| MATLAB Function Reference | |
You can set and query graphics object properties in two ways:
The Property Editor is an interactive tool that enables you to see and change object property values.
The set and get commands enable you to set and query the values of properties.
To change the default values of properties, see Setting Default Property Values.
See Core Graphics Objects for general information about this type of object.
This section lists property names along with the types of values each accepts. Curly braces { } enclose default values.
m-by-n matrix of double or uint8
The transparency data. A matrix of non-NaN values specifying the transparency of each face or vertex of the object. The AlphaData can be of class double or uint8.
MATLAB determines the transparency in one of three ways:
Using the elements of AlphaData as transparency values (AlphaDataMapping set to none)
Using the elements of AlphaData as indices into the current alphamap (AlphaDataMapping set to direct)
Scaling the elements of AlphaData to range between the minimum and maximum values of the axes ALim property (AlphaDataMapping set to scaled, the default)
none | direct | {scaled}
Transparency mapping method. This property determines how MATLAB interprets indexed alpha data. This property can be any of the following:
none — The transparency values of AlphaData are between 0 and 1 or are clamped to this range (the default).
scaled — Transform the AlphaData to span the portion of the alphamap indicated by the axes ALim property, linearly mapping data values to alpha values.
direct — use the AlphaData as indices directly into the alphamap. When not scaled, the data are usually integer values ranging from 1 to length(alphamap). MATLAB maps values less than 1 to the first alpha value in the alphamap, and values greater than length(alphamap) to the last alpha value in the alphamap. Values with a decimal portion are fixed to the nearest lower integer. If AlphaData is an array of uint8 integers, then the indexing begins at 0 (i.e., MATLAB maps a value of 0 to the first alpha value in the alphamap).
scalar >= 0 and <= 1
Strength of ambient light. This property sets the strength of the ambient light, which is a nondirectional light source that illuminates the entire scene. You must have at least one visible light object in the axes for the ambient light to be visible. The axes AmbientLightColor property sets the color of the ambient light, which is therefore the same on all objects in the axes.
You can also set the strength of the diffuse and specular contribution of light objects. See the surface DiffuseStrength and SpecularStrength properties.
hg.Annotation object Read Only
Control the display of surface objects in legends. The Annotation property enables you to specify whether this surface object is represented in a figure legend.
Querying the Annotation property returns the handle of an hg.Annotation object. The hg.Annotation object has a property called LegendInformation, which contains an hg.LegendEntry object.
Once you have obtained the hg.LegendEntry object, you can set its IconDisplayStyle property to control whether the surface object is displayed in a figure legend:
| IconDisplayStyle Value | Purpose |
|---|---|
| on | Represent this surface object in a legend (default) |
| off | Do not include this surface object in a legend |
| children | Same as on because surface objects do not have children |
Setting the IconDisplayStyle property
These commands set the IconDisplayStyle of a graphics object with handle hobj to off:
hAnnotation = get(hobj,'Annotation'); hLegendEntry = get(hAnnotation','LegendInformation'); set(hLegendEntry,'IconDisplayStyle','off')
Using the IconDisplayStyle property
See Controlling Legends for more information and examples.
unlit | lit | reverselit
Face lighting control. This property determines how faces are lit when their vertex normals point away from the camera.
unlit — Face is not lit.
lit — Face is lit in normal way.
reverselit — Face is lit as if the vertex pointed towards the camera.
This property is useful for discriminating between the internal and external surfaces of an object. See Back Face Lighting for an example.
on | {off} Read Only
This object is being deleted. The BeingDeleted property provides a mechanism that you can use to determine if objects are in the process of being deleted. MATLAB sets the BeingDeleted property to on when the object's delete function callback is called (see the DeleteFcn property). It remains set to on while the delete function executes, after which the object no longer exists.
For example, an object's delete function might call other functions that act on a number of different objects. These functions may not need to perform actions on objects that are going to be deleted, and therefore, can check the object's BeingDeleted property before acting.
cancel | {queue}
Callback routine interruption. The BusyAction property enables you to control how MATLAB handles events that potentially interrupt executing callback routines. If there is a callback routine executing, callback routines invoked subsequently always attempt to interrupt it. If the Interruptible property of the object whose callback is executing is set to on (the default), then interruption occurs at the next point where the event queue is processed. If the Interruptible property is off, the BusyAction property (of the object owning the executing callback) determines how MATLAB handles the event. The choices are
cancel — Discard the event that attempted to execute a second callback routine.
queue — Queue the event that attempted to execute a second callback routine until the current callback finishes.
functional handle, cell array containing function handle and additional arguments, or string (not recommended)
Button press callback function. A callback function that executes whenever you press a mouse button while the pointer is over the surface object.
