plot3 - 3-D line plot - MATLAB (original) (raw)

Syntax

Description

Vector and Matrix Data

plot3([X](#mw%5Fa3f6ce4c-705d-4ffa-a5f8-a1383a37d9ea),[Y](#mw%5F1d59fa62-11af-4422-a926-e21a72c3fbe4),[Z](#mw%5F27398af1-7a0f-479b-bd74-2d29c09e09a9)) plots coordinates in 3-D space.

• To plot a set of coordinates connected by line segments, specifyX, Y, and Z as vectors of the same length.
• To plot multiple sets of coordinates on the same set of axes, specify at least one of X, Y, or Z as a matrix and the others as vectors.

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plot3([X](#mw%5Fa3f6ce4c-705d-4ffa-a5f8-a1383a37d9ea),[Y](#mw%5F1d59fa62-11af-4422-a926-e21a72c3fbe4),[Z](#mw%5F27398af1-7a0f-479b-bd74-2d29c09e09a9),[LineSpec](#f30-448776%5Fsep%5Fmw%5F3a76f056-2882-44d7-8e73-c695c0c54ca8)) creates the plot using the specified line style, marker, and color.

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plot3([X](#mw%5Fa3f6ce4c-705d-4ffa-a5f8-a1383a37d9ea)1,[Y](#mw%5F1d59fa62-11af-4422-a926-e21a72c3fbe4)1,[Z](#mw%5F27398af1-7a0f-479b-bd74-2d29c09e09a9)1,...,[X](#mw%5Fa3f6ce4c-705d-4ffa-a5f8-a1383a37d9ea)n,[Y](#mw%5F1d59fa62-11af-4422-a926-e21a72c3fbe4)n,[Z](#mw%5F27398af1-7a0f-479b-bd74-2d29c09e09a9)n) plots multiple sets of coordinates on the same set of axes. Use this syntax as an alternative to specifying multiple sets as matrices.

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plot3([X](#mw%5Fa3f6ce4c-705d-4ffa-a5f8-a1383a37d9ea)1,[Y](#mw%5F1d59fa62-11af-4422-a926-e21a72c3fbe4)1,[Z](#mw%5F27398af1-7a0f-479b-bd74-2d29c09e09a9)1,[LineSpec](#f30-448776%5Fsep%5Fmw%5F3a76f056-2882-44d7-8e73-c695c0c54ca8)1,...,[X](#mw%5Fa3f6ce4c-705d-4ffa-a5f8-a1383a37d9ea)n,[Y](#mw%5F1d59fa62-11af-4422-a926-e21a72c3fbe4)n,[Z](#mw%5F27398af1-7a0f-479b-bd74-2d29c09e09a9)n,[LineSpec](#f30-448776%5Fsep%5Fmw%5F3a76f056-2882-44d7-8e73-c695c0c54ca8)n) assigns specific line styles, markers, and colors to each XYZ triplet. You can specify LineSpec for some triplets and omit it for others. For example, plot3(X1,Y1,Z1,'o',X2,Y2,Z2) specifies markers for the first triplet but not for the second triplet.

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Table Data

plot3([tbl](#f30-448776%5Fsep%5Fmw%5F1f5b8358-45d8-4c4d-8a0d-17e2da07c841),[xvar](#mw%5F3bc8cfc7-8772-485b-8a6a-fd0b3cf289e9),[yvar](#mw%5F0da04d76-d633-4e7a-af83-f64484832286),[zvar](#mw%5Fb8029990-d54c-4d35-83ee-a82ebce02810)) plots the variables xvar, yvar, andzvar from the table tbl. To plot one data set, specify one variable each for xvar, yvar, andzvar. To plot multiple data sets, specify multiple variables for at least one of those arguments. The arguments that specify multiple variables must specify the same number of variables. (since R2022a)

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Additional Options

plot3([ax](#mw%5Fd8d232f8-cc75-4a69-aff3-4525d0cce4f2),___) displays the plot in the target axes. Specify the axes as the first argument in any of the previous syntaxes.

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plot3(___,[Name,Value](#namevaluepairarguments)) specifiesLine properties using one or more name-value pair arguments. Specify the properties after all other input arguments. For a list of properties, see Line Properties.

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`p` = plot3(___) returns aLine object or an array of Line objects. Usep to modify properties of the plot after creating it. For a list of properties, see Line Properties.

