MATLAB Function Reference

surf2patch

Convert surface data to patch data

Syntax

• fvc = surf2patch(h)
  fvc = surf2patch(Z)
  fvc = surf2patch(Z,C)
  fvc = surf2patch(X,Y,Z)
  fvc = surf2patch(X,Y,Z,C)
  fvc = surf2patch(...,'triangles')
  [f,v,c] = surf2patch(...)
  

Description

fvc = surf2patch(h) converts the geometry and color data from the surface object identified by the handle h into patch format and returns the face, vertex, and color data in the struct fvc. You can pass this struct directly to the patch command.

fvc = surf2patch(Z) calculates the patch data from the surface's ZData matrix Z.

fvc = surf2patch(Z,C) calculates the patch data from the surface's ZData and CData matrices Z and C.

fvc = surf2patch(X,Y,Z) calculates the patch data from the surface's XData, YData, and ZData matrices X, Y, and Z.

fvc = surf2patch(X,Y,Z,C) calculates the patch data from the surface's XData, YData, ZData, and CData matrices X, Y, Z, and C.

fvc = surf2patch(...,'triangles') creates triangular faces instead of the quadrilaterals that compose surfaces.

[f,v,c] = surf2patch(...) returns the face, vertex, and color data in the three arrays f, v, and c instead of a struct.

Examples

The first example uses the sphere command to generate the XData, YData, and ZData of a surface, which is then converted to a patch. Note that the ZData (z) is passed to surf2patch as both the third and fourth arguments - the third argument is the ZData and the fourth argument is taken as the CData. This is because the patch command does not automatically use the z-coordinate data for the color data, as does the surface command.

Also, because patch is a low-level command, you must set the view to 3-D and shading to faceted to produce the same results produced by the surf command.

• [x y z] = sphere; 
  patch(surf2patch(x,y,z,z)); 
  shading faceted; view(3)
  

In the second example surf2patch calculates face, vertex, and color data from a surface whose handle has been passed as an argument.

• s = surf(peaks);
  pause
  patch(surf2patch(s));
  delete(s)
  shading faceted; view(3)
  

See Also

patch, reducepatch, shrinkfaces, surface, surf

Volume Visualization for related functions

surf, surfc

surface