MATLAB: Is it possible to reduce the alpha for markers in a simple plot

alphacolorfacefacealphafacecolormarkermarkerfacealphamarkerfacecolorMATLABplot

Hi all,

I am having a simple plot like

plot(X,Y, 'MarkerFaceColor','#0072BD')

Is it possible to reduce the transparency of MarkerFaceColor to 0.5?

Thanks in advance

Best Answer

Plot function doesn't have support to tune transparency. You can use scatter to do that

scat = scatter(x,y,'MarkerFaceColor','b','MarkerEdgeColor','r'); 
scat.MarkerFaceAlpha = .5;
scat.MarkerEdgeAlpha = .5;

You can manipulate the color values, if you wish to use plot function.

hand = plot(X,Y,'r');
hand.LineWidth = 2;
hand.Color(4)=0.2; % this would act as your alpha value or transparency factor.

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MATLAB: How can a draw a line between two points

Assuming that x, average, and average_2 are all row vectors

axes;
hold on;
plot(x, average,'o', 'MarkerEdgeColor', 'b', 'MarkerFaceColor', 'b');  % Blue points
plot(x, average_2,'o', 'MarkerEdgeColor', 'r', 'MarkerFaceColor', 'r');  % Red points
plot([x;x], [average; average_2], '-k');

If the data are column vectors you'll have to transpose the arrays.

MATLAB: How to make the ‘plot’ function markers and lines transparent using ‘alpha’ or otherwise

Basic 'plot' function markers do not currently support transparency or alpha values. If you would like to make a scatter plot with transparent markers, it is suggested that you use the 'scatter' function and use either 'alpha' or set the value of the property 'MarkerFaceAlpha':

scatter1 = scatter(x,y,'MarkerFaceColor','r','MarkerEdgeColor','k'); 
% Set property MarkerFaceAlpha and MarkerEdgeAlpha to <1.0
scatter1.MarkerFaceAlpha = .2;
scatter1.MarkerEdgeAlpha = .2;

or:

scatter1 = scatter(x,y,'MarkerFaceColor','r','MarkerEdgeColor','k'); 
alpha(scatter1,.2)

If you would like to have a line plot using 'plot' with transparent markers on top, you can simply use 'hold on/off' and 'scatter' in conjunction for the same desired effect:

plot(x,y);
hold on
scatter1 = scatter(x,y,'MarkerFaceColor','r','MarkerEdgeColor','k'); 
scatter1.MarkerFaceAlpha = .2;
hold off

You can also change the transparency of the lines generated by 'plot' by appending the 'Color' property with an alpha value:

plot1 = plot(x,y);
plot1.Color(4) = 0.2;

Please see the "Input Arguments" list for the property 'value' on the documentation page for 'alpha' for a list of graphics objects that support face transparency:

https://www.mathworks.com/help/matlab/ref/alpha.html#buvaucs-5

Best Answer

Related Solutions

MATLAB: How can a draw a line between two points

MATLAB: How to make the ‘plot’ function markers and lines transparent using ‘alpha’ or otherwise

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