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surf
Surface plot

Syntax

surf(X,Y,Z)
surf(X,Y,Z,C)

surf(Z)
surf(Z,C)

surf(ax, ___ )
surf( ___ ,Name,Value)
s = surf( ___ )

Description
surf(X,Y,Z) creates a three-dimensional surface plot, which is a three-dimensional surface that has example
solid edge colors and solid face colors. The function plots the values in matrix Z as heights above a grid in
the x-y plane defined by X and Y. The color of the surface varies according to the heights specified by Z.

example
surf(X,Y,Z,C) additionally specifies the surface color.

surf(Z) creates a surface plot and uses the column and row indices of the elements in Z as the x- and y-
coordinates.

surf(Z,C) additionally specifies the surface color.

surf(ax, ___ ) plots into the axes specified by ax instead of the current axes. Specify the axes as the first
input argument.

example
surf( ___ ,Name,Value) specifies surface properties using one or more name-value pair arguments. For
example, 'FaceAlpha',0.5 creates a semitransparent surface.

example
s = surf( ___ ) returns the chart surface object. Use s to modify the surface after it is created. For a list
of properties, see Surface Properties.

Examples collapse all

 Create Surface Plot

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Create three matrices of the same size. Then plot them as a surface. The surface
Try This Example
plot uses Z for both height and color.

 Copy Command

[X,Y] = meshgrid(1:0.5:10,1:20);  Get

Z = sin(X) + cos(Y);
surf(X,Y,Z)

 Specify Colormap Colors for Surface Plot

Specify the colors for a surface plot by including a fourth matrix input, C. The
surface plot uses Z for height and C for color. Specify the colors using a colormap, Try This Example
which uses single numbers to stand for colors on a spectrum. When you use a
colormap, C is the same size as Z. Add a color bar to the graph to show how the
 Copy Command
data values in C correspond to the colors in the colormap.

[X,Y] = meshgrid(1:0.5:10,1:20);  Get

Z = sin(X) + cos(Y);
C = X.*Y;
surf(X,Y,Z,C)
colorbar

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 Specify True Colors for Surface Plot

Specify the colors for a surface plot by including a fourth matrix input, CO. The
surface plot uses Z for height and CO for color. Specify the colors using truecolor, Try This Example
which uses triplets of numbers to stand for all possible colors. When you use
truecolor, if Z is m-by-n, then CO is m-by-n-by-3. The first page of the array indicates
 Copy Command
the red component for each color, the second page indicates the green
component, and the third page indicates the blue component.

[X,Y,Z] = peaks(25);  Get

CO(:,:,1) = zeros(25); % red
CO(:,:,2) = ones(25).*linspace(0.5,0.6,25); % green
CO(:,:,3) = ones(25).*linspace(0,1,25); % blue
surf(X,Y,Z,CO)

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 Modify Surface Plot Appearance

Create a semitransparent surface by specifying the FaceAlpha name-value pair

with 0.5 as the value. To allow further modifications, assign the surface object to Try This Example
the variable s.

 Copy Command

[X,Y] = meshgrid(-5:.5:5);  Get

Z = Y.*sin(X) - X.*cos(Y);
s = surf(X,Y,Z,'FaceAlpha',0.5)

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s =
Surface with properties:

EdgeColor: [0 0 0]
LineStyle: '-'
FaceColor: 'flat'
FaceLighting: 'flat'
FaceAlpha: 0.5000
XData: [21x21 double]
YData: [21x21 double]
ZData: [21x21 double]
CData: [21x21 double]

Use GET to show all properties

Use s to access and modify properties of the surface object after it is created. For example, hide the edges by
setting the EdgeColor property.

s.EdgeColor = 'none';  Get

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Input Arguments collapse all

X — x-coordinates
 matrix | vector

x-coordinates, specified as a matrix the same size as Z, or as a vector with length n, where [m,n] = size(Z). If
you do not specify values for X and Y, surf uses the vectors (1:n) and (1:m).

You can use the meshgrid function to create X and Y matrices.

The XData property of the Surface object stores the x-coordinates.

