3-D Visualization

Example: Mapping Data to Color or Transparency

This example displays a surface plot of a functions of two variables. The color is mapped to the gradient of the z data.

[x,y] = meshgrid([-2:.2:2]);
z = x.*exp(-x.^2-y.^2);
surf(x,y,z,gradient(z)); axis tight

You can map transparency to the gradient of z in a similar way.

surf(x,y,z,'FaceAlpha','flat',...
    'AlphaDataMapping','scaled',...
    'AlphaData',gradient(z),...
    'FaceColor','blue');
axis tight

Mapping Data to Transparency

Selecting an Alphamap