Thread Subject: 3d plot rotation

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?

"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.

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?

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.

"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

"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')

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