Exclude NaN values when plotting using bar3

I want to create a 3d bar plot which only shows bars in locations with real values (not NaNs). Unfortunately, when I try to do this, the plot includes a bar of height zero in each location where there's a NaN. I want no bar at all - just a blank space. Can anybody help?

clear; close all; clc

S = [37,46];
loads = [nan, 1.62, 1.85, nan;
         0.88, nan, 0.85, 0.62];

figure()
bar3(S,loads)
xticks([1,2,3,4])
xticklabels({'14','15','17.5','21'})
xlabel('H, mm')
ylabel('S, mm')
zlabel('Pull-off Force, N')

Output:

[Rik]

You may need to plot each bar separately. The bar3 function returns a 1x4 surface object when I run your code, so you can't simply delete some patch objects, as I had hoped.

Answer 1

[Ameer Hamza]

Edit: This code is a more general and does not require to set the edge color to white

clear; close all; clc

S = [37,46];
loads = [nan, 1.62, 1.85, nan;
         0.88, nan, 0.85, 0.62];
     
fig = figure();
ax = axes();
hold(ax);
grid(ax);
view(3);
b = gobjects(size(loads));
for i=1:size(loads,2)
    for j=1:size(loads,1)
        if ~isnan(loads(j,i))
            b(j,i) = bar3(S(j), loads(j,i), 5);
            b(j,i).CData(:) = i;
            b(j,i).XData = rescale(b(j,i).XData, 0.6, 1.4) + i - 1;
        end
    end
end
ax.CLim = [1 size(loads, 2)];
ax.YDir = 'reverse';
ax.XTick = 1:size(loads,2);
xticklabels({'14','15','17.5','21'})
ax.YTick = S;
axis(ax, 'tight');
ax.YLim = ax.YLim + [-2 2];
xlabel('H, mm')
ylabel('S, mm')
zlabel('Pull-off Force, N')

Try this. The downside of this method is that it cannot remove the edges of the individual bar, so It set the color of all the edges to white so that the edges on the ground seem invisible.

clear; close all; clc

S = [37,46];
loads = [nan, 1.62, 1.85, nan;
         0.88, nan, 0.85, 0.62];
     
fig = figure();
b = bar3(S,loads);
xticks([1,2,3,4])
xticklabels({'14','15','17.5','21'})
xlabel('H, mm')
ylabel('S, mm')
zlabel('Pull-off Force, N')
[b.EdgeColor] = deal('w');

[r,c] = find(isnan(loads));
for i=1:numel(r)
    r_ = r(i);
    c_ = c(i);
    b(c_).CData(6*(r_-1)+1:6*r_, :) = nan;
end

[Ryan Coulson]

Dang dude, that's pretty slick - thanks!

[Ryan Coulson]

I suppose there isn't any way to selectively set the edge color of the NaN elements to white while keeping the other edges black, is there?

[Ameer Hamza]

I am glad to be of help.

No, the edge color cannot be set individually. Each surface object has a single EdgeColor property.

[Ameer Hamza]

I have updated my answer to show a more general way, which does not require setting the edge color to white. Each bar is a seperate surface object.