[Pgfplots-features] question regarding 3D surface/patch plotting

[Kevin S. <k2m...@gm...>]

Hello,

I have started to experiment with pgfplots for plotting some 3-d data that
I would like to visualize.

What I would like to do seems like it should be simple, but perhaps I need
a little bit of direction from the experts on which approach I should take.

I have two 3D curves which are each represented by an array of (x,y,z)
data.  So far, I have learned enough to where I can plot the curves
individually  in a graph using addplot3 and I have been able to  export my
data so that it is in a nice text format  for addplot3 coordinate syntax..

One view of this data would be simply to show the two curves in the graph
but in different colors with their own label.  That should be fairly simple.

As an extension of this, I would wonder if it would be possible to generate
a surface between the two curves so that the gaps or differences between
the two curves could be better visualized.  I have tried various patch
example settings in the gallery but none of them seem to give what I want.
Since the 2  curves are somewhat similar, the desired result would be that
the surface would look like a "ribbon" between the curves, where the ribbon
might vary in width, depending on the gap between the curves.

Another issue is that the two curves can each have a different number of
points.  I could potentially interpolate the curves before I export them,
so that the data for each curve will be of the same dimension if that makes
it easier.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions...