plot3 curve to cylinder with curve as center

I am currently trying to display my curves as cylinders using the surf function. With surf([x;x],[y;y],[z;z]) I can display my curve as a simple line. Is there an optimal approach to display this line as a cylinder? Alternatively I can increase the LineWidth but then the surface would behave exactly like the plot3 with increased LineWidth.

On the attached image all curves are plotted using the plot3 function and adjusting the LineWidth. I would like to display these curves as a cylinder using the surf function.

Answer 1

[William Rose]

@Julius Schroers,

See tubeplot.m and RenderLines2Tubes, which uses tubeplot. Both on the Matlab file exchange.

Good luck.

[Julius Schroers]

Thanks for the quick reply. The linked function is exactly what I was looking for. Great!

Finally lighting available.

You have saved me easily a week of work without success.

Thank you!

[William Rose]

@Julius Schroers, you're welcome. Give credit to @Janus H. Wesenberg when you publish or present. By the way, I made a modified version of tubeplot that plots tapered tubes and removes the end caps. Your plot looks really nice and very sophisticated. The equations for the tube centerlines must be very complicated! Good luck with your work.