Making a function to restructure matrix of coordinates

I have a 36x3 matrix of data in a double, where the three columns represent x, y, and z coordinates. I'm trying to make two functions. The first will restructure the matrix so that it becomes a 6x6 data set, where the column and row numbers represent the x and y values and the cells represent the z values. The second reverses this, and converts the 6x6 back into the original 36x3. I've looked a bit into using the reshape function, but I dont know how to incorporate the values of the rows and columns. Any help is appreciated. Thanks.

[James Tursa]

Your 6x6 scheme can only work if the x and y values form a regular grid and the formula for the grid coordinates is known. Is that the case? If so, how is the data in the 36x3 matrix organized? Can you give a numeric example?

[Patrick O'Mahony]

They form a regular grid, yes. They're listed row by row of the regular grid, I hope this example helps to visualize it.

x y z

1 1 12

2 1 13

3 1 13

4 1 14

5 1 13

6 1 14

1 2 14

2 2 15

3 2 13

4 2 12

5 2 14

6 2 17

....

Answer 1

[Matt J]

Z=reshape(xyz(:,3),6,6); %6x6 format

and then to revert back,

[X,Y]=ndgrid(1:6);
xyz=[X(:),Y(:),Z(:)]; %36x3 format

[Patrick O'Mahony]

That works, thanks!

[Matt J]

You're welcome. Please Accept-click th answer, though, to indicate that a solution was reached for you.

[Patrick O'Mahony]

Sorry, I tried earlier but it keeps repeating an error message even after reloading.

"Unable to complete the action because of changes made to the page. Reload the page to see its updated state."