Introduction to MATLAB 3D surf()

Overview

The surf() function in MATLAB is used to create 3D surface plots. It creates a surface plot by connecting the points specified by the x, y, and z coordinates. The resulting plot shows the relationship between two variables on the x and y axes, represented by the color or height of the surface on the z-axis.

Syntax

The basic syntax for using surf() is:

surf(X,Y,Z)

where X, Y, and Z are matrices or vectors containing the coordinate values for the x, y, and z axes.

Example

To illustrate how surf() works, consider the following code:

x = -5:0.1:5;
y = -5:0.1:5;
[X,Y] = meshgrid(x,y);
Z = sin(sqrt(X.^2 + Y.^2))./(sqrt(X.^2 + Y.^2));
surf(X,Y,Z)

This creates a surface plot for the function sin(sqrt(X.^2 + Y.^2))./(sqrt(X.^2 + Y.^2)).

Here we first define x and y vectors as the range of values we want to plot. Then, we create matrices X and Y using the meshgrid() function, which generates a grid of x and y coordinates that correspond to the input vectors. We then use these matrices to calculate the corresponding Z values using the function sin(sqrt(X.^2 + Y.^2))./(sqrt(X.^2 + Y.^2)), which defines the surface we want to plot.

Finally, we plot the surface using surf(X,Y,Z). The resulting plot shows the shape of the function in 3D space, with height represented by color.

Customization

surf() has several options for customizing the appearance of the plot. For example, we can specify the color map to use, add labels to the axes, and adjust the lighting and shading.

% Change the color map to hot
colormap(hot)

% Add labels to the x, y, and z axes
xlabel('X')
ylabel('Y')
zlabel('Z')

% Adjust the lighting and shading
lighting GOURAUD
shading interp

Conclusion

In conclusion, surf() is a powerful and versatile function in MATLAB for creating 3D surface plots. By specifying the x, y, and z coordinates of the data, we can create plots that show the relationship between two variables in a visually engaging way. Customization options allow us to fine-tune the appearance of the plot to highlight specific features or patterns in the data.