Example: X = 1:10

Example: X = [1 2 3; 1 2 3; 1 2 3]

Example: [X,Y] = meshgrid(-5:0.5:5)

Data Types: single | double | int8 | int16 | int32 | int64 | uint8 | uint16 | uint32 | uint64 | categorical |
datetime | duration

Y — y-coordinates
 matrix | vector

y-coordinates, specified as a matrix the same size as Z or as a vector with length m, where [m,n] = size(Z). If you
do not specify values for X and Y, surf uses the vectors (1:n) and (1:m).

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You can use the meshgrid function to create the X and Y matrices.

The YData property of the surface object stores the y -coordinates.

Example: Y = 1:10

Example: Y = [1 1 1; 2 2 2; 3 3 3]

Example: [X,Y] = meshgrid(-5:0.5:5)

Data Types: single | double | int8 | int16 | int32 | int64 | uint8 | uint16 | uint32 | uint64 | categorical |
datetime | duration

Z — z-coordinates
 matrix

z -coordinates, specified as a matrix. Z must have at least two rows and two columns.

Z specifies the height of the surface plot at each x-y coordinate. If you do not specify the colors, then Z also
specifies the surface colors.

The ZData property of the surface object stores the z -coordinates.

Example: Z = [1 2 3; 4 5 6]

Example: Z = sin(x) + cos(y)

Data Types: single | double | int8 | int16 | int32 | int64 | uint8 | uint16 | uint32 | uint64 | categorical |
datetime | duration

C — Color array
 matrix | m-by-n-by-3 array of RGB triplets

Color array, specified as an m-by-n matrix of colormap indices or as an m-by-n-by-3 array of RGB triplets, where Z is m-
by-n.

To use colormap colors, specify C as a matrix. For each grid point on the surface, C indicates a color in the
colormap. The CDataMapping property of the surface object controls how the values in C correspond to colors
in the colormap.

To use truecolor colors, specify C as an array of RGB triplets.

For more information, see Differences Between Colormaps and Truecolor.

The CData property of the surface object stores the color array. For additional control over the surface coloring, use
the FaceColor and EdgeColor properties.

ax — Axes to plot in
 axes object

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Axes to plot in, specified as an axes object. If you do not specify the axes, then surf plots into the current axes.

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: surf(X,Y,Z,'FaceAlpha',0.5,'EdgeColor','none') creates a semitransparent surface with no edges

drawn.

 Note

The properties listed here are only a subset. For a full list, see Surface Properties.

EdgeColor — Edge line color

 [0 0 0] (default) | 'none' | 'flat' | 'interp' | RGB triplet | hexadecimal color code | 'r' | 'g' | 'b' | ...

Edge line color, specified as one of the values listed here. The default color of [0 0 0] corresponds to black edges.

Value Description

'none' Do not draw the edges.

'flat' Use a different color for each edge based on the values in
the CData property. First you must specify the CData
property as a matrix the same size as ZData. The color
value at the first vertex of each face (in the positive x and y
directions) determines the color for the adjacent edges. You
cannot use this value when the EdgeAlpha property is set to
'interp'.

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Value Description

'interp' Use interpolated coloring for each edge based on the values
in the CData property. First you must specify the CData
property as a matrix the same size as ZData. The color
varies across each edge by linearly interpolating the color
values at the vertices. You cannot use this value when the
EdgeAlpha property is set to 'flat'.

RGB triplet, hexadecimal color code, or color name Use the specified color for all the edges. This option does
not use the color values in the CData property.

RGB triplets and hexadecimal color codes are useful for specifying custom colors.

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 character vector or a string scalar 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. Thus, 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.

Hexadecimal Color
Color Name Short Name RGB Triplet Appearance
Code

"red" "r" [1 0 0] "#FF0000"

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

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

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Hexadecimal Color
Color Name Short Name RGB Triplet Appearance
Code

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

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

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

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

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

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

RGB Triplet Hexadecimal Color Code Appearance

[0 0.4470 0.7410] "#0072BD"

[0.8500 0.3250 0.0980] "#D95319"

[0.9290 0.6940 0.1250] "#EDB120"

[0.4940 0.1840 0.5560] "#7E2F8E"

[0.4660 0.6740 0.1880] "#77AC30"

[0.3010 0.7450 0.9330] "#4DBEEE"

[0.6350 0.0780 0.1840] "#A2142F"

LineStyle — Line style

 "-" (default) | "--" | ":" | "-." | "none"

Line style, specified as one of the options listed in this table.

