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surfaceMesh

Create surface mesh

Since R2022b

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    Description

    A surfaceMesh object creates and stores a surface mesh. A surface mesh represents a geometric surface and consists of vertices, faces, and edges. Using the surfaceMesh object and the object functions, you can:

    • Add and remove mesh vertices and faces

    • Perform geometric operations, such as rotate, translate, transform, and scale

    • Compute mesh normals

    • Crop, simplify, and subdivide a mesh

    • Check mesh properties such as whether it is self-intersecting, watertight, or orientable

    • Remove degenerate and unreferenced vertices and faces

    Creation

    Syntax

    mesh = surfaceMesh(vertices,faces)
    mesh = surfaceMesh(___,Name=Value)

    Description

    mesh = surfaceMesh(vertices,faces) creates a surfaceMesh object with the specified vertices and faces.

    example

    mesh = surfaceMesh(___,Name=Value) specifies options using one or more name-value arguments in addition to the arguments from the previous syntax. For example, VertexNormals=[8 -4 4; 4 4 8; -6 6 3; -3 -6 6; 3 -6 -6; 6 6 -3] specifies the normal vectors for the mesh vertices.

    Properties

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    Mesh vertices, specified as an M-by-3 matrix. Each row of the matrix is of the form [x y z], specifying the coordinates of a vertex. Each vertex has a vertex ID equal to its row number in the matrix. M is the total number of vertices in the mesh.

    The vertices argument sets this property at object creation.

    Data Types: single | double

    Mesh triangular faces, specified as an N-by-3 matrix. Each row of the matrix is in the form [V1 V2 V3], specifying the row indices of the corresponding vertices in Vertices that define the triangular face. N is the number of faces in the mesh.

    The faces argument sets this property at object creation.

    Data Types: single | double

    Normal vectors for the mesh vertices, specified as an M-by-3 matrix. Each row of the matrix is in the form [x y z], specifying the normal vector for a vertex. M is the total number of vertices in the mesh.

    Vertex normal is a weighted average of all the face normals that are connected to a vertex.

    To set this property, specify it at object creation.

    Example: mesh(vertices,faces,VertexNormals=[8 -4 4; 4 4 8; -6 6 3; -3 -6 6; 3 -6 -6; 6 6 -3])

    Data Types: single | double

    Color values for the mesh vertices, specified as an M-by-3 matrix. Each row of the matrix is of the form [R G B], specifying the color value for a vertex. Each value must be in the range [0, 1]. M is the total number of vertices in the mesh.

    To set this property, specify it at object creation.

    Example: mesh(vertices,faces,VertexColors=[1 0 0; 0 0 1; 0 0 0; 1 1 1 1; 1 1 0; 0 1 1])

    Data Types: single | double

    Normal vectors for the mesh faces, specified as an N-by-3 matrix. Each row of the matrix is of the form [x y z], specifying the normal for a face. N is the total number of faces in the mesh.

    To set this property, specify it at object creation.

    Example: mesh(vertices,faces,FaceNormals=[8 -4 4; 4 4 8; -6 6 3; -3 -6 6; 3 -6 -6; 6 6 -3])

    Data Types: single | double

    Color values for the mesh faces, specified as an N-by-3 matrix. Each row of the matrix is of the form [R G B], specifying the color value for a face. Each value must be in the range [0, 1]. N is the total number of faces in the mesh.

    To set this property, specify it at object creation.

    Example: mesh(vertices,faces,FaceColors=[1 0 0; 0 0 1; 0 0 0; 1 1 1; 1 1 0; 0 1 1])

    Data Types: single | double

    Number of mesh vertices, stored as a positive integer.

    This property is read-only.

    Data Types: unit32

    Number of mesh faces, stored as a positive integer.

    This property is read-only.

    Data Types: unit32

    Object Functions

    addVerticesAdd vertices to surface mesh
    addFacesAdd faces to surface mesh
    removeVerticesRemove vertices from surface mesh
    removeFacesRemove faces from surface mesh
    translateTranslate surface mesh
    rotateRotate surface mesh
    transformApply rigid transformation to surface mesh
    vertexCenterFind vertex center of surface mesh
    scaleScale vertices of surface mesh
    computeNormalsCompute unit normals for mesh vertices and faces
    cropCrop surface mesh
    simplifySimplify surface mesh
    subdivideSubdivide surface mesh
    isEdgeManifoldCheck if surface mesh is edge-manifold
    isOrientableCheck if surface mesh is orientable
    isSelfIntersectingCheck if surface mesh is self-intersecting
    isVertexManifoldCheck if surface mesh is vertex-manifold
    isWatertightCheck if surface mesh is watertight
    removeDefectsRemove surface mesh defects

    Examples

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    Open Live Script

    Define mesh vertices for a cuboid.

    vertices = [1 -1  1; 1 1 1; -1 1 1; -1 -1 1; ...
            1 -1 -1; 1 1 -1; -1 1 -1; -1 -1 -1];

    Define the mesh faces using the vertices.

    faces = [6 2 1; 1 5 6; 8 4 3; 3 7 8; 6 7 3; 3 2 6; ...
         5 1 4; 4 8 5; 4 1 2; 2 3 4; 7 6 5; 5 8 7];

    Create the surface mesh.

    mesh = surfaceMesh(vertices,faces);

    Display the surface mesh.

    surfaceMeshShow(mesh,Title="Cuboid Mesh")

    Version History

    Introduced in R2022b

    See Also

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