scatter3

3-D scatter plot

Syntax

scatter3(X,Y,Z)

scatter3(X,Y,Z,S)

scatter3(X,Y,Z,S,C)

scatter3(___,'filled')

scatter3(___,markertype)

scatter3(___,Name,Value)

scatter3(ax,___)

h = scatter3(___)

Description

scatter3(X,Y,Z) displays circles at the locations specified by the vectors X, Y, and Z.

scatter3(X,Y,Z,S) draws each circle with the size specified by S. To plot each circle with equal size, specify S as a scalar. To plot each circle with a specific size, specify S as a vector.

scatter3(X,Y,Z,S,C) draws each circle with the color specified by C.

• If C is a RGB triplet or character vector or string containing a color name, then all circles are plotted with the specified color.

• If C is a three column matrix with the number of rows in C equal to the length of X, Y, and Z, then each row of C specifies an RGB color value for the corresponding circle.

• If C is a vector with length equal to the length of X, Y, and Z, then the values in C are linearly mapped to the colors in the current colormap.

scatter3(___,'filled') fills in the circles, using any of the input argument combinations in the previous syntaxes.

scatter3(___,markertype) specifies the marker type.

scatter3(___,Name,Value) modifies the scatter chart using one or more name-value pair arguments.

scatter3(ax,___) plots into the axes specified by ax instead of into the current axes (gca). The ax option can precede any of the input argument combinations in the previous syntaxes.

h = scatter3(___) returns the Scatter object. Use h to modify properties of the scatter chart after it is created.

Examples

Create 3-D Scatter Plot

Create a 3-D scatter plot. Use sphere to define vectors x, y, and z.

figure
[X,Y,Z] = sphere(16);
x = [0.5*X(:); 0.75*X(:); X(:)];
y = [0.5*Y(:); 0.75*Y(:); Y(:)];
z = [0.5*Z(:); 0.75*Z(:); Z(:)];
scatter3(x,y,z)

Vary Marker Size

Use sphere to define vectors x, y, and z.

[X,Y,Z] = sphere(16);
x = [0.5*X(:); 0.75*X(:); X(:)];
y = [0.5*Y(:); 0.75*Y(:); Y(:)];
z = [0.5*Z(:); 0.75*Z(:); Z(:)];

Define vector s to specify the marker sizes.

S = repmat([100,50,5],numel(X),1);
s = S(:);

Create a 3-D scatter plot and use view to change the angle of the axes in the figure.

figure
scatter3(x,y,z,s)
view(40,35)

Corresponding entries in x, y, z, and s determine the location and size of each marker.

Vary Marker Color

Use sphere to define vectors x, y, and z.

[X,Y,Z] = sphere(16);
x = [0.5*X(:); 0.75*X(:); X(:)];
y = [0.5*Y(:); 0.75*Y(:); Y(:)];
z = [0.5*Z(:); 0.75*Z(:); Z(:)];

Define vectors s and c to specify the size and color of each marker.

S = repmat([50,25,10],numel(X),1);
C = repmat([1,2,3],numel(X),1);
s = S(:);
c = C(:);

Create a 3-D scatter plot and use view to change the angle of the axes in the figure.

figure
scatter3(x,y,z,s,c)
view(40,35)

Corresponding entries in x, y, z, and c determine the location and color of each marker.

Fill in Markers

Create vectors x and y as cosine and sine values with random noise.

z = linspace(0,4*pi,250);
x = 2*cos(z) + rand(1,250);
y = 2*sin(z) + rand(1,250);

Create a 3-D scatter plot and fill in the markers. Use view to change the angle of the axes in the figure.

scatter3(x,y,z,'filled')
view(-30,10)

Set Marker Type

Initialize the random-number generator to make the output of rand repeatable. Define vectors x and y as cosine and sine values with random noise.

rng default
z = linspace(0,4*pi,250);
x = 2*cos(z) + rand(1,250);
y = 2*sin(z) + rand(1,250);

Create a 3-D scatter plot and set the marker type. Use view to change the angle of the axes in the figure.

figure
scatter3(x,y,z,'*')
view(-30,10)

Set Marker Properties

Initialize the random-number generator to make the output of rand repeatable. Define vectors x and y as cosine and sine values with random noise.

rng default
z = linspace(0,4*pi,250);
x = 2*cos(z) + rand(1,250);
y = 2*sin(z) + rand(1,250);

Create a 3-D scatter plot and set the marker edge color and the marker face color. Use view to change the angle of the axes in the figure.

figure
scatter3(x,y,z,...
        'MarkerEdgeColor','k',...
        'MarkerFaceColor',[0 .75 .75])
view(-30,10)

Specify Axes for 3-D Scatter Plot

Starting in R2019b, you can display a tiling of plots using the tiledlayout and nexttile functions.

