ribbon

Ribbon plot

• 

Syntax

ribbon(Z)

ribbon(Y,Z)

ribbon(Y,Z,width)

ribbon(ax,___)

s = ribbon(___)

Description

ribbon(Z) plots the columns of Z as three-dimensional ribbons of uniform width, where y-coordinates range from 1 to the number of rows in Z. Ribbons advance along the x-axis centered at unit intervals.

ribbon(Y,Z) plots three-dimensional ribbons at the locations specified by Y.

ribbon(Y,Z,width) specifies the width of the ribbons.

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

s = ribbon(___) returns a vector of Surface objects with one object per ribbon. Use s to modify properties of the plot after creating it. For a list of properties, see Surface Properties.

Examples

Create Ribbon Plot

Create a plot with five ribbons at increasing heights. First, create a 5-by-5 matrix with elements corresponding to ribbon heights.

Z = repmat(1:5,4,1)

Z = 4×5

     1     2     3     4     5
     1     2     3     4     5
     1     2     3     4     5
     1     2     3     4     5

Each column of Z represents one ribbon, plotted at a constant x-coordinate corresponding to the column number and with y-coordinates corresponding to the row numbers of Z.

ribbon(Z)

Specify Ribbon Locations

Create a 5-by-5 matrix with the magic function.

Z = magic(5)

Z = 5×5

    17    24     1     8    15
    23     5     7    14    16
     4     6    13    20    22
    10    12    19    21     3
    11    18    25     2     9

Create a ribbon plot of the matrix and specify the y-coordinates so each ribbon is centered at 0.

Y = [-2 -1 0 1 2];
ribbon(Y,Z);

Create Ribbons with Different y-Coordinates

Plot three ribbons at different locations along the y-axis. Specify the y-coordinates of the ribbons as a matrix Y that is the same size as Z, the matrix of ribbon heights. Each column of Y corresponds to one ribbon.

Y = [1 2 3;
     2 3 4;
     3 4 5;
     4 5 6];
Z = Y;
ribbon(Y,Z)

Specify Ribbon Width

Create a ribbon plot and set the width of each ribbon to 30% of the total space available.

Z = magic(5);
Y = [-2 -1 0 1 2];
ribbon(Y,Z,0.3)

Modify Ribbon Plot Appearance

Create a ribbon plot and specify an output argument. The output is a vector of five Surface objects, where each object corresponds to one ribbon.

Z = magic(5);
Y = [-2 -1 0 1 2];
s = ribbon(Y,Z)

s = 
  5x1 Surface array:

  Surface
  Surface
  Surface
  Surface
  Surface

Highlight the first ribbon by changing the EdgeColor and LineWidth properties of the corresponding Surface object.

s(1).EdgeColor = "yellow";
s(1).LineWidth = 3;

Specify Ribbon Plot Colormap

Create a ribbon plot with 30 ribbons and a colorbar.

t = linspace(0,2*pi,30);
x = sin(t)';
y = cos(t);
ribbon(x*y)
cbar = colorbar;
cbar.Label.String= "Ribbon Number";

Change the ribbon colors using the colormap function. ribbon maps the x-coordinates of the ribbons to colors in the colormap linearly.

colormap(turbo)

Input Arguments

Z — z-coordinates

numeric vector | numeric matrix

z-coordinates that represent ribbon heights, specified as a numeric vector or numeric matrix.

• If Z is a vector, ribbon creates a single ribbon regardless of whether Z is a row or column vector.

• If Z is a matrix, ribbon creates one ribbon for each column. Ribbons advance along the x-axis centered at unit intervals, where x-coordinates range from 1 to the number of columns in Z.

Y — y-coordinates

numeric vector | numeric matrix

y-coordinates, specified as a numeric vector or numeric matrix. The size of Z determines the possible sizes of Y:

• If Z is a vector, Y must be a vector of the same size as Z. ribbon plots a single ribbon at X = 1 using the data in Y and Z.

• If Z is a matrix, Y can be a row or column vector with a length equal to the number of rows in Z, or a matrix of the same size as Z. ribbon plots a ribbon for each column of Z using the data in Y and Z. If Y is a vector, each ribbon has the same y-coordinate.

width — Ribbon width

0.75 (default) | numeric scalar

Ribbon width, specified as a numeric scalar representing a percentage of the total space available for each ribbon.

• If width < 1, the ribbon width occupies that fraction of the allocated space.

• If width = 1, the ribbons touch one another, leaving no space between them when viewed down the z-axis.

• If width > 1, the ribbons overlap and can intersect.

For example, the default value of 0.75 means the ribbon width is 75% of the total space available for the ribbon, with 12.5% of empty space on each side.

ax — Target axes

Axes object

Target axes, specified as an Axes object. If you do not specify the axes, MATLAB^® plots into the current axes or it creates an Axes object if one does not exist.

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).

Version History

Introduced before R2006a