See the figure's SelectionType property to determine if modifier keys were also pressed.
Set this property to a function handle that references the callback. The function must define at least two input arguments (handle of object associated with the button down event and an event structure, which is empty for this property). For example, the following function takes different action depending on what type of selection was made:
function button_down(src,evnt)
% src - the object that is the source of the event
% evnt - empty for this property
sel_typ = get(gcbf,'SelectionType')
switch sel_typ
case 'normal'
disp('User clicked left-mouse button')
set(src,'Selected','on')
case 'extend'
disp('User did a shift-click')
set(src,'Selected','on')
case 'alt'
disp('User did a control-click')
set(src,'Selected','on')
set(src,'SelectionHighlight','off')
end
endSuppose h is the handle of a surface object and that the button_down function is on your MATLAB path. The following statement assigns the function above to the ButtonDownFcn:
set(h,'ButtonDownFcn',@button_down)
See Function Handle Callbacks for information on how to use function handles to define the callback function.
matrix (of type double)
Vertex colors. A matrix containing values that specify the color at every point in ZData.
Mapping CData to a Colormap
You can specify color as indexed values or true color. Indexed color data specifies a single value for each vertex. These values are either scaled to map linearly into the current colormap (see caxis) or interpreted directly as indices into the colormap, depending on the setting of the CDataMapping property.
CData as True Color
True color defines an RGB value for each vertex. If the coordinate data (XData, for example) are contained in m-by-n matrices, then CData must be an m-by-n-3 array. The first page contains the red components, the second the green components, and the third the blue components of the colors.
Texturemapping the Surface FaceColor
If you set the FaceColor property to texturemap, CData does not need to be the same size as ZData, but must be of type double or uint8. In this case, MATLAB maps CData to conform to the surface defined by ZData.
{scaled} | direct
Direct or scaled color mapping. This property determines how MATLAB interprets indexed color data used to color the surface. (If you use true color specification for CData, this property has no effect.)
scaled — Transform the color data to span the portion of the colormap indicated by the axes CLim property, linearly mapping data values to colors. See the caxis reference page for more information on this mapping.
direct — Use the color data as indices directly into the colormap. The color data should then be integer values ranging from 1 to length(colormap). MATLAB maps values less than 1 to the first color in the colormap, and values greater than length(colormap) to the last color in the colormap. Values with a decimal portion are fixed to the nearest lower integer.
matrix of handles
Always the empty matrix; surface objects have no children.
{on} | off
Clipping to axes rectangle. When Clipping is on, MATLAB does not display any portion of the surface that is outside the axes rectangle.
functional handle, cell array containing function handle and additional arguments, or string (not recommended)
Callback function executed during object creation. This property defines a callback function that executes when MATLAB creates a surface object. You must define this property as a default value for surfaces or set the CreateFcn property during object creation.
For example, the following statement creates a surface (assuming x, y, z, and c are defined), and executes the function referenced by the function handle @myCreateFcn.
surface(x,y,z,c,'CreateFcn',@myCreateFcn)
MATLAB executes this routine after setting all surface properties. Setting this property on an existing surface object has no effect.
The handle of the object whose CreateFcn is being executed is passed by MATLAB as the first argument to the callback function and is also accessible through the root CallbackObject property, which you can query using gcbo.
See Function Handle Callbacks for information on how to use function handles to define the callback function.
functional handle, cell array containing function handle and additional arguments, or string (not recommended)
Delete surface callback function. A callback function that executes when you delete the surface object (e.g., when you issue a delete command or clear the axes cla or figure clf). For example, the following function displays object property data before the object is deleted.
function delete_fcn(src,evnt)
% src - the object that is the source of the event
% evnt - empty for this property
obj_tp = get(src,'Type');
disp([obj_tp, ' object deleted'])
disp('Its user data is:')
disp(get(src,'UserData'))
endMATLAB executes the function before deleting the object's properties so these values are available to the callback function. The function must define at least two input arguments (handle of object being deleted and an event structure, which is empty for this property)
The handle of the object whose DeleteFcn is being executed is passed by MATLAB as the first argument to the callback function and is also accessible through the root CallbackObject property, which you can query using gcbo.
See Function Handle Callbacks for information on how to use function handles to define the callback function.
scalar >= 0 and <= 1
Intensity of diffuse light. This property sets the intensity of the diffuse component of the light falling on the surface. Diffuse light comes from light objects in the axes.
