trimesh

Triangular mesh plot

Syntax

trimesh(T,x,y)

trimesh(T,x,y,z)

trimesh(x,y,z,c)

trimesh(TO)

trimesh(___,Name,Value)

h = trimesh(___)

Description

trimesh(T,x,y) plots the 2-D triangular mesh defined by the points in vectors x and y and a triangle connectivity matrix T.

trimesh(T,x,y,z) plots a 3-D triangular mesh.

trimesh(x,y,z,c) also specifies the mesh edge color for a 3-D triangular mesh.

trimesh(TO) plots the mesh defined by a 3-D triangulation or delaunayTriangulation object.

trimesh(___,Name,Value) specifies options using one or more name-value arguments. For example, trimesh(T,x,y,"LineWidth",2) sets the edge width to 2 points.

h = trimesh(___) returns a vector of Line objects for a 2-D triangular mesh or a patch object used to create the mesh plot. Use h to query and modify properties of the plot. For more information, see Line Properties and Patch Properties.

Examples

3-D Triangular Mesh

Create a set of 3-D points. Compute a Delaunay triangulation connectivity matrix using the delaunay function, and plot the mesh.

[x,y] = meshgrid(1:15,1:15);
z = peaks(15);
T = delaunay(x,y);
trimesh(T,x,y,z)

Alternatively, you can create a triangulation object to plot the mesh.

TO = triangulation(T,x(:),y(:),z(:));
trimesh(TO)

Input Arguments

T — Triangle connectivity

matrix

Triangle connectivity, specified as a 3-column matrix where each row contains the point vertices defining a triangle.

x — x-coordinates

column vector

x-coordinates, specified as a column vector.

y — y-coordinates

column vector

y-coordinates, specified as a column vector.

z — z-coordinates

column vector

z-coordinates, specified as a column vector.

c — Edge color

matrix

Edge color, specified as a matrix of colormap indices the same size as z. For more information, see How Surface Plot Data Relates to a Colormap. For additional control over the surface coloring, use the "EdgeColor" and "FaceColor" name-value arguments.

TO — Triangulation object

triangulation object | delaunayTriangulation object

Triangulation object, specified as a triangulation or delaunayTriangulation object.

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.

Example: trimesh(TO,"LineStyle"="--")

Before R2021a, use commas to separate each name and value, and enclose Name in quotes.

Example: trimesh(TO,"LineStyle","--")

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

FaceColor — Face color

[0.85 0.85 0.85] (default) | color name | RGB triplet | "none"

Face color, specified as a color name, an RGB triplet, or "none".

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]. This table lists the long and short color name options and the equivalent RGB triplet values.

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

FaceAlpha — Face transparency

1 (default) | scalar in range [0,1]

Face transparency, specified as a scalar in the range [0,1]. A value of 1 is opaque and 0 is completely transparent. Values between 0 and 1 are semitransparent.

EdgeColor — Edge color

[0 0 0] (default) | color name | RGB triplet | "none"

Edge color, specified as a color name, an RBG triplet, or "none". The default color of [0 0 0] corresponds to black boundaries.

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]. This table lists the long and short color name options and the equivalent RGB triplet values.

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

LineWidth — Line width

0.5 (default) | positive value

Line width, specified as a positive value in points, where 1 point = 1/72 of an inch. If the line has markers, then the line width also affects the marker edges.

The line width cannot be thinner than the width of a pixel. If you set the line width to a value that is less than the width of a pixel on your system, the line displays as one pixel wide.

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
":"	Dotted line
"-."	Dash-dotted line
"none"	No line	No line

Tips

• To plot a mesh defined by a 2-D triangulation or delaunayTriangulation object, use the triplot function.

Extended Capabilities

GPU Arrays

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

The trimesh 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).

Distributed Arrays

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

Usage notes and limitations:

• This function operates on distributed arrays, but executes in the client MATLAB^®.

For more information, see Run MATLAB Functions with Distributed Arrays (Parallel Computing Toolbox).

Version History

Introduced before R2006a