A question about motion plot

Hello

I've written a MATLAB function such below:

function motionplot3D(p,next_pos)
x1=[p(1) next_pos(1)];
x2=[p(4) next_pos(4)];
x3=[p(7) next_pos(7)];
x4=[p(10) next_pos(10)];
x5=[p(13) next_pos(13)];
y1=[p(2) next_pos(2)];
y2=[p(5) next_pos(5)];
y3=[p(8) next_pos(8)];
y4=[p(11) next_pos(11)];
y5=[p(14) next_pos(14)];
z1=[p(3) next_pos(3)];
z2=[p(6) next_pos(6)];
z3=[p(9) next_pos(9)];
z4=[p(12) next_pos(12)];
z5=[p(15) next_pos(15)];

totaltime = seconds(0.3);
steptime = totaltime/length(x1);
figure;
for ii = 1:length(x1)-1
    npoints = 200;
    pointsx1 = linspace(x1(ii),x1(ii+1),npoints);
    pointsy1 = linspace(y1(ii),y1(ii+1),npoints);
    pointsz1 = linspace(z1(ii),z1(ii+1),npoints);
    pointsx2 = linspace(x2(ii),x2(ii+1),npoints);
    pointsy2 = linspace(y2(ii),y2(ii+1),npoints);
    pointsz2 = linspace(z2(ii),z2(ii+1),npoints);
    pointsx3 = linspace(x3(ii),x3(ii+1),npoints);
    pointsy3 = linspace(y3(ii),y3(ii+1),npoints);
    pointsz3 = linspace(z3(ii),z3(ii+1),npoints);
    pointsx4 = linspace(x4(ii),x4(ii+1),npoints);
    pointsy4 = linspace(y4(ii),y4(ii+1),npoints);
    pointsz4 = linspace(z4(ii),z4(ii+1),npoints);
    pointsx5 = linspace(x5(ii),x5(ii+1),npoints);
    pointsy5 = linspace(y5(ii),y5(ii+1),npoints);
    pointsz5 = linspace(z5(ii),z5(ii+1),npoints);
    pointsx6 = linspace(x6(ii),x6(ii+1),npoints);
    pointsy6 = linspace(y6(ii),y6(ii+1),npoints);
    pointsz6 = linspace(z6(ii),z6(ii+1),npoints);
    pointsx7 = linspace(x7(ii),x7(ii+1),npoints);
    pointsy7 = linspace(y7(ii),y7(ii+1),npoints);
    pointsz7 = linspace(z7(ii),z7(ii+1),npoints);
    pointsx8 = linspace(x8(ii),x8(ii+1),npoints);
    pointsy8 = linspace(y8(ii),y8(ii+1),npoints);
    pointsz8 = linspace(z8(ii),z8(ii+1),npoints);
    pointsx9 = linspace(x9(ii),x9(ii+1),npoints);
    pointsy9 = linspace(y9(ii),y9(ii+1),npoints);
    pointsz9 = linspace(z9(ii),z9(ii+1),npoints);

    for jj = 1:npoints
        pause(seconds(steptime)/npoints);

         plot3([pointsx1(jj),pointsx1(jj)],[pointsy1(jj),pointsy1(jj)],[pointsz1(jj),pointsz1(jj)],'-*',[pointsx2(jj),pointsx2(jj)],[pointsy2(jj),pointsy2(jj)],[pointsz2(jj),pointsz2(jj)],'-o',...
               [pointsx3(jj),pointsx3(jj)],[pointsy3(jj),pointsy3(jj)],[pointsz3(jj),pointsz3(jj)],'-o',...
               [pointsx4(jj),pointsx4(jj)],[pointsy4(jj),pointsy4(jj)],[pointsz4(jj),pointsz4(jj)],'-o',...
               [pointsx5(jj),pointsx5(jj)],[pointsy5(jj),pointsy5(jj)],[pointsz5(jj),pointsz5(jj)],'-o',...
               [pointsx6(jj),pointsx6(jj)],[pointsy6(jj),pointsy6(jj)],[pointsz6(jj),pointsz6(jj)],'-o',...
               [pointsx7(jj),pointsx7(jj)],[pointsy7(jj),pointsy7(jj)],[pointsz7(jj),pointsz7(jj)],'-o',...
               [pointsx8(jj),pointsx8(jj)],[pointsy8(jj),pointsy8(jj)],[pointsz8(jj),pointsz8(jj)],'-o',...
               [pointsx9(jj),pointsx9(jj)],[pointsy9(jj),pointsy9(jj)],[pointsz9(jj),pointsz9(jj)],'-o');
               


