MATLAB Central Newsreader - 3d plot rotation

3d plot rotation

Alan B — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 17:12:01 -0400

Why am I not allowed to rotate a 3D plot more than 180 degrees about an axis in the x-y plane? Is there a way to turn off this restriction?

Re: 3d plot rotation

Michael — Wed, 19 May 2010 19:58:04 -0400

"Alan B" <monguin61@yahoo.com> wrote in message <h2tb91$sjb$1@fred.mathworks.com>...
> Why am I not allowed to rotate a 3D plot more than 180 degrees about an axis in the x-y plane? Is there a way to turn off this restriction?

bump - I just ran into this problem too and would like to know how to lift this restriction on rotation.

Re: 3d plot rotation

Walter Roberson — Wed, 19 May 2010 20:03:48 -0400

Michael wrote:
> "Alan B" <monguin61@yahoo.com> wrote in message
> <h2tb91$sjb$1@fred.mathworks.com>...
>> Why am I not allowed to rotate a 3D plot more than 180 degrees about
>> an axis in the x-y plane? Is there a way to turn off this restriction?
>
> bump - I just ran into this problem too and would like to know how to
> lift this restriction on rotation.

I have not seen this behaviour. Would you have an example?

Re: 3d plot rotation

Alan B — Wed, 19 May 2010 20:22:19 -0400

Walter Roberson <roberson@hushmail.com> wrote in message <ht1g88$j59$2@canopus.cc.umanitoba.ca>...
> Michael wrote:
> > "Alan B" <monguin61@yahoo.com> wrote in message
> > <h2tb91$sjb$1@fred.mathworks.com>...
> >> Why am I not allowed to rotate a 3D plot more than 180 degrees about
> >> an axis in the x-y plane? Is there a way to turn off this restriction?
> >
> > bump - I just ran into this problem too and would like to know how to
> > lift this restriction on rotation.
>
> I have not seen this behaviour. Would you have an example?

Just plot anything in 3D (use 'peaks' or 'sphere' for example), then try to rotate the plot with the mouse, continuously, for more than 180 degrees, about any axis in the x-y plane. Any vertical mouse cursor motion will illustrate the issue.

In Matlab, the z-axis is special - you can rotate indefinitely about the z-axis. Any other axis "hits a wall", and stops you at elevation angle equal to 90 or -90.

Example of unrestricted mouse rotation UI: http://mathworld.wolfram.com/Sphere.html .

There may be a good reason for the restriction in Matlab, but I personally would rather not have it the majority of the time.

Re: 3d plot rotation

Ken Garrard — Wed, 19 May 2010 21:03:19 -0400

"Alan B" <monguin61REM@OVETHIS.yahoo.com> wrote in message <ht1h9r$km8$1@fred.mathworks.com>...
> Walter Roberson <roberson@hushmail.com> wrote in message <ht1g88$j59$2@canopus.cc.umanitoba.ca>...
> > Michael wrote:
> > > "Alan B" <monguin61@yahoo.com> wrote in message
> > > <h2tb91$sjb$1@fred.mathworks.com>...
> > >> Why am I not allowed to rotate a 3D plot more than 180 degrees about
> > >> an axis in the x-y plane? Is there a way to turn off this restriction?
> > >
> > > bump - I just ran into this problem too and would like to know how to
> > > lift this restriction on rotation.
> >
> > I have not seen this behaviour. Would you have an example?
>
> Just plot anything in 3D (use 'peaks' or 'sphere' for example), then try to rotate the plot with the mouse, continuously, for more than 180 degrees, about any axis in the x-y plane. Any vertical mouse cursor motion will illustrate the issue.
>
> In Matlab, the z-axis is special - you can rotate indefinitely about the z-axis. Any other axis "hits a wall", and stops you at elevation angle equal to 90 or -90.
>
> Example of unrestricted mouse rotation UI: http://mathworld.wolfram.com/Sphere.html .
>
> There may be a good reason for the restriction in Matlab, but I personally would rather not have it the majority of the time.

From the menu select view->camera toolbar. Then click the "orbit camera" icon and the "principal axis z" icon. Vertical mouse motion will now spin the figure until you run into the top or bottom edge of your monitor.

Ken

Re: 3d plot rotation

Alan B — Wed, 19 May 2010 21:15:05 -0400

"Ken Garrard" <ken_garrardAT@ncsuDOT.edu> wrote in message <ht1jmn$t7s$1@fred.mathworks.com>...
> "Alan B" <monguin61REM@OVETHIS.yahoo.com> wrote in message <ht1h9r$km8$1@fred.mathworks.com>...
> > Walter Roberson <roberson@hushmail.com> wrote in message <ht1g88$j59$2@canopus.cc.umanitoba.ca>...
> > > Michael wrote:
> > > > "Alan B" <monguin61@yahoo.com> wrote in message
> > > > <h2tb91$sjb$1@fred.mathworks.com>...
> > > >> Why am I not allowed to rotate a 3D plot more than 180 degrees about
> > > >> an axis in the x-y plane? Is there a way to turn off this restriction?
> > > >
> > > > bump - I just ran into this problem too and would like to know how to
> > > > lift this restriction on rotation.
> > >
> > > I have not seen this behaviour. Would you have an example?
> >
> > Just plot anything in 3D (use 'peaks' or 'sphere' for example), then try to rotate the plot with the mouse, continuously, for more than 180 degrees, about any axis in the x-y plane. Any vertical mouse cursor motion will illustrate the issue.
> >
> > In Matlab, the z-axis is special - you can rotate indefinitely about the z-axis. Any other axis "hits a wall", and stops you at elevation angle equal to 90 or -90.
> >
> > Example of unrestricted mouse rotation UI: http://mathworld.wolfram.com/Sphere.html .
> >
> > There may be a good reason for the restriction in Matlab, but I personally would rather not have it the majority of the time.
>
> From the menu select view->camera toolbar. Then click the "orbit camera" icon and the "principal axis z" icon. Vertical mouse motion will now spin the figure until you run into the top or bottom edge of your monitor.
>
> Ken

That works for me, thanks. Looks like this can be accomplished directly with

cameratoolbar('setmodeGUI', 'orbit')

Re: 3d plot rotation

Michael — Wed, 19 May 2010 21:43:04 -0400

Thanks for the replies everyone! That did the trick for me.