MATLAB Function Reference

cylinder

Generate cylinder

Syntax

• [X,Y,Z] = cylinder
  [X,Y,Z] = cylinder(r)
  [X,Y,Z] = cylinder(r,n)
  cylinder(...)
  

Description

cylinder generates x, y, and z coordinates of a unit cylinder. You can draw the cylindrical object using surf or mesh, or draw it immediately by not providing output arguments.

[X,Y,Z] = cylinder returns the x, y, and z coordinates of a cylinder with a radius equal to 1. The cylinder has 20 equally spaced points around its circumference.

[X,Y,Z] = cylinder(r) returns the x, y, and z coordinates of a cylinder using r to define a profile curve. cylinder treats each element in r as a radius at equally spaced heights along the unit height of the cylinder. The cylinder has 20 equally spaced points around its circumference.

[X,Y,Z] = cylinder(r,n) returns the x, y, and z coordinates of a cylinder based on the profile curve defined by vector r. The cylinder has n equally spaced points around its circumference.

cylinder(...), with no output arguments, plots the cylinder using surf.

Remarks

cylinder treats its first argument as a profile curve. The resulting surface graphics object is generated by rotating the curve about the x-axis, and then aligning it with the z-axis.

Examples

Create a cylinder with randomly colored faces.

• cylinder
  axis square
  h = findobj('Type','surface');
  set(h,'CData',rand(size(get(h,'CData'))))
  
  
  
  

Generate a cylinder defined by the profile function 2+sin(t).

• t = 0:pi/10:2*pi;
  [X,Y,Z] = cylinder(2+cos(t));
  surf(X,Y,Z)
  axis square
  

See Also

sphere, surf

Polygons and Surfaces for related functions

customverctrl

daspect