You can also set the intensity of the ambient and specular components of the light on the surface object. See the AmbientStrength and SpecularStrength properties.
string (default is empty string)
String used by legend for this surface object. The legend function uses the string defined by the DisplayName property to label this surface object in the legend.
If you specify string arguments with the legend function, DisplayName is set to this surface object's corresponding string and that string is used for the legend.
If DisplayName is empty, legend creates a string of the form, ['data' n], where n is the number assigned to the object based on its location in the list of legend entries. However, legend does not set DisplayName to this string.
If you edit the string directly in an existing legend, DisplayName is set to the edited string.
If you specify a string for the DisplayName property and create the legend using the figure toolbar, then MATLAB uses the string defined by DisplayName.
To add programmatically a legend that uses the DisplayName string, call legend with the toggle or show option.
See Controlling Legends for more examples.
{scalar = 1} | flat | interp
Transparency of the surface edges. This property can be any of the following:
scalar — A single non-Nan scalar value between 0 and 1 that controls the transparency of all the edges of the object. 1 (the default) means fully opaque and 0 means completely transparent.
flat — The alpha data (AlphaData) value for the first vertex of the face determines the transparency of the edges.
interp — Linear interpolation of the alpha data (AlphaData) values at each vertex determines the transparency of the edge.
Note that you must specify AlphaData as a matrix equal in size to ZData to use flat or interp EdgeAlpha.
{ColorSpec} | none | flat | interp
Color of the surface edge. This property determines how MATLAB colors the edges of the individual faces that make up the surface:
ColorSpec — A three-element RGB vector or one of the MATLAB predefined names, specifying a single color for edges. The default EdgeColor is black. See ColorSpec for more information on specifying color.
none — Edges are not drawn.
flat — The CData value of the first vertex for a face determines the color of each edge.
interp — Linear interpolation of the CData values at the face vertices determines the edge color.
{none} | flat | gouraud | phong
Algorithm used for lighting calculations. This property selects the algorithm used to calculate the effect of light objects on surface edges. Choices are
none — Lights do not affect the edges of this object.
flat — The effect of light objects is uniform across each edge of the surface.
gouraud — The effect of light objects is calculated at the vertices and then linearly interpolated across the edge lines.
phong — The effect of light objects is determined by interpolating the vertex normals across each edge line and calculating the reflectance at each pixel. Phong lighting generally produces better results than Gouraud lighting, but takes longer to render.
{normal} | none | xor | background
Erase mode. This property controls the technique MATLAB uses to draw and erase surface objects. Alternative erase modes are useful for creating animated sequences, where control of the way individual objects are redrawn is necessary to improve performance and obtain the desired effect.
normal — Redraw the affected region of the display, performing the three-dimensional analysis necessary to ensure that all objects are rendered correctly. This mode produces the most accurate picture, but is the slowest. The other modes are faster, but do not perform a complete redraw and are therefore less accurate.
none — Do not erase the surface when it is moved or destroyed. While the object is still visible on the screen after erasing with EraseMode none, you cannot print it because MATLAB stores no information about its former location.
xor — Draw and erase the surface by performing an exclusive OR (XOR) with each pixel index of the screen behind it. Erasing the surface does not damage the color of the objects behind it. However, surface color depends on the color of the screen behind it and is correctly colored only when over the axes background Color, or the figure background Color if the axes Color is set to none.
background — Erase the surface by drawing it in the axes background Color, or the figure background Color if the axes Color is set to none. This damages objects that are behind the erased object, but surface objects are always properly colored.
Printing with Nonnormal Erase Modes
MATLAB always prints figures as if the EraseMode of all objects is normal. This means graphics objects created with EraseMode set to none, xor, or background can look different on screen than on paper. On screen, MATLAB may mathematically combine layers of colors (e.g., performing an XOR of a pixel color with that of the pixel behind it) and ignore three-dimensional sorting to obtain greater rendering speed. However, these techniques are not applied to the printed output.
You can use the MATLAB getframe command or other screen capture application to create an image of a figure containing nonnormal mode objects.
{scalar = 1} | flat | interp | texturemap
Transparency of the surface faces. This property can be any of the following:
scalar — A single non-NaN scalar value between 0 and 1 that controls the transparency of all the faces of the object. 1 (the default) means fully opaque and 0 means completely transparent (invisible).
flat — The values of the alpha data (AlphaData) determine the transparency for each face. The alpha data at the first vertex determine the transparency of the entire face.
interp — Bilinear interpolation of the alpha data (AlphaData) at each vertex determines the transparency of each face.
texturemap — Use transparency for the texture map.
