Question

I have a 3D volume and a 3D point cloud. How can I draw the point cloud, along with an isosurface of the volume, without overwriting the scatter plot? Using patch to draw the isosurface always wipes away the scatter3 plot.

Answer 1

Some things to try.

1. Draw the surface use patches first. (h = patch(...), then set hold on)

2. Make the patches semi-transparent. This will let you see if the scatter items are still there, just hidden. It also tells the renderer that everything needs to be plotted, which can prevent some sorts of graphics bugs.

   set(h,'faceAlpha',0.5)

3. Try using plot3 instead of scatter3. This does not allow you to change individual marker sizes or colors, but it is much easier on Matlab. Even if you need the scatter3 features, this is worth trying as a debugging step.