contourslice

Draw contours in volume slice planes

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Syntax

contourslice(X,Y,Z,V,xslice,yslice,zslice)

contourslice(V,xslice,yslice,zslice)

contourslice(___,num)

contourslice(___,lvls)

contourslice(___,method)

contourslice(ax,___)

s = contourslice(___)

Description

contourslice(X,Y,Z,V,xslice,yslice,zslice) draws contours in slices for the volumetric data V, where V determines the contour colors. Specify X,Y, and Z as the coordinate data. Specify xslice, yslice, and zslice as the slice locations using one of these forms:

• To draw one or more slice planes that are orthogonal to a particular axis, specify the slice arguments as a scalar or vector.

• To draw a single slice along a surface, specify all the slice arguments as matrices that define a surface.

contourslice(V,xslice,yslice,zslice) uses the default coordinate data for V. The (x,y,z) location for each element in V is based on the column, row, and page index, respectively.

contourslice(___,num) specifies the number of contour lines to draw per slice. Use this option with any of the input arguments from the previous syntaxes.

contourslice(___,lvls) specifies the values at which to draw contour lines within each slice.

contourslice(___,method) specifies the interpolation method, where method can be 'linear', 'cubic', or 'nearest'.

contourslice(ax,___) plots into the specified axes, instead of the current axes (gca).

s = contourslice(___) returns the Patch objects created.

Examples

Draw Contours for Single Slice

Create a single slice plane through volumetric data and draw contours of the data values.

Create the matrices X, Y, Z, and V from the flow data set. Draw contours of V in the slice plane where z = 0.

[X,Y,Z,V] = flow;
zslice = 0;
contourslice(X,Y,Z,V,[],[],zslice)
grid on

Draw Contours in Slice Planes

Create multiple slice planes through volumetric data. Draw contours of the data values in each of the slice planes. Let MATLAB choose the contour levels.

Create V as an array of volume data defined by $$v=x{e}^{-x^2-y^2-z^2}$$. Draw contours in three slice planes that are orthogonal to the x-axis at the values -1.2, 0.8, and 2. Do not create any slice planes that are orthogonal to the y-axis or z-axis by specifying empty arrays. Change the axes view to a 3-D view and add grid lines.

[X,Y,Z] = meshgrid(-2:.2:2);
V = X.*exp(-X.^2-Y.^2-Z.^2);

xslice = [-1.2,0.8,2];   
yslice = [];
zslice = [];
contourslice(X,Y,Z,V,xslice,yslice,zslice)
view(3)
grid on

Specify Contour Levels and Add Colorbar

Create multiple slice planes through volumetric data. Draw contours of the data values in each of the slice planes. Specify the levels where you want to draw the contours. Then, add a colorbar.

Draw contours in three slice planes that are orthogonal to the x-axis at the values -1.2, 0.8, and 2. Draw contours for the volume data between the values -0.2 and 0.4, spaced every 0.01. Add a colorbar to see how the data values map to the contour colors. Also, change the axes view to a 3-D view and add grid lines.

[X,Y,Z] = meshgrid(-2:.2:2);
V = X.*exp(-X.^2-Y.^2-Z.^2);
xslice = [-1.2,0.8,2];   
lvls = -0.2:0.01:0.4;

contourslice(X,Y,Z,V,xslice,[],[],lvls)
colorbar
view(3)
grid on

Draw Contours Along Surface Slice

Create a surface slice through volumetric data and draw contours along the surface of the volume data. Specify the number of contour levels to draw.

Create V as an array of volume data defined by $$v=x{e}^{-x^2-y^2-z^2}$$. Then, show a slice of the volume data along the surface defined by $$z=x^2-y^2$$. Draw 20 contours along the surface. Change the axes view to a 3-D view and add grid lines.

[X,Y,Z] = meshgrid(-5:0.2:5);
V = X.*exp(-X.^2-Y.^2-Z.^2);

[xsurf,ysurf] = meshgrid(-2:0.2:2);
zsurf = xsurf.^2-ysurf.^2;
contourslice(X,Y,Z,V,xsurf,ysurf,zsurf,20)
view(3)
grid on

Input Arguments

X — x-axis coordinate data

vector | 3-D array

x-axis coordinate data, specified as a vector or a 3-D array the same size as V. If you specify a 3-D array, it must be monotonic and orthogonally spaced, as if produced by the meshgrid function.

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

Y — y-axis coordinate data

vector | 3-D array

y-axis coordinate data, specified as a vector or a 3-D array the same size as V. If you specify a 3-D array, it must be monotonic and orthogonally spaced, as if produced by the meshgrid function.

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

Z — z-axis coordinate data

vector | 3-D array

z-axis coordinate data, specified as a vector or a 3-D array the same size as V. If you specify a 3-D array, it must be monotonic and orthogonally spaced, as if produced by the meshgrid function.

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

V — Volume data

3-D array

Volume data, specified as a 3-D array.

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

xslice — x-axis slice values

scalar | vector | [] | matrix

x-axis slice values, specified in one of these forms:

• Scalar — Draw one slice plane orthogonal to the x-axis at the specified location.

• Vector — Draw multiple slice planes orthogonal to the x-axis at the specified locations.

• [] — Do not draw any slice planes.

• Matrix — Draw the slice along a surface, instead of a plane. If you use this option, then yslice and zslice also must be matrices that are the same size.

Example: [2 4] draws slice planes orthogonal to the x-axis at the values 2 and 4.

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

yslice — y-axis slice values

scalar | vector | [] | matrix

y-axis slice values, specified in one of these forms:

• Scalar — Draw one slice plane orthogonal to the y-axis at the specified location.

• Vector — Draw multiple slice planes orthogonal to the y-axis at the specified locations.

• [] — Do not draw any slice planes.

• Matrix — Draw the slice along a surface, instead of a plane. If you use this option, then xslice and zslice also must be matrices that are the same size.

Example: [2 4] draws slice planes orthogonal to the y-axis at the values 2 and 4.

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

zslice — z-axis slice values

scalar | vector | [] | matrix

z-axis slice values, specified in one of these forms:

• Scalar — Draw one slice plane orthogonal to the z-axis at the specified location.

• Vector — Draw multiple slice planes orthogonal to the z-axis at the specified locations.

• [] — Do not draw any slice planes.

• Matrix — Draw the slice along a surface, instead of a plane. If you use this option, then xslice and yslice also must be matrices that are the same size.

Example: [2 4] draws slice planes orthogonal to the z-axis at the values 2 and 4.

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

num — Number of contour lines

scalar

Number of contour lines per slice, specified as a scalar.

Example: 4 draws four contour lines within each slice.

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

lvls — Contour line levels

vector

Contour line levels, specified as a vector. If you want to draw a single contour line per slice at a particular level, then specify the vector in the form [lvl lvl].

Example: [1 3 5] draws contour lines at the levels 1, 3, and 5 within each slice.

Example: [4 4] draws a single contour line at the level 4 within each slice.

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

method — Interpolation method

'linear' (default) | 'cubic' | 'nearest'

Interpolation method, specified as one of these values:

• 'linear' — Linear interpolation of the values at neighboring grid points in each respective dimension. This value is the default value when the slice is a surface.

• 'cubic' — Cubic interpolation of the values at neighboring grid points in each respective dimension.

• 'nearest' — Nearest grid point value. This value is the default value when the slices are planes.

ax — Target axes

current axes (default) | Axes object

Target axes, specified as an Axes object. If you do not specify the axes, then contourslice plots into the current axes.

Algorithms

The contourslice function does not clear existing plots before plotting.

Extended Capabilities

GPU Arrays

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

The contourslice 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