Draw a plane on a surface plot

Everything I try to do to draw a plane on a surface plot just keeps failing miserably. I just want to show the intersection! Can anyone help please?

I already have the surface plot coded: surfc(x,z,e);

x,z,e are all 21 x 17 matrix.

So I just tried doing this at the end:

for i = 1:length(x)
    for j = 1:min(size(z))
        p(i,j) = 0;
    end
end

and the plots looked like this:

figure(15)
surfc(x,z,e);
set(gca,'ZScale','log');
hold on
surf(x,z,p);

But I can't see the plane...

I also tried making a mesh and doing it that way but then it said it can't plot negative numbers and so only plotted part of the mesh:

Any help?

Answer 1

[Satwik]

Hi Paul,

To visualize the intersection of a plane with a surface plot, it is important to ensure that the plane is properly defined and positioned relative to the surface. Here are some steps to achieve this:

1. Define the Plane Properly: Ensure the plane is defined correctly. For a plane at z = 0, the p matrix should have the same dimensions as e and be filled with zeros.
2. Check Axes Limits: Make sure the axes limits allow the plane to be visible. Sometimes the plane might be outside the current view.
3. Adjust Transparency: Use transparency to ensure both the surface and the plane are visible.

Here is a refined version of the code:

% Assuming x, z, e are already defined as 21 x 17 matrices
% Define the plane at z = 0
p = zeros(size(e));

% Plot the surface
figure(15);
surfc(x, z, e);
set(gca, 'ZScale', 'log');
hold on;

% Plot the plane
h = surf(x, z, p);

% Set the plane's color and transparency
set(h, 'FaceAlpha', 0.5, 'EdgeColor', 'none', 'FaceColor', [0 0 1]); % Blue, semi-transparent

% Adjust axes limits if necessary
zlim([-1, max(e(:))]); % Adjust based on your data range

% Add labels for clarity
xlabel('X-axis');
ylabel('Z-axis');
zlabel('E-axis');
title('Surface Plot with Intersection Plane');

% Hold off if you want to stop adding more plots
hold off;

I hope this helps!