3D colored line plot

Plot 3D lines with CData, (actually surface)
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Updated 22 Oct 2009

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plots a 3-D "line" with c-data as color
Makes a surface object and the colouring is controlled by the colormap.

Example:
v_start = [2 1 8]; % m/s
g = 9.81; % m/(s^2)
t_impact = 2*v_start(3)/g; % s
t = [0:t_impact/100:t_impact]'; % s
x = v_start(1)*t; % m
y = v_start(2)*t; % m
z = v_start(3)*t-1/2*g*t.^2; % m
velocity = ([[x(2:numel(t)) y(2:numel(t)) z(2:numel(t))]-[x(1:numel(t)-1) y(1:numel(t)-1) z(1:numel(t)-1)];[0 0 0]]); % m/s
speed = sqrt(sum(velocity.^2,2)); % m/s
color_line3(x,y,z,speed);
axis equal vis3d; view(15,15);
title('trajectory of a projectile, color = speed');
axis equal vis3d; view(15,15);
colorbar

Cite As

Georg Stillfried (2026). 3D colored line plot (https://uk.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/fileexchange/23566-3d-colored-line-plot), MATLAB Central File Exchange. Retrieved .

MATLAB Release Compatibility
Created with R14SP3
Compatible with any release
Platform Compatibility
Windows macOS Linux
Categories
Find more on Line Plots in Help Center and MATLAB Answers
Acknowledgements

Inspired by: Colored line or scatter plot

Version Published Release Notes
1.4.0.0

removed "scatter" from title

1.2.0.0

add filename to title

1.1.0.0

Added example

1.0.0.0