Load the seamount data set to get vectors x, y, and z. Call the tiledlayout function to create a 2-by-1 tiled chart layout. Call the nexttile function to create the axes objects ax1 and ax2. Then create separate scatter plots in the axes by specifying the axes object as the first argument to scatter3.

load seamount
tiledlayout(2,1)
ax1 = nexttile;
ax2 = nexttile;
scatter3(ax1,x,y,z,'MarkerFaceColor',[0 .75 .75])
scatter3(ax2,x,y,z,'*')

Set Scatter Series Properties Using Handle

Use the sphere function to create vectors x, y, and z.

[X,Y,Z] = sphere(16);
x = [0.5*X(:); 0.75*X(:); X(:)];
y = [0.5*Y(:); 0.75*Y(:); Y(:)];
z = [0.5*Z(:); 0.75*Z(:); Z(:)];

Create vectors s and c to specify the size and color for each marker.

S = repmat([70,50,20],numel(X),1);
C = repmat([1,2,3],numel(X),1);
s = S(:);
c = C(:);

Create a 3-D scatter plot and return the scatter series object.

h = scatter3(x,y,z,s,c);

Use an RGB triplet color value to set the marker face color. Use dot notation to set properties.

h.MarkerFaceColor = [0 0.5 0.5];

Input Arguments

X — x values

vector

x values, specified as a vector. X, Y, and Z must be vectors of equal length.

Data Types: single | double | int8 | int16 | int32 | int64 | uint8 | uint16 | uint32 | uint64 | categorical | datetime | duration

Y — y values

vector

y values, specified as a vector. X, Y, and Z must be vectors of equal length.

Data Types: single | double | int8 | int16 | int32 | int64 | uint8 | uint16 | uint32 | uint64 | categorical | datetime | duration

Z — z values

vector

z values, specified as a vector. X, Y, and Z must be vectors of equal length.

Data Types: single | double | int8 | int16 | int32 | int64 | uint8 | uint16 | uint32 | uint64 | categorical | datetime | duration

S — Marker area

36 (default) | scalar | vector | []

Marker area, specified as a scalar, a vector, or []. The values in S must be positive. The units for area are points squared.

• If S is a scalar, then scatter3 plots all markers with the specified area.

• If S is a row or column vector, then each entry in S specifies the area for the corresponding marker. The length of S must equal the length of X, Y and Z. Corresponding entries in X, Y, Z and S determine the location and area of each marker.

• If S is empty, then the default size of 36 points squared is used.

Example: 50

Example: [36,25,25,17,46]

C — Marker color

[0 0.4470 0.7410] (default) | RGB triplet | three-column matrix of RGB triplets | vector | 'r' | 'g' | 'b' | ...

Marker color, specified as an RGB triplet, a three-column matrix of RGB triplet, a vector, or one of the color options in the table.

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]. Alternatively, you can specify some common colors by name. This table lists the long and short color name options and the equivalent RGB triplet values.

Option	Description	Equivalent RGB Triplet
'red' or 'r'	Red	[1 0 0]
'green' or 'g'	Green	[0 1 0]
'blue' or 'b'	Blue	[0 0 1]
'yellow' or 'y'	Yellow	[1 1 0]
'magenta' or 'm'	Magenta	[1 0 1]
'cyan' or 'c'	Cyan	[0 1 1]
'white' or 'w'	White	[1 1 1]
'black' or 'k'	Black	[0 0 0]

If you have three points in the scatter plot and want the colors to be indices into the colormap, specify C as a three-element column vector.

Example: 'y'

Example: [1,2,3,4]

markertype — Marker

'o' (default) | '+' | '*' | '.' | 'x' | ...

Marker, specified as one of the markers in this table.

Value	Description
'o'	Circle
'+'	Plus sign
'*'	Asterisk
'.'	Point
'x'	Cross
'_'	Horizontal line
'|'	Vertical line
'square' or 's'	Square
'diamond' or 'd'	Diamond
'^'	Upward-pointing triangle
'v'	Downward-pointing triangle
'>'	Right-pointing triangle
'<'	Left-pointing triangle
'pentagram' or 'p'	Five-pointed star (pentagram)
'hexagram' or 'h'	Six-pointed star (hexagram)
'none'	No markers

ax — Axes object

axes object

Axes object. If you do not specify an axes, then scatter3 plots into the current axes.

Name-Value Pair Arguments

Specify optional comma-separated pairs of Name,Value arguments. Name is the argument name and Value is the corresponding value. Name must appear inside quotes. You can specify several name and value pair arguments in any order as Name1,Value1,...,NameN,ValueN.

Example: 'MarkerFaceColor','red' sets the marker face color to red.

