MATLAB: Plot a curve as a vertical 3D surface in MATLAB

3d plotsMATLABsurface

I have two vectors of data, say x and y, corresponding to the discrete x and y coordinates of a curve in 2D space. I want to plot this curve with a fixed height, say z = 1, in 3D to form a surface. (The goal is to visualize the intersection of this surface with another surface plot). Below is an image that depicts what I want to do. Any ideas on how this could be accomplished?

Best Answer

Try this:
x = linspace(0, 2*pi, 50);                      % Independent Variable

y = sin(x);                                     % Dependent Variable

z = [ones(size(x)); zeros(size(x))];            % ‘Z’ Matrix

figure(1)
surf([x; x], [y; y], z)
grid on
axis equal
Also, if you want more ‘levels’ in the z-direction:
x = linspace(0, 2*pi, 50);                              % Independent Variable
y = sin(x);                                             % Dependent Variable
z = [(1:-0.2:0)'*ones(size(x))];                        % ‘Z’ Matrix
figure(1)
surf(repmat(x,size(z,1),1), repmat(y,size(z,1),1), z)
grid on
axis equal
The ‘(1:-0.2:0)’ in the z calculation sets the number of ‘levels’ and values of the ‘levels’. Experiment with it to get the result you want.
NOTE — This requires x and y to be row vectors.
EDIT — Added plot image.
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