Matlab axes scaling - matlab

how exactly do you get fixed scaling of axes in Matlab plot when plotting inside a loop? My aim is to see how data is evolving inside the loop. I tried using axis manual and axis(...) with no luck. Any suggestions?
I know hold on does the trick, but I don't want to see the old data.

If you want to see your new plotted data replace the old plotted data, but maintain the same axes limits, you can update the x and y values of the plotted data using the SET command within your loop. Here's a simple example:
hAxes = axes; %# Create a set of axes
hData = plot(hAxes,nan,nan,'*'); %# Initialize a plot object (NaN values will
%# keep it from being displayed for now)
axis(hAxes,[0 2 0 4]); %# Fix your axes limits, with x going from 0
%# to 2 and y going from 0 to 4
for iLoop = 1:200 %# Loop 100 times
set(hData,'XData',2*rand,... %# Set the XData and YData of your plot object
'YData',4*rand); %# to random values in the axes range
drawnow %# Force the graphics to update
end
When you run the above, you will see an asterisk jump around in the axes for a couple of seconds, but the axes limits will stay fixed. You don't have to use the HOLD command because you are just updating an existing plot object, not adding a new one. Even if the new data extends beyond the axes limits, the limits will not change.

You have to set the axes limits; ideally you do that before starting the loop.
This won't work
x=1:10;y=ones(size(x)); %# create some data
figure,hold on,ah=gca; %# make figure, set hold state to on
for i=1:5,
%# use plot with axis handle
%# so that it always plots into the right figure
plot(ah,x+i,y*i);
end
This will work
x=1:10;y=ones(size(x)); %# create some data
figure,hold on,ah=gca; %# make figure, set hold state to on
xlim([0,10]),ylim([0,6]) %# set the limits before you start plotting
for i=1:5,
%# use plot with axis handle
%# so that it always plots into the right figure
plot(ah,x+i,y*i);
end

Related

Freeze the axes size in matlab

I have images captured in many frames. All the frames have different sizes so I set the global maximum and minimum of each axes and used axis command like below:
h = figure;
axis([-8.4188e+03 -7.9061e+03 -102.6261 518.2502 -25.4673 0.2780])
%axis tight manual % this ensures that getframe() returns a consistent size
filename = 'testanim.gif';
But the animation boxes still keep changing the sizes although I have found the maximum and minimum limits of Xs, Ys and Zs. Do I need something more in my code?
This is the code I use for plotting:
% read the data
for k=1:length(FileNames)
FName = plyfiles(k).name;
plys=pcread(['Files\',FName]);
pcshow(plys) % Capture the plot as an image
frame = getframe(h);
im = frame2im(frame);
[imind,cm] = rgb2ind(im,256); % Write to the GIF File
if k == 1
imwrite(imind,cm,filename,'gif', 'Loopcount',inf);
else
imwrite(imind,cm,filename,'gif','WriteMode','append');
end
end
pcshow will, just like imshow or plot, reset the axes it writes to. You can prevent this by setting
hold on
after creating the axes. However, now the point clouds will be shown on top of the previous ones, so you will also have to clear the axes before plotting a new one.
The easiest solution is, instead of holding the plot, to set the axes position every time after plotting. That is, do
set(gca, 'PropertyName', property_value)
after the pcshow call. The properties to set are, I believe, 'XLim', 'YLim', and 'ZLim'.

Hold on only the axis, not the data

I want my graph to fixed axes and also plot the data one by one. Everything is already known, however if i use hold off to remove the first set of data, it also forgets the limits on the axes and automatically assigns new limits for the second set of data.
Is it somehow possible to keep the axes the same for each time a separate data piece is plotted in the same figure?
code for now is:
figure(4)
grid on
axis([xL yL zL])
for j = 1:n % n is amount of data sets
for i = 1:2 % two items drawn per data set
*plot data*
hold on
end
%This part has to be done every iteration again in order to make it work now
axis([xL yL zL])
xlabel = ...
ylabel
zlabel
title
pause(tstop)
hold off
end
after some searching the only relevant topic i found was; Matlab: Plot a subplot with hold on and hold off in a loop without always calling xlabel, ylabel, xlim, etc
However i do not understand it at all. It uses a parent figure, replacechildren, nextplot and such which i am not familiar with and also cant find much information about.
Here's an example that can be easily adapted to your needs:
xlim([0 10]) %// set x-axis limits
ylim([0 10]) %// set y-axis limits
set(gca,'nextplot','replacechildren') %// prevent axis limits from changing with
%// each new plot
plot(3:8,3:8); %// note axis limits are kept as [0 10]
pause(1)
plot(5:7,5:7); %// note axis limits are kept as [0 10]

Matlab: replace one plot maintaining others

I have a figure in which I plot some disperse points and then a trajectory. I want to switch between different trajectories by plotting them in the same figure as the points, but without creating new figures, i.e., "erasing" the first trajectory and then plotting the new one.
Is there a way of doing this?
Perhaps this little demo will be helpful:
xy = rand(20,2);
figure
% Plot first iteration and output handles to each
h = plot(xy(:,1),xy(:,2),'b.',xy(1:2,1),xy(1:2,2),'r-');
axis([0 1 0 1])
% Update second plot by setting the XData and YData properties of the handle
for i = 2:size(xy,1)-1
set(h(2),{'XData','YData'},{xy(i:i+1,1),xy(i:i+1,2)})
drawnow
pause(0.1);
end
You should read up on handle graphics in Matlab and the get and set functions.

How to make 1-D plots in MATLAB?

