surf
for filled surface patches and set the 'EdgeColor'
property to 'None'
(so the patch edges are non-visible).
[X,Y] = meshgrid(-8:.5:8); R = sqrt(X.^2 + Y.^2) + eps; Z = sin(R)./R; % surface in 3D figure; surf(Z,'EdgeColor','None');
2D map: You can get a 2D map by switching the view
property of the figure
% 2D map using view figure; surf(Z,'EdgeColor','None'); view(2);
... or treating the values in Z
as a matrix, viewing it as a scaled image using imagesc
and selecting an appropriate colormap.
% using imagesc to view just Z figure; imagesc(Z); colormap jet;
The color pallet of the map is controlled by colormap(map)
, where map
can be custom or any of the built-in colormaps provided by MATLAB:
Update/Refining the map: Several design options on the map (resolution, smoothing, axis etc.) can be controlled by the regular MATLAB options. As @Floris points out, here is a smoothed, equal-axis, no-axis labels maps, adapted to this example:
figure; surf(X, Y, Z,'EdgeColor', 'None', 'facecolor', 'interp'); view(2); axis equal; axis off;
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