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Examples

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Define t as a vector of values between 0 and 10π. Define st and ct as vectors of sine and cosine values. Then plot st, ct, and t.

t = 0:pi/50:10*pi; st = sin(t); ct = cos(t); plot3(st,ct,t)

Create two sets of _x_-, _y_-, and _z_-coordinates.

t = 0:pi/500:pi; xt1 = sin(t).cos(10t); yt1 = sin(t).sin(10t); zt1 = cos(t);

xt2 = sin(t).cos(12t); yt2 = sin(t).sin(12t); zt2 = cos(t);

Call the plot3 function, and specify consecutive XYZ triplets.

plot3(xt1,yt1,zt1,xt2,yt2,zt2)

Create matrix X containing three rows of _x_-coordinates. Create matrix Y containing three rows of _y_-coordinates.

t = 0:pi/500:pi; X(1,:) = sin(t).cos(10t); X(2,:) = sin(t).cos(12t); X(3,:) = sin(t).cos(20t);

Y(1,:) = sin(t).sin(10t); Y(2,:) = sin(t).sin(12t); Y(3,:) = sin(t).sin(20t);

Create matrix Z containing the _z_-coordinates for all three sets.

Plot all three sets of coordinates on the same set of axes.

Create vectors xt, yt, and zt.

t = 0:pi/500:40*pi; xt = (3 + cos(sqrt(32)*t)).*cos(t); yt = sin(sqrt(32) * t); zt = (3 + cos(sqrt(32)*t)).*sin(t);

Plot the data, and use the axis equal command to space the tick units equally along each axis. Then specify the labels for each axis.

plot3(xt,yt,zt) axis equal xlabel('x(t)') ylabel('y(t)') zlabel('z(t)')

Create vectors t, xt, and yt, and plot the points in those vectors using circular markers.

t = 0:pi/20:10*pi; xt = sin(t); yt = cos(t); plot3(xt,yt,t,'o')

Create vectors t, xt, and yt, and plot the points in those vectors as a blue line with 10-point circular markers. Use a hexadecimal color code to specify a light blue fill color for the markers.

t = 0:pi/20:10*pi; xt = sin(t); yt = cos(t); plot3(xt,yt,t,'-o','Color','b','MarkerSize',10,... 'MarkerFaceColor','#D9FFFF')

Create vector t. Then use t to calculate two sets of x and y values.

t = 0:pi/20:10*pi; xt1 = sin(t); yt1 = cos(t);

xt2 = sin(2t); yt2 = cos(2t);

Plot the two sets of values. Use the default line for the first set, and specify a dashed line for the second set.

plot3(xt1,yt1,t,xt2,yt2,t,'--')

Create vectors t, xt, and yt, and plot the data in those vectors. Return the chart line in the output variable p.

t = linspace(-10,10,1000); xt = exp(-t./10).sin(5t); yt = exp(-t./10).cos(5t); p = plot3(xt,yt,t);

Change the line width to 3.

Since R2022a

A convenient way to plot data from a table is to pass the table to the plot3 function and specify the variables to plot.

Create vectors x, y, and t, and put the vectors in a table. Then display the first three rows of the table.

t = (0:pi/20:10*pi)'; x = sin(t); y = cos(t); tbl = table(x,y,t); head(tbl,3)

   x          y          t   
_______    _______    _______

      0          1          0
0.15643    0.98769    0.15708
0.30902    0.95106    0.31416

Plot the x, y, and t table variables. Return the Line object as p. Notice that the axis labels match the variable names.

p = plot3(tbl,"x","y","t");

To modify aspects of the line, set the LineStyle, Color, and Marker properties on the Line object. For example, change the line to a red dotted line with circular markers.

p.LineStyle = ":"; p.Color = "red"; p.Marker = "o";

Since R2022a

Create a table containing five variables. Then display the first three rows of the table.

t = (0:pi/500:pi)'; x1 = sin(t).cos(10t); x2 = sin(t).cos(12t); y1 = sin(t).sin(10t); y2 = sin(t).sin(12t); z = cos(t); tbl = table(x1,x2,y1,y2,z); head(tbl,3)

   x1           x2            y1            y2           z   
_________    _________    __________    __________    _______

        0            0             0             0          1
0.0062707    0.0062653    0.00039452    0.00047329    0.99998
 0.012467     0.012423     0.0015749     0.0018877    0.99992