How can I make plots in MATLAB like in below?
I won't need labels, so you can ignore them. I tried using normal 2D plot, by giving 0 to y parameter for each data points. It does help, but most of the plot remains empty/white and I don't want that.
How can I solve this problem?
Edit:
This is how I plot(playing with values of ylim does not help):
hold on
for i=1:120
if genders(v_labels(i)) == CLASS_WOMAN
plot(v_images_lda(i,:) * w_lda,0,'r*');
else
plot(v_images_lda(i,:) * w_lda,0,'b.');
end
end
title('LDA 1D Plot');
ylim([-0.2 0.2]);
hold off
One way to do this would be to adjust the 'XLim', 'YLim', and 'DataAspectRatio' properties of the axes so that it renders as essentially a single line. Here's an example:
data1 = rand(1,20)./2; %# Sample data set 1
data2 = 0.3+rand(1,20)./2; %# Sample data set 2
hAxes = axes('NextPlot','add',... %# Add subsequent plots to the axes,
'DataAspectRatio',[1 1 1],... %# match the scaling of each axis,
'XLim',[0 1],... %# set the x axis limit,
'YLim',[0 eps],... %# set the y axis limit (tiny!),
'Color','none'); %# and don't use a background color
plot(data1,0,'r*','MarkerSize',10); %# Plot data set 1
plot(data2,0,'b.','MarkerSize',10); %# Plot data set 2
And you will get the following plot:
Here's one way to reproduce your figure using dsxy2figxy and annotate. dsxy2figxy can be hard to find the first time, as it is not really in your path. It is part of the MATLAB package and is provided in the example functions. You can reach it by searching for it in the help docs and once you find it, open it and save it to a folder in your path.
h1=figure(1);clf
subplot(4,1,1);
hold on
xlim([0.2,1]);ylim([-1,1])
%arrow
[arrowX,arrowY]=dsxy2figxy([0.2,1],[0,0]);
annotation('arrow',arrowX,arrowY)
%crosses
x=[0.3,0.4,0.6,0.7,0.75];
plot(x,0,'kx','markersize',10)
%pipes
p=[0.5,0.65];
text(p,[0,0],'$$\vert$$','interpreter','latex')
%text
text([0.25,0.5,0.65],[1,-1,-1]/2,{'$$d_i$$','E[d]','$$\theta$$'},'interpreter','latex')
axis off
print('-depsc','arrowFigure')
This will produce the following figure:
This is sort of a hackish way to do it, as I've tricked MATLAB into printing just one subplot. All rasterized formats (jpeg, png, etc) will not give you the same result, as they'll all print the entire figure including where the non-declared subplots should've been. So to get this effect, it has to be an eps, and it works with it because eps uses much tighter bounding boxes... so all the meaningless whitespace is trimmed. You can then convert this to any other format you want.
Ok so the closest I have come to solving this is the following
hax = gca();
hold on
for i=1:120
if genders(v_labels(i)) == CLASS_WOMAN
plot(v_images_lda(i,:) * w_lda,0,'r*');
else
plot(v_images_lda(i,:) * w_lda,0,'b.');
end
end
set(hax, 'visible', 'off');
hax2 = axes();
set(hax2, 'color', 'none', 'ytick', [], 'ycolor', get(gcf, 'color');
pos = get(hax, 'position');
set(hax2, 'position', [pos(1), pos(2)+0.5*pos(4), pos(3), 0.5*pos(4)]);
title('LDA 1D Plot');
hold off
So in short, I hid the original axis and created a new one located at 0 of the original axis, and as I couldn't remove the y axis completely I set it's color to the background color of the figure.
You can then decide if you also want to play with the tick marks of the x-axis.
Hope this helps!
Very naive trick but a useful one.
Plot in 2d using matlab plot function. Then using edit figure properties compress it to whichever axis you need a 1D plot on !! Hope that helps :)

Matlab: Plot a subplot with hold on and hold off in a loop without always calling xlabel, ylabel, xlim, etc

Matlab question: this might be really simple but I can't figure it out...I'm pretty new. I have a plot window, broken up into two subplots, lets call them A and B, which have different labels and limits. I (hold on), make several plots to B, then I (hold off), then start iterating. In the loop, I want to update both A and B with NEW plots, but I want the axis labels, and xlim and ylim to stay the same, WITHOUT having to call xlabel, xlim, etc every iteration.
Now, (hold off) destroys all axis properties. How do I save the axis properties so I don't have to keep calling xlabel, etc in the loop? I've tried newplot, setting the Nextplot property, etc to no avail. I'd like a simple solution please...not something like re-writing the plot command. Thanks!
hfig=figure();
hax = axes('Parent',hfig);
plot(hax,x,y);
hold on
plot(hax,x1,y1);
%this hold off resets the axes
hold off
while (1)
subplot('Position',[.07 .05 .92 .44]);
%I want to do this without having to call xlabel, ylabel, etc
%over and over
plot(newx, newy);
xlabel()
ylabel()
hold on
plot(newx1, newx2)
hold off
...
end
One solution here is to initialize your plot and axes properties before your loop, then within your loop set the 'NextPlot' property of the axes to 'replacechildren' so that only the plot objects (and not the axes settings) will be changed on the next call to PLOT:
hFigure = figure();
hAxes = axes('Parent',hFigure);
plot(hAxes,x,y);
hold on;
plot(hAxes,x1,y1);
xlabel(...); %# Set the x label
ylabel(...); %# Set the y label
xlim([...]); %# Set the x limits
ylim([...]); %# Set the y limits
while (1)
set(hAxes,'NextPlot','replacechildren');
plot(hAxes,newx,newy);
hold on;
plot(hAxes,newx1,newx2);
...
end
This should maintain the settings for hAxes when new data is plotted in the loop.