Mesh and Surface Plots :: Creating 3-D Graphs (3-D Visualization)

3-D Visualization

Mesh and Surface Plots

The mesh and surf commands create 3-D surface plots of matrix data. If Z is a matrix for which the elements Z(i,j) define the height of a surface over an underlying (i,j) grid, then

```
mesh(Z)
```

generates a colored, wire-frame view of the surface and displays it in a 3-D view. Similarly,

```
surf(Z)
```

generates a colored, faceted view of the surface and displays it in a 3-D view. Ordinarily, the facets are quadrilaterals, each of which is a constant color, outlined with black mesh lines, but the shading command allows you to eliminate the mesh lines (shading flat) or to select interpolated shading across the facet (shading interp).

Surface object properties provide additional control over the visual appearance of the surface. You can specify edge line styles, vertex markers, face coloring, lighting characteristics, and so on.

Representing a Matrix as a Surface Visualizing Functions of Two Variables