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scatter3

Display point cloud in scatter plot

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Syntax

scatter3(pcloud)
scatter3(pcloud,Name,Value)
h = scatter3(___)

Description

scatter3(pcloud) plots the input pcloud point cloud as a 3-D scatter plot in the current axes handle. If the data contains RGB information for each point, the scatter plot is colored accordingly.

example

scatter3(pcloud,Name,Value) provides additional options specified by one or more Name,Value pair arguments. Name must appear inside single quotes (''). You can specify several name-value pair arguments in any order as Name1,Value1,...,NameN,ValueN).

h = scatter3(___) returns the scatter series object, using any of the arguments from previous syntaxes. Use h to modify properties of the scatter series after it is created.

When plotting ROS point cloud messages, MATLAB® follows the standard ROS convention for axis orientation. This convention states that positive x is forward, positive y is left, and positive z is up. If cameras are used, a second frame is defined with an “_optical” suffix that changes the orientation of the axis. In this case, positive z is forward, positive x is right, and positive y is down. MATLAB looks for the “_optical” suffix and will adjust the axis orientation of the scatter plot accordingly. For more information, see Axis Orientation on the ROS Wiki.

Examples

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Open Live Script

Connect to a ROS network. Subscribe to a point cloud message topic.

rosinit('192.168.17.129')
Initializing global node /matlab_global_node_65972 with NodeURI http://192.168.17.1:51971/

sub = rossubscriber('/camera/depth/points');
pause(1)

Get the latest point cloud message. Plot the point cloud.

pcloud = sub.LatestMessage;
scatter3(pcloud)

Plot all points as black dots.

scatter3(sub.LatestMessage,'MarkerEdgeColor',[0 0 0]);

Input Arguments

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Point cloud, specified as a PointCloud2 object handle for a 'sensor_msgs/PointCloud2' ROS message.

Name-Value Arguments

Specify optional pairs of arguments as Name1=Value1,...,NameN=ValueN, where Name is the argument name and Value is the corresponding value. Name-value arguments must appear after other arguments, but the order of the pairs does not matter.

Before R2021a, use commas to separate each name and value, and enclose Name in quotes.

Example: 'MarkerEdgeColor',[1 0 0]

Marker outline color, specified "flat", an RGB triplet, a hexadecimal color code, a color name, or a short name. The default value of "flat" uses colors from the CData property.

For a custom color, specify an RGB triplet or a hexadecimal color code.

  • 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 intensities must be in the range [0,1], for example, [0.4 0.6 0.7].

  • A hexadecimal color code is a string scalar or character vector that starts with a hash symbol (#) followed by three or six hexadecimal digits, which can range from 0 to F. The values are not case sensitive. Therefore, the color codes "#FF8800", "#ff8800", "#F80", and "#f80" are equivalent.

Alternatively, you can specify some common colors by name. This table lists the named color options, the equivalent RGB triplets, and hexadecimal color codes.

Color NameShort NameRGB TripletHexadecimal Color CodeAppearance
"red""r"[1 0 0]"#FF0000"

Sample of the color red

"green""g"[0 1 0]"#00FF00"

Sample of the color green

"blue""b"[0 0 1]"#0000FF"

Sample of the color blue

"cyan" "c"[0 1 1]"#00FFFF"

Sample of the color cyan

"magenta""m"[1 0 1]"#FF00FF"

Sample of the color magenta

"yellow""y"[1 1 0]"#FFFF00"

Sample of the color yellow

"black""k"[0 0 0]"#000000"

Sample of the color black

"white""w"[1 1 1]"#FFFFFF"

Sample of the color white

"none"Not applicableNot applicableNot applicableNo color

Here are the RGB triplets and hexadecimal color codes for the default colors MATLAB uses in many types of plots.

RGB TripletHexadecimal Color CodeAppearance
[0 0.4470 0.7410]"#0072BD"

Sample of RGB triplet [0 0.4470 0.7410], which appears as dark blue

[0.8500 0.3250 0.0980]"#D95319"

Sample of RGB triplet [0.8500 0.3250 0.0980], which appears as dark orange

[0.9290 0.6940 0.1250]"#EDB120"

Sample of RGB triplet [0.9290 0.6940 0.1250], which appears as dark yellow

[0.4940 0.1840 0.5560]"#7E2F8E"

Sample of RGB triplet [0.4940 0.1840 0.5560], which appears as dark purple

[0.4660 0.6740 0.1880]"#77AC30"

Sample of RGB triplet [0.4660 0.6740 0.1880], which appears as medium green

[0.3010 0.7450 0.9330]"#4DBEEE"

Sample of RGB triplet [0.3010 0.7450 0.9330], which appears as light blue

[0.6350 0.0780 0.1840]"#A2142F"

Sample of RGB triplet [0.6350 0.0780 0.1840], which appears as dark red

Example: [0.5 0.5 0.5]

Example: "blue"

Example: "#D2F9A7"

Parent of axes, specified as the comma-separated pair consisting of 'Parent' and an axes object in which to draw the point cloud. By default, the point cloud is plotted in the active axes.

Outputs

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Scatter series object, returned as a scalar. This value is a unique identifier, which you can use to query and modify the properties of the scatter object after it is created.

Version History

Introduced in R2019b

See Also

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