> I would like to have the plot lines with some sort of translucency. In Matlab, I can then put
> p1.Color(4)=0.05
> to set the alpha channel to 5%
playing with this a bit myself, i was wondering what changed in p1. it's an odd hack. checking the properties of p1 before changing Color(4):
>> get(p1)
AlignVertexCenters: off
Annotation: [1×1 matlab.graphics.eventdata.Annotation]
BeingDeleted: off
BusyAction: 'queue'
ButtonDownFcn: ''
Children: [0×0 GraphicsPlaceholder]
Clipping: on
Color: [0 0.4470 0.7410]
ColorMode: 'auto'
ContextMenu: [0×0 GraphicsPlaceholder]
CreateFcn: ''
DataTipTemplate: [1×1 matlab.graphics.datatip.DataTipTemplate]
DeleteFcn: ''
DisplayName: ''
HandleVisibility: 'on'
HitTest: on
Interruptible: on
LineJoin: 'round'
LineStyle: '-'
LineStyleMode: 'auto'
LineWidth: 0.5000
Marker: 'none'
MarkerEdgeColor: 'auto'
MarkerFaceColor: 'none'
MarkerIndices: [1×10000 uint64]
MarkerMode: 'auto'
MarkerSize: 6
Parent: [1×1 Axes]
PickableParts: 'visible'
Selected: off
SelectionHighlight: on
SeriesIndex: 1
Tag: ''
Type: 'line'
UserData: []
Visible: on
XData: [1×10000 double]
XDataMode: 'manual'
XDataSource: ''
YData: [1×10000 double]
YDataSource: ''
ZData: [1×0 double]
ZDataSource: ''
>> p1.Color
ans =
0 0.4470 0.7410
then
>> p1.Color(4) = 0.05
definitely changes the plot, but the object properties are unchanged:
>> p1.Color(4)=.05
p1 =
Line with properties:
Color: [0 0.4470 0.7410]
LineStyle: '-'
LineWidth: 0.5000
Marker: 'none'
MarkerSize: 6
MarkerFaceColor: 'none'
XData: [1×10000 double]
YData: [1×10000 double]
ZData: [1×0 double]
Show all properties
AlignVertexCenters: off
Annotation: [1×1 matlab.graphics.eventdata.Annotation]
BeingDeleted: off
BusyAction: 'queue'
ButtonDownFcn: ''
Children: [0×0 GraphicsPlaceholder]
Clipping: on
Color: [0 0.4470 0.7410]
ColorMode: 'manual'
ContextMenu: [0×0 GraphicsPlaceholder]
CreateFcn: ''
DataTipTemplate: [1×1 matlab.graphics.datatip.DataTipTemplate]
DeleteFcn: ''
DisplayName: ''
HandleVisibility: 'on'
HitTest: on
Interruptible: on
LineJoin: 'round'
LineStyle: '-'
LineStyleMode: 'auto'
LineWidth: 0.5000
Marker: 'none'
MarkerEdgeColor: 'auto'
MarkerFaceColor: 'none'
MarkerIndices: [1×10000 uint64]
MarkerMode: 'auto'
MarkerSize: 6
Parent: [1×1 Axes]
PickableParts: 'visible'
Selected: off
SelectionHighlight: on
SeriesIndex: 1
Tag: ''
Type: 'line'
UserData: []
Visible: on
XData: [1×10000 double]
XDataMode: 'manual'
XDataSource: ''
YData: [1×10000 double]
YDataSource: ''
ZData: [1×0 double]
ZDataSource: ''
and checking on the transparency:
>> p1.Color(4)
Index exceeds the number of array elements (3).
>> p1.Color(4) = 0.01
(changes image fine, same behavior)
I'm guessing they added some hack to catch the element 4 assignment and perform the transparency change without actually making it a 4 element color assignment. Odds are a similar 'catch the deviant assignment' hack would work if we had a way to apply transparency in our graphics toolkits.