Plot the x1 and x2 variables on the _x_-axis, the y1 and y2 variables on the _y_-axis, and the z variable on the _z_-axis. Then add a legend. Notice that the legend entries match the variable names.

plot3(tbl,["x1","x2"],["y1","y2"],"z") legend

You can display a tiling of plots using the tiledlayout and nexttile functions. Call the tiledlayout function to create a 1-by-2 tiled chart layout. Call the nexttile function to create the axes objects ax1 and ax2. Create separate line plots in the axes by specifying the axes object as the first argument to plot3.

tiledlayout(1,2)

% Left plot ax1 = nexttile; t = 0:pi/20:10*pi; xt1 = sin(t); yt1 = cos(t); plot3(ax1,xt1,yt1,t) title(ax1,'Helix With 5 Turns')

% Right plot ax2 = nexttile; t = 0:pi/20:10pi; xt2 = sin(2t); yt2 = cos(2*t); plot3(ax2,xt2,yt2,t) title(ax2,'Helix With 10 Turns')

Create x and y as vectors of random values between 0 and 1. Create z as a vector of random duration values.

x = rand(1,10); y = rand(1,10); z = duration(rand(10,1),randi(60,10,1),randi(60,10,1));

Plot x, y, and z, and specify the format for the _z_-axis as minutes and seconds. Then add axis labels, and turn on the grid to make it easier to visualize the points within the plot box.

plot3(x,y,z,'o','DurationTickFormat','mm:ss') xlabel('X') ylabel('Y') zlabel('Duration') grid on

Create vectors xt, yt, and zt. Plot the values, specifying a solid line with circular markers using the LineSpec argument. Specify the MarkerIndices property to place one marker at the 200th data point.

t = 0:pi/500:pi; xt(1,:) = sin(t).cos(10t); yt(1,:) = sin(t).sin(10t); zt = cos(t); plot3(xt,yt,zt,'-o','MarkerIndices',200)

Input Arguments

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_x_-coordinates, specified as a scalar, vector, or matrix. The size and shape of X depends on the shape of your data and the type of plot you want to create. This table describes the most common situations.

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

_y_-coordinates, specified as a scalar, vector, or matrix. The size and shape of Y depends on the shape of your data and the type of plot you want to create. This table describes the most common situations.

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

_z_-coordinates, specified as a scalar, vector, or matrix. The size and shape of Z depends on the shape of your data and the type of plot you want to create. This table describes the most common situations.

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

Line style, marker, and color, specified as a string scalar or character vector containing symbols. The symbols can appear in any order. You do not need to specify all three characteristics (line style, marker, and color). For example, if you omit the line style and specify the marker, then the plot shows only the marker and no line.

Example: "--or" is a red dashed line with circle markers.

Line Style	Description	Resulting Line
"-"	Solid line
"--"	Dashed line
":"	Dotted line
"-."	Dash-dotted line

Marker	Description	Resulting Marker
"o"	Circle
"+"	Plus sign
"*"	Asterisk
"."	Point
"x"	Cross
"_"	Horizontal line
"|"	Vertical line
"square"	Square
"diamond"	Diamond
"^"	Upward-pointing triangle
"v"	Downward-pointing triangle
">"	Right-pointing triangle
"<"	Left-pointing triangle
"pentagram"	Pentagram
"hexagram"	Hexagram

Color Name	Short Name	RGB Triplet	Appearance
"red"	"r"	[1 0 0]
"green"	"g"	[0 1 0]
"blue"	"b"	[0 0 1]
"cyan"	"c"	[0 1 1]
"magenta"	"m"	[1 0 1]
"yellow"	"y"	[1 1 0]
"black"	"k"	[0 0 0]
"white"	"w"	[1 1 1]

Source table containing the data to plot, specified as a table or a timetable.

Table variables containing the _x_-coordinates, specified using one of the indexing schemes from the table.

The table variables you specify can contain numeric, categorical, datetime, or duration values. If you specify multiple variables for more than one argument, the number of variables must be the same for each of those arguments.

Example: plot3(tbl,["x1","x2"],"y","z") specifies the table variables named x1 and x2 for the_x_-coordinates.

Example: plot3(tbl,2,"y","z") specifies the second variable for the _x_-coordinates.

Example: plot3(tbl,vartype("numeric"),"y","z") specifies all numeric variables for the _x_-coordinates.

