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matlabmatrixplotscatter3d

create a 3D scatter in matlab and connect groups of scattered points, with coloured lines

I have this matrix that is ready to be plotted in "Matlab" with scatter3, if the following command is used

scatter3( F(:,[1]) , F(:,[2]) , F(:,[3]) , F(:,[4]) , F(:,[5]) )

(I am basically splitting the F matrix in 5 column vectors)

F =

   52.5000   12.6000  288.0000   20.0000    1.0000
   52.5000    6.3000  408.0000   20.0000    1.0000
   52.5000    4.8000  467.0000   20.0000    1.0000
   52.5000    3.5000  559.0000   20.0000    1.0000
   52.5000    2.0000  730.0000   20.0000    1.0000
   52.5000    1.3000  902.0000   20.0000    1.0000
   26.2500   12.6000  203.0000   20.0000    2.0000
   26.2500    6.3000  288.0000   20.0000    2.0000
   26.2500    4.8000  332.0000   20.0000    2.0000
   26.2500    3.5000  389.0000   20.0000    2.0000
   26.2500    2.0000  516.0000   20.0000    2.0000
   26.2500    1.3000  637.0000   20.0000    2.0000
   10.0000   12.6000  125.0000   20.0000    3.0000
   10.0000    6.3000  177.0000   20.0000    3.0000
   10.0000    4.8000  204.0000   20.0000    3.0000
   10.0000    3.5000  240.0000   20.0000    3.0000
   10.0000    2.0000  318.0000   20.0000    3.0000
   10.0000    1.3000  392.0000   20.0000    3.0000
    5.0000   12.6000   88.0000   20.0000    4.0000
    5.0000    6.3000  125.0000   20.0000    4.0000
    5.0000    4.8000  144.0000   20.0000    4.0000
    5.0000    3.5000  169.0000   20.0000    4.0000
    5.0000    2.0000  224.0000   20.0000    4.0000
    5.0000    1.3000  277.0000   20.0000    4.0000
    2.0000   12.6000   55.0000   20.0000    5.0000
    2.0000    6.3000   78.0000   20.0000    5.0000
    2.0000    4.8000   90.0000   20.0000    5.0000
    2.0000    3.5000  106.0000   20.0000    5.0000
    2.0000    2.0000  141.0000   20.0000    5.0000
    2.0000    1.3000  175.0000   20.0000    5.0000
    1.0000    6.3000   55.0000   20.0000    6.0000
    1.0000    4.8000   63.0000   20.0000    6.0000
    1.0000    3.5000   75.0000   20.0000    6.0000
    1.0000    2.0000   99.0000   20.0000    6.0000
    1.0000    1.3000  123.0000   20.0000    6.0000
    0.5000    6.3000   38.0000   20.0000    7.0000
    0.5000    4.8000   44.0000   20.0000    7.0000
    0.5000    3.5000   52.0000   20.0000    7.0000
    0.5000    2.0000   70.0000   20.0000    7.0000
    0.5000    1.3000   86.0000   20.0000    7.0000

If you plot this you'll see that the points are grouped in 7 same coloured groups (taken from column 5 of the F matrix).

I would like to plot lines connecting the same coloured points. Of course the lines should have the same colour as the points they connect.

I have attempted to split the F matrix in five 6x5 matrices (named F1-F5) and 2 5x5 matrices (named F6 and F7) and use scatter3() along with line() commands and hold on to create my 3D graph, but it did not do what I wanted.

For every new set of points that is plotted with scatter3() the sets of points already plotted change colour. So assigning a short name colour in the line() function does not help.

What options do I have? Perhaps scatter3 is not the best function to use in this case?

EDIT

plot3() is promising , but has a limited color set. Indeed I would prefer to avoid using colours "white" and "yellow", which do not show up nice on white background.

Solution

  • So, I will assume you are going to separate your matrices into 7, in this case, and save them in a cell array, as dynamic variables are BAD! Assuming you have a cell array called F this works:

    C=hsv(7);
hold on
for ii=1:size(F,2)
   % //plot lines
   plot3(F{ii}(:,1),F{ii}(:,2),F{ii}(:,3),'Color',C(ii,:));
   % // plot points  
   plot3(F{ii}(:,1),F{ii}(:,2),F{ii}(:,3),'.','MarkerSize',F{ii}(1,4),'Color',C(ii,:)); 
end

    enter image description here

    The only problem it has is that it doesnt allow for multiple marker sizes, so if you want the points to have different marker sizes, you'd need to add another loop and go plotting the points one by one. I hope you are able to get it from here ;)