Changing Surface Properties

Open Live Script

This example shows how to get properties of a surface plot in MATLAB® and change the property values to customize your plot.

Surface Objects

There are several ways to create a surface object in MATLAB. One way is to use surf.

[X,Y,Z] = peaks(50);

figure
surf(X,Y,Z)

Figure contains an axes object. The axes object contains an object of type surface.

Like all graphics objects, surfaces have properties that you can view and modify. These properties have default values. The display of the surface object, s, shows the most commonly used surface properties, such as EdgeColor, LineStyle, FaceColor, and FaceLighting.

s = surf(X,Y,Z)

Figure contains an axes object. The axes object contains an object of type surface.

s = 
  Surface with properties:

       EdgeColor: [0 0 0]
       LineStyle: '-'
       FaceColor: 'flat'
    FaceLighting: 'flat'
       FaceAlpha: 1
           XData: [50x50 double]
           YData: [50x50 double]
           ZData: [50x50 double]
           CData: [50x50 double]

  Use GET to show all properties

Get Individual Surface Properties

To access individual properties, use dot notation syntax object.PropertyName. For example, return the FaceColor property of the surface.

s.FaceColor

ans = 
'flat'

Change Commonly Used Surface Properties

Several functions are available to change surface properties. For example, use the shading function to control the shading of your surface.

shading interp    % interpolate the colormap across the surface face

Figure contains an axes object. The axes object contains an object of type surface.

Use the lighting function to adjust the lighting characteristics of your surface. In order for lighting to have any affect, you must light your surface by creating a light object.

light               % create a light
lighting gouraud    % preferred method for lighting curved surfaces

Figure contains an axes object. The axes object contains an object of type surface.

To change the reflectance property of your surface, use the material function.

material dull    % set material to be dull, no specular highlights

Figure contains an axes object. The axes object contains an object of type surface.

To set the transparency for all objects in the current axes, use the alpha function. This function sets the transparency to any value between 1 and 0, where 1 means fully opaque and 0 means completely transparent.

alpha(0.8)    % set transparency to 0.8

Figure contains an axes object. The axes object contains an object of type surface.

Change Other Surface Properties

To customize the look of your surface, change property values using dot notation.

CData defines the colors for the vertices of the surface. The FaceColor property indicates how the colors of the surface faces are determined from the vertex colors.

s.CData = hypot(X,Y);      % set color data

Figure contains an axes object. The axes object contains an object of type surface.

s.FaceColor = 'interp';    % interpolate to get face colors

AlphaData defines the transparency for each vertex of the surface. The FaceAlpha property indicates how the transparency of the surface faces are determined from vertex transparency.

s.AlphaData = gradient(Z);    % set vertex transparencies
s.FaceAlpha = 'interp';       % interpolate to get face transparencies

Figure contains an axes object. The axes object contains an object of type surface.

Get All Surface Properties

Graphics objects in MATLAB have many properties. To see all the properties of a surface, use the get command.

get(s)

          AlignVertexCenters: off
                   AlphaData: [50x50 double]
            AlphaDataMapping: 'scaled'
             AmbientStrength: 0.3000
                  Annotation: [1x1 matlab.graphics.eventdata.Annotation]
            BackFaceLighting: 'reverselit'
                BeingDeleted: off
                  BusyAction: 'queue'
               ButtonDownFcn: ''
                       CData: [50x50 double]
                CDataMapping: 'scaled'
                   CDataMode: 'manual'
                 CDataSource: ''
                    Children: [0x0 GraphicsPlaceholder]
                    Clipping: on
                 ContextMenu: [0x0 GraphicsPlaceholder]
                   CreateFcn: ''
             DataTipTemplate: [1x1 matlab.graphics.datatip.DataTipTemplate]
                   DeleteFcn: ''
             DiffuseStrength: 0.8000
                 DisplayName: ''
                   EdgeAlpha: 1
                   EdgeColor: 'none'
                EdgeLighting: 'none'
                   FaceAlpha: 'interp'
                   FaceColor: 'interp'
                FaceLighting: 'gouraud'
                 FaceNormals: [49x49x3 double]
             FaceNormalsMode: 'auto'
            HandleVisibility: 'on'
                     HitTest: on
               Interruptible: on
                   LineStyle: '-'
                   LineWidth: 0.5000
                      Marker: 'none'
             MarkerEdgeColor: 'auto'
             MarkerFaceColor: 'none'
                  MarkerSize: 6
                   MeshStyle: 'both'
                      Parent: [1x1 Axes]
               PickableParts: 'visible'
                    Selected: off
          SelectionHighlight: on
    SpecularColorReflectance: 1
            SpecularExponent: 10
            SpecularStrength: 0
                         Tag: ''
                        Type: 'surface'
                    UserData: []
               VertexNormals: [50x50x3 double]
           VertexNormalsMode: 'auto'
                     Visible: on
                       XData: [50x50 double]
                   XDataMode: 'manual'
                 XDataSource: ''
                       YData: [50x50 double]
                   YDataMode: 'manual'
                 YDataSource: ''
                       ZData: [50x50 double]
                 ZDataSource: ''