Table variables containing the _y_-coordinates, specified using one of the indexing schemes from the table.

The table variables you specify can contain numeric, categorical, datetime, or duration values. If you specify multiple variables for more than one argument, the number of variables must be the same for each of those arguments.

Example: plot3(tbl,"x",["y1","y2"],"z") specifies the table variables named y1 and y2 for the_y_-coordinates.

Example: plot3(tbl,"x",2,"z") specifies the second variable for the _y_-coordinates.

Example: plot3(tbl,"x",vartype("numeric"),"z") specifies all numeric variables for the _y_-coordinates.

Table variables containing the _z_-coordinates, specified using one of the indexing schemes from the table.

The table variables you specify can contain numeric, categorical, datetime, or duration values. If you specify multiple variables for more than one argument, the number of variables must be the same for each of those arguments.

Example: plot3(tbl,"x","y",["z1","z2"]) specifies the table variables named z1 and z2 for the_z_-coordinates.

Example: plot3(tbl,"x","y",2) specifies the second variable for the _z_-coordinates.

Example: plot3(tbl,"x","y",vartype("numeric")) specifies all numeric variables for the _z_-coordinates.

Target axes, specified as an Axes object. If you do not specify the axes and if the current axes is Cartesian, then plot3 uses the current axes.

Name-Value Arguments

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Specify optional pairs of arguments asName1=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: plot3([1 2],[3 4],[5 6],'Color','red') specifies a red line for the plot.

Note

The properties listed here are only a subset. For a complete list, see Line Properties.

Color, specified as an RGB triplet, a hexadecimal color code, a color name, or a short name. The color you specify sets the line color. It also sets the marker edge color when the MarkerEdgeColor property is set to'auto'.

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 the hexadecimal color codes.

Color Name	Short Name	RGB Triplet	Hexadecimal Color Code	Appearance
"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"
"none"	Not applicable	Not applicable	Not applicable	No color

This table lists the default color palettes for plots in the light and dark themes.

Palette	Palette Colors
"gem" — Light theme default_Before R2025a: Most plots use these colors by default._
"glow" — Dark theme default

You can get the RGB triplets and hexadecimal color codes for these palettes using the orderedcolors and rgb2hex functions. For example, get the RGB triplets for the "gem" palette and convert them to hexadecimal color codes.

RGB = orderedcolors("gem"); H = rgb2hex(RGB);

Before R2023b: Get the RGB triplets using RGB = get(groot,"FactoryAxesColorOrder").

Before R2024a: Get the hexadecimal color codes using H = compose("#%02X%02X%02X",round(RGB*255)).

Marker size, specified as a positive value in points, where 1 point = 1/72 of an inch.

Tips

• Use NaN or Inf to create breaks in the lines. For example, this code plots a line with a break between z=2 andz=4.
  plot3([1 2 3 4 5],[1 2 3 4 5],[1 2 NaN 4 5])
• plot3 uses colors and line styles based on the ColorOrder and LineStyleOrder properties of the axes. plot3 cycles through the colors with the first line style. Then, it cycles through the colors again with each additional line style.
  You can change the colors and the line styles after plotting by setting theColorOrder or LineStyleOrder properties on the axes. You can also call the colororder function to change the color order for all the axes in the figure. (since R2019b)

Extended Capabilities

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The plot3 function supports GPU array input with these usage notes and limitations:

• This function accepts GPU arrays, but does not run on a GPU.

For more information, see Run MATLAB Functions on a GPU (Parallel Computing Toolbox).

Version History

Introduced before R2006a

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When you pass a table and one or more variable names to the plot3 function, the axis and legend labels now display any special characters that are included in the table variable names, such as underscores. Previously, special characters were interpreted as TeX or LaTeX characters.

For example, if you pass a table containing a variable named Sample_Number to the plot3 function, the underscore appears in the axis and legend labels. In R2022a and earlier releases, the underscores are interpreted as subscripts.

Release	Label for Table Variable "Sample_Number"
R2022b
R2022a

To display axis and legend labels with TeX or LaTeX formatting, specify the labels manually. For example, after plotting, call the xlabel orlegend function with the desired label strings.

xlabel("Sample_Number") legend(["Sample_Number" "Another_Legend_Label"])

Create plots by passing a table to the plot3 function followed by the variables you want to plot. When you specify your data as a table, the axis labels and the legend (if present) are automatically labeled using the table variable names.