A MATLAB script to generate hexmaps

hextile.m

function [h,xy]=hextile(rect,size)
% hextile(rect,size)
% rect - [x y w h]
% size - distance between hexes (default 1)
% returns
% h - plot handle
% xy - centers of all hexagons drawn
[x,y,w,h] = deal(rect(1),rect(2),rect(3),rect(4));
if nargin < 2, size = 1; end
[c,s]=deal(cos(pi/6),sin(pi/6));
xlist = 0:size*(2+2*s):w; % anticipated x centers
ylist = 0:size*(c):h; % anticipated y centers
center_x = repmat(xlist,length(ylist),1)';
center_y = repmat(ylist,length(xlist),1);
center_x(:,2:2:end) = ...
  center_x(:,2:2:end)+size*(1+s); % Shift odd rows
f = find(center_x(:) <= w); % find outlying hexes
center_x = center_x(f); % remove outlying hexes
center_y = center_y(f); % remove outlying hexes
% Define corners of a single hexagon
x0=size*(cumsum([0,s,1,s, -s,-1,-s,NaN])-s-0.5);
y0=size*[0,c,c,0,-c,-c,0,NaN]; % full hex
% Replicate to the centers
xplot=log(exp(x0')*exp(center_x)');
yplot=log(exp(y0')*exp(center_y)');
h=plot(x+xplot(:),y+yplot(:));
if nargout >= 2
  xy = [x+center_x(:),y+center_y(:)];
end
axis equal
return