Note that you must specify AlphaData as a matrix equal in size to ZData to use flat or interp FaceAlpha.
ColorSpec | none | {flat} | interp | texturemap
Color of the surface face. This property can be any of the following:
ColorSpec — A three-element RGB vector or one of the MATLAB predefined names, specifying a single color for faces. See ColorSpec for more information on specifying color.
none — Do not draw faces. Note that edges are drawn independently of faces.
flat — The values of CData determine the color for each face of the surface. The color data at the first vertex determine the color of the entire face.
interp — Bilinear interpolation of the values at each vertex (the CData) determines the coloring of each face.
texturemap — Texture map the CData to the surface. MATLAB transforms the color data so that it conforms to the surface. (See the texture mapping example.)
{none} | flat | gouraud | phong
Algorithm used for lighting calculations. This property selects the algorithm used to calculate the effect of light objects on the surface. Choices are
none — Lights do not affect the faces of this object.
flat — The effect of light objects is uniform across the faces of the surface. Select this choice to view faceted objects.
gouraud — The effect of light objects is calculated at the vertices and then linearly interpolated across the faces. Select this choice to view curved surfaces.
phong — The effect of light objects is determined by interpolating the vertex normals across each face and calculating the reflectance at each pixel. Select this choice to view curved surfaces. Phong lighting generally produces better results than Gouraud lighting, but takes longer to render.
{on} | callback | off
Control access to object's handle by command-line users and GUIs. This property determines when an object's handle is visible in its parent's list of children. This property is useful for preventing command-line users from accidentally drawing into or deleting a figure that contains only user interface devices (such as a dialog box).
Handles are always visible when HandleVisibility is on.
Setting HandleVisibility to callback causes handles to be visible from within callback routines or functions invoked by callback routines, but not from within functions invoked from the command line. This provides a means to protect GUIs from command-line users, while allowing callback routines to have complete access to object handles.
Setting HandleVisibility to off makes handles invisible at all times. This might be necessary when a callback routine invokes a function that could potentially damage the GUI (such as evaluating a user-typed string), and so temporarily hides its own handles during the execution of that function.
When a handle is not visible in its parent's list of children, it cannot be returned by functions that obtain handles by searching the object hierarchy or querying handle properties. This includes get, findobj, gca, gcf, gco, newplot, cla, clf, and close.
When a handle's visibility is restricted using callback or off, the object's handle does not appear in its parent's Children property, figures do not appear in the root's CurrentFigure property, objects do not appear in the root's CallbackObject property or in the figure's CurrentObject property, and axes do not appear in their parent's CurrentAxes property.
You can set the root ShowHiddenHandles property to on to make all handles visible, regardless of their HandleVisibility settings (this does not affect the values of the HandleVisibility properties).
Handles that are hidden are still valid. If you know an object's handle, you can set and get its properties, and pass it to any function that operates on handles.
{on} | off
Selectable by mouse click. HitTest determines if the surface can become the current object (as returned by the gco command and the figure CurrentObject property) as a result of a mouse click on the surface. If HitTest is off, clicking on the surface selects the object below it (which may be the axes containing it).
{on} | off
Callback routine interruption mode. The Interruptible property controls whether a surface callback routine can be interrupted by subsequently invoked callback routines. Only callback routines defined for the ButtonDownFcn are affected by the Interruptible property. MATLAB checks for events that can interrupt a callback routine only when it encounters a drawnow, figure, getframe, or pause command in the routine. See the BusyAction property for related information.
{-} | -- | : | -. | none
Edge line type. This property determines the line style used to draw surface edges. The available line styles are shown in this table.
Symbol | Line Style |
|---|---|
| – | Solid line (default) |
| – – | Dashed line |
| : | Dotted line |
| –. | Dash-dot line |
| none | No line |
scalar
Edge line width. The width of the lines in points used to draw surface edges. The default width is 0.5 points (1 point = 1/72 inch).
marker symbol (see table)
Marker symbol. The Marker property specifies symbols that are displayed at vertices. You can set values for the Marker property independently from the LineStyle property.
You can specify these markers.