Line Style Description Resulting Line

"-" Solid line

"--" Dashed line

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Line Style Description Resulting Line

":" Dotted line

"-." Dash-dotted line

"none" No line No line

FaceColor — Face color

 'flat' (default) | 'interp' | 'none' | 'texturemap' | RGB triplet | hexadecimal color code | 'r' | 'g' | 'b'
| ...

Face color, specified as one of the values in this table.

Value Description

'flat' Use a different color for each face based on the values in
the CData property. First you must specify the CData
property as a matrix the same size as ZData. The color
value at the first vertex of each face (in the positive x and y
directions) determines the color for the entire face. You
cannot use this value when the FaceAlpha property is set to
'interp'.

'interp' Use interpolated coloring for each face based on the values
in the CData property. First you must specify the CData
property as a matrix the same size as ZData. The color
varies across each face by interpolating the color values at
the vertices. You cannot use this value when the FaceAlpha
property is set to 'flat'.

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Value Description

RGB triplet, hexadecimal color code, or color name Use the specified color for all the faces. This option does
not use the color values in the CData property.

'texturemap' Transform the color data in CData so that it conforms to the

surface.

'none' Do not draw the faces.

RGB triplets and hexadecimal color codes are useful for specifying custom colors.

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 character vector or a string scalar 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. Thus, 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.

Hexadecimal Color
Color Name Short Name RGB Triplet Appearance
Code

"red" "r" [1 0 0] "#FF0000"

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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RGB Triplet Hexadecimal Color Code Appearance

[0 0.4470 0.7410] "#0072BD"

[0.8500 0.3250 0.0980] "#D95319"

[0.9290 0.6940 0.1250] "#EDB120"

[0.4940 0.1840 0.5560] "#7E2F8E"

[0.4660 0.6740 0.1880] "#77AC30"

[0.3010 0.7450 0.9330] "#4DBEEE"

[0.6350 0.0780 0.1840] "#A2142F"

FaceAlpha — Face transparency

 1 (default) | scalar in range [0,1] | 'flat' | 'interp' | 'texturemap'

Face transparency, specified as one of these values:

Scalar in range [0,1] — Use uniform transparency across all the faces. A value of 1 is fully opaque and 0 is
completely transparent. Values between 0 and 1 are semitransparent. This option does not use the transparency
values in the AlphaData property.

'flat' — Use a different transparency for each face based on the values in the AlphaData property. The
transparency value at the first vertex determines the transparency for the entire face. First you must specify the
AlphaData property as a matrix the same size as the ZData property. The FaceColor property also must be set
to 'flat'.

'interp' — Use interpolated transparency for each face based on the values in AlphaData property. The
transparency varies across each face by interpolating the values at the vertices. First you must specify the
AlphaData property as a matrix the same size as the ZData property. The FaceColor property also must be set
to 'interp'.

'texturemap' — Transform the data in AlphaData so that it conforms to the surface.

FaceLighting — Effect of light objects on faces

 'flat' (default) | 'gouraud' | 'none'

Effect of light objects on faces, specified as one of these values:

'flat' — Apply light uniformly across each face. Use this value to view faceted objects.

'gouraud' — Vary the light across the faces. Calculate the light at the vertices and then linearly interpolate the
light across the faces. Use this value to view curved surfaces.

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'none' — Do not apply light from light objects to the faces.
To add a light object to the axes, use the light function.

 Note

The 'phong' value has been removed. Use 'gouraud' instead.

Extended Capabilities

 GPU Arrays
Accelerate code by running on a graphics processing unit (GPU) using Parallel Computing Toolbox™.

 Distributed Arrays
Partition large arrays across the combined memory of your cluster using Parallel Computing
Toolbox™.

Version History
Introduced before R2006a

See Also
Functions
colormap | pcolor | meshgrid | imagesc | shading | view | mesh

Properties
Surface Properties

Topics
Representing Data as a Surface
How Surface Plot Data Relates to a Colormap

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