You can build such a colormap yourself. Take this example:

r = [1 0 0];       %# start
w = [.9 .9 .9];    %# middle
b = [0 0 1];       %# end

%# colormap of size 64-by-3, ranging from red -> white -> blue
c1 = zeros(32,3); c2 = zeros(32,3);
for i=1:3
    c1(:,i) = linspace(r(i), w(i), 32);
    c2(:,i) = linspace(w(i), b(i), 32);
end
c = [c1(1:end-1,:);c2];

surf(peaks), shading interp
caxis([-8 8]), colormap(c), colorbar

Why the trisurf(x,y,z,c) approach isn't working

You can't use the trisurf(x,y,z,c) approach because c has to be the same length as your Triangulation matrix, which it won't be. This is because you won't generate the same number of triangular faces from your matrix as you have points in your matrix.

It's worth mention that it's not recommended (says so in the documentation) that you use MATLAB DelaunayTri() function. Instead, you should use MATLAB's delaunayTriangulation() function.

##A Working Approach to Coloring Triangular Surfaces##

Below, I have detailed / commented a block of code that will color the triangular surfaces drawn from your interiorPoints variable according to the color values stored in the 4th column of your matrix variable.

In this code, I have mapped the color values to varying shades of blue and I have mapped the color values to MATLAB's jet color map. If you would like, you could create 5th and 6th columns in your matrix variable so that you can specify the R, G, and B color components for more vibrant color mappings:

interiorPoints = [matrix(:,1),matrix(:,2),matrix(:,3)];
c=matrix(:,4);

% MATLAB recommends that you use delaunayTriangle...
% DT = DelaunayTri(interiorPoints); 

DT = delaunayTriangulation(x,y,z)
hullFacets = convexHull(DT)

% Create an empty RGB colormap
custom_cm = zeros(length(c),3);
% Or, instead of creating an empty color map, you could modify one of MATLAB's available color maps
modify_cm = colormap(jet) % Replace 'jet' with any other of MATLAB's available color maps 

% "B" is the 3rd component of this RGB color map
custom_cm(:,3) = ((c-min(c))/(max(c)-min(c))*length(c)) / length(c)

% Expand the scaled custom_cm column for multiplication with the original color matrix
cm_multiplier = repmat(custom_cm(:,3), 1, 3);
% Multiply element-wise the expanded custom_cm with the original color matrix
modify_cm = cm_multiplier.*modify_cm;

trisurf(hullFacets, DT.Points(:,1), DT.Points(:,2), DT.Points(:,3))

% Use the entirely custom color mapping
colormap(custom_cm)

% Or, use the modified color mapping
colormap(modify_cm)

I don't have the data stored in your matrix variable, so I triangulated some sample data and colored it according to a random set of data I generated as a 4th column. Here's how it came out looking using the entirely custom color map:

Here's how it came out looking using the modified jet color map:

It should be as easy as calling something like cmap = cmocean('thermal'); % or 'deep', or whichever colormap from the collection you want. https://fr.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/fileexchange/57773-cmocean-perceptually-uniform-colormaps cmocean maps are great, but may not be appreciated by reviewers

There is a way to get the desired effect without modifying TriSurf function, using above example: % Pretend X, Y, and Z defined above Tri = delaunay(X,Y); % Pretend function TriDip exists that takes X,Y,Z and Tri(angulation) info & % returns a column vector (same length as Tri) with angle of dip for each triangle % patch defined by each row of Tri (i.e., vertex indices of single triangle patch) C_Tri = TriDip(X,Y,Z,Tri); hh = trisurf(Tri,X,Y,Z); % Additional bit to control color of each patch individually set(gca,'CLim',[min(C_Tri), max(C_Tri)]); set(hh,'FaceColor','flat',... 'FaceVertexCData',C_Tri,... 'CDataMapping','scaled'); I borrowed the above bits from the Matlab help page for *patch* (which I wasn't aware of when I posted this question). A lot more helpful coloring options for patch type objects are available on that page, too. {RANT} Even though this work-around example is available to get the desired effect, I still do not get why the default usage of this function should expect that the *C* vector should be the same length/size as *X*, *Y*, or *Z*. Why would someone (the majority of the time) want to color the patch surface according to a value associated with one of its three vertices? [Still not clear what one of three vertices is used to identify how patch gets colored.] Seems (to me) to be a much harder way of controlling the property each face gets colored with. {/RANT} Hopefully someone that knows more than I can clarify.

Not sure if I have understood correctly. I try. I assume that you have the temperature plot as 2d matrix, as required by surf, because you mentioned it. % data for the surface [X,Y] = meshgrid(1:0.5:10,1:20); Z = sin(X) + cos(Y); % original temperature T0 = X; % dummy temperature map % first plot figure % plot with surf, saving the surface object in 's' s = surf(X,Y,Z,T0); Then you evaluate a new temperature, for example T1 % new temperature T1 = Y; % new dummy temperature map Now you can change the temperaure map by accessing the CData field in s s.CData = T1;