Marker Specifier | Description |
|---|---|
| + | Plus sign |
| o | Circle |
| * | Asterisk |
| . | Point |
| x | Cross |
| s | Square |
| d | Diamond |
| ^ | Upward-pointing triangle |
| v | Downward-pointing triangle |
| > | Right-pointing triangle |
| < | Left-pointing triangle |
| p | Five-pointed star (pentagram) |
| h | Six-pointed star (hexagram) |
| none | No marker (default) |
none | {auto} | flat | ColorSpec
Marker edge color. The color of the marker or the edge color for filled markers (circle, square, diamond, pentagram, hexagram, and the four triangles).
none specifies no color, which makes nonfilled markers invisible.
auto uses the same color as the EdgeColor property.
flat uses the CData value of the vertex to determine the color of the maker edge.
ColorSpec defines a single color to use for the edge (see ColorSpec for more information).
{none} | auto | flat | ColorSpec
Marker face color. The fill color for markers that are closed shapes (circle, square, diamond, pentagram, hexagram, and the four triangles).
none makes the interior of the marker transparent, allowing the background to show through.
auto uses the axes Color for the marker face color.
flat uses the CData value of the vertex to determine the color of the face.
ColorSpec defines a single color to use for all markers on the surface (see ColorSpec for more information).
size in points
Marker size. A scalar specifying the marker size, in points. The default value for MarkerSize is 6 points (1 point = 1/72 inch). Note that MATLAB draws the point marker at 1/3 the specified marker size.
{both} | row | column
Row and column lines. This property specifies whether to draw all edge lines or just row or column edge lines.
both draws edges for both rows and columns.
row draws row edges only.
column draws column edges only.
{auto} | manual
MATLAB generated or user-specified normal vectors. When this property is auto, MATLAB calculates vertex normals based on the coordinate data. If you specify your own vertex normals, MATLAB sets this property to manual and does not generate its own data. See also the VertexNormals property.
handle of axes, hggroup, or hgtransform
Parent of surface object. This property contains the handle of the surface object's parent. The parent of a surface object is the axes, hggroup, or hgtransform object that contains it.
See Objects That Can Contain Other Objects for more information on parenting graphics objects.
on | {off}
Is object selected? When this property is on, MATLAB displays a dashed bounding box around the surface if the SelectionHighlight property is also on. You can, for example, define the ButtonDownFcn to set this property, allowing users to select the object with the mouse.
{on} | off
Objects are highlighted when selected. When the Selected property is on, MATLAB indicates the selected state by drawing a dashed bounding box around the surface. When SelectionHighlight is off, MATLAB does not draw the handles.
scalar in the range 0 to 1
Color of specularly reflected light. When this property is 0, the color of the specularly reflected light depends on both the color of the object from which it reflects and the color of the light source. When set to 1, the color of the specularly reflected light depends only on the color or the light source (i.e., the light object Color property). The proportions vary linearly for values in between.
scalar >= 1
Harshness of specular reflection. This property controls the size of the specular spot. Most materials have exponents in the range of 5 to 20.
scalar >= 0 and <= 1
Intensity of specular light. This property sets the intensity of the specular component of the light falling on the surface. Specular light comes from light objects in the axes.
You can also set the intensity of the ambient and diffuse components of the light on the surface object. See the AmbientStrength and DiffuseStrength properties. Also see the material function.
string
User-specified object label. The Tag property provides a means to identify graphics objects with a user-specified label. This is particularly useful when you are constructing interactive graphics programs that would otherwise need to define object handles as global variables or pass them as arguments between callback routines. You can define Tag as any string.
string (read only)
Class of the graphics object. The class of the graphics object. For surface objects, Type is always the string 'surface'.
handle of a uicontextmenu object
Associate a context menu with the surface. Assign this property the handle of a uicontextmenu object created in the same figure as the surface. Use the uicontextmenu function to create the context menu. MATLAB displays the context menu whenever you right-click over the surface.
matrix
User-specified data. Any matrix you want to associate with the surface object. MATLAB does not use this data, but you can access it using the set and get commands.
vector or matrix
Surface normal vectors. This property contains the vertex normals for the surface. MATLAB generates this data to perform lighting calculations. You can supply your own vertex normal data, even if it does not match the coordinate data. This can be useful to produce interesting lighting effects.
{on} | off
Surface object visibility. By default, all surfaces are visible. When set to off, the surface is not visible, but still exists, and you can query and set its properties.
vector or matrix
X-coordinates. The x-position of the surface points. If you specify a row vector, surface replicates the row internally until it has the same number of columns as ZData.
vector or matrix
Y-coordinates. The y-position of the surface points. If you specify a row vector, surface replicates the row internally until it has the same number of rows as ZData.
matrix
Z-coordinates. The z-position of the surfaceplot data points. See the Description section for more information.
| surface | Surfaceplot Properties | |
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