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

'LineWidth' — Width of marker edge

0.5 (default) | positive value

Width of marker edge, specified as a positive value in point units.

Example: 0.75

'MarkerEdgeColor' — Marker outline color

'flat' (default) | RGB triplet | hexadecimal color code | 'r' | 'g' | 'b' | ...

Marker outline color, specified 'flat', an RGB triplet, a hexadecimal color code, a color name, or a short name. The default value of 'flat' uses colors from the CData property.

For a custom color, specify an RGB triplet or a hexadecimal color code.

• 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].

• A hexadecimal color code is a character vector or a string scalar that starts with a hash symbol (#) followed by three or six hexadecimal digits, which can range from 0 to F. The values are not case sensitive. Thus, the color codes '#FF8800', '#ff8800', '#F80', and '#f80' are equivalent.

Alternatively, you can specify some common colors by name. This table lists the named color options, the equivalent RGB triplets, and hexadecimal color codes.

Color Name	Short Name	RGB Triplet	Hexadecimal Color Code	Appearance
'red'	'r'	[1 0 0]	'#FF0000'
'green'	'g'	[0 1 0]	'#00FF00'
'blue'	'b'	[0 0 1]	'#0000FF'
'cyan'	'c'	[0 1 1]	'#00FFFF'
'magenta'	'm'	[1 0 1]	'#FF00FF'
'yellow'	'y'	[1 1 0]	'#FFFF00'
'black'	'k'	[0 0 0]	'#000000'
'white'	'w'	[1 1 1]	'#FFFFFF'
'none'	Not applicable	Not applicable	Not applicable	No color

Here are the RGB triplets and hexadecimal color codes for the default colors MATLAB^® uses in many types of plots.

RGB Triplet	Hexadecimal Color Code	Appearance
[0 0.4470 0.7410]	'#0072BD'
[0.8500 0.3250 0.0980]	'#D95319'
[0.9290 0.6940 0.1250]	'#EDB120'
[0.4940 0.1840 0.5560]	'#7E2F8E'
[0.4660 0.6740 0.1880]	'#77AC30'
[0.3010 0.7450 0.9330]	'#4DBEEE'
[0.6350 0.0780 0.1840]	'#A2142F'

Example: [0.5 0.5 0.5]

Example: 'blue'

Example: '#D2F9A7'

'MarkerFaceColor' — Marker fill color

'none' (default) | 'flat' | 'auto' | RGB triplet | hexadecimal color code | 'r' | 'g' | 'b' | ...

Marker fill color, specified as 'flat', 'auto', an RGB triplet, a hexadecimal color code, a color name, or a short name. The 'flat' option uses the CData values. The 'auto' option uses the same color as the Color property for the axes.

For a custom color, specify an RGB triplet or a hexadecimal color code.

• 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].

• A hexadecimal color code is a character vector or a string scalar that starts with a hash symbol (#) followed by three or six hexadecimal digits, which can range from 0 to F. The values are not case sensitive. Thus, the color codes '#FF8800', '#ff8800', '#F80', and '#f80' are equivalent.

Alternatively, you can specify some common colors by name. This table lists the named color options, the equivalent RGB triplets, and hexadecimal color codes.

Color Name	Short Name	RGB Triplet	Hexadecimal Color Code	Appearance
'red'	'r'	[1 0 0]	'#FF0000'
'green'	'g'	[0 1 0]	'#00FF00'
'blue'	'b'	[0 0 1]	'#0000FF'
'cyan'	'c'	[0 1 1]	'#00FFFF'
'magenta'	'm'	[1 0 1]	'#FF00FF'
'yellow'	'y'	[1 1 0]	'#FFFF00'
'black'	'k'	[0 0 0]	'#000000'
'white'	'w'	[1 1 1]	'#FFFFFF'
'none'	Not applicable	Not applicable	Not applicable	No color

Here are the RGB triplets and hexadecimal color codes for the default colors MATLAB uses in many types of plots.

RGB Triplet	Hexadecimal Color Code	Appearance
[0 0.4470 0.7410]	'#0072BD'
[0.8500 0.3250 0.0980]	'#D95319'
[0.9290 0.6940 0.1250]	'#EDB120'
[0.4940 0.1840 0.5560]	'#7E2F8E'
[0.4660 0.6740 0.1880]	'#77AC30'
[0.3010 0.7450 0.9330]	'#4DBEEE'
[0.6350 0.0780 0.1840]	'#A2142F'

Example: [0.3 0.2 0.1]

Example: 'green'

Example: '#D2F9A7'

Output Arguments

h — Scatter object

Scatter object

Scatter object. This is a unique identifier, which you can use to query and modify the properties of the Scatter object after it is created.

Extended Capabilities

GPU Arrays

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

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).