  
                    xlim([-5 30]);
                    ylim([-5 30]);
                    zlim([-5 30]);
                    grid on
                    xlabel('X Axis'), ylabel('Y Axis') , zlabel('Z Axis');

    end
end

In this function I want to show motion plot of 5 points moving from a point to the next point. p , next_pos are 15*1 vectors that show coordinates of 5 points in 3D space. p is start and next_pos is next.

Now I want to add another item. I want to draw some lines between each pair of points to show moving path. For better understanding see below:

Up picture is a current shot of my motion plot and down picture is my desired. Please help me how to do this.

Thank you!

Answer 1

[Aditya Singh]

Hi Sina,

I understand you want to add line between points in the motion plot.

You can do it by plotting a line between the desired points in the for loop itself. You can refer to the below code

   x1 = [p(1) next_pos(1)];
    x2 = [p(4) next_pos(4)];
    x3 = [p(7) next_pos(7)];
    x4 = [p(10) next_pos(10)];
    x5 = [p(13) next_pos(13)];
    y1 = [p(2) next_pos(2)];
    y2 = [p(5) next_pos(5)];
    y3 = [p(8) next_pos(8)];
    y4 = [p(11) next_pos(11)];
    y5 = [p(14) next_pos(14)];
    z1 = [p(3) next_pos(3)];
    z2 = [p(6) next_pos(6)];
    z3 = [p(9) next_pos(9)];
    z4 = [p(12) next_pos(12)];
    z5 = [p(15) next_pos(15)];
    
    totaltime = seconds(0.3);
    steptime = totaltime / length(x1);
    
    figure;
    hold on;  % Add this line to enable plotting lines between points
    for ii = 1:length(x1)-1
        npoints = 200;
        pointsx1 = linspace(x1(ii), x1(ii+1), npoints);
        pointsy1 = linspace(y1(ii), y1(ii+1), npoints);
        pointsz1 = linspace(z1(ii), z1(ii+1), npoints);
        pointsx2 = linspace(x2(ii), x2(ii+1), npoints);
        pointsy2 = linspace(y2(ii), y2(ii+1), npoints);
        pointsz2 = linspace(z2(ii), z2(ii+1), npoints);
        pointsx3 = linspace(x3(ii), x3(ii+1), npoints);
        pointsy3 = linspace(y3(ii), y3(ii+1), npoints);
        pointsz3 = linspace(z3(ii), z3(ii+1), npoints);
        pointsx4 = linspace(x4(ii), x4(ii+1), npoints);
        pointsy4 = linspace(y4(ii), y4(ii+1), npoints);
        pointsz4 = linspace(z4(ii), z4(ii+1), npoints);
        pointsx5 = linspace(x5(ii), x5(ii+1), npoints);
        pointsy5 = linspace(y5(ii), y5(ii+1), npoints);
        pointsz5 = linspace(z5(ii), z5(ii+1), npoints);
        
        for jj = 1:npoints
            pause(seconds(steptime) / npoints);
            plot3([pointsx1(jj), pointsx1(jj)], [pointsy1(jj), pointsy1(jj)], [pointsz1(jj), pointsz1(jj)], '-*',...
                  [pointsx2(jj), pointsx2(jj)], [pointsy2(jj), pointsy2(jj)], [pointsz2(jj), pointsz2(jj)], '-o',...
                  [pointsx3(jj), pointsx3(jj)], [pointsy3(jj), pointsy3(jj)], [pointsz3(jj), pointsz3(jj)], '-o',...
                  [pointsx4(jj), pointsx4(jj)], [pointsy4(jj), pointsy4(jj)], [pointsz4(jj), pointsz4(jj)], '-o',...
                  [pointsx5(jj), pointsx5(jj)], [pointsy5(jj), pointsy5(jj)], [pointsz5(jj), pointsz5(jj)], '-o');
            
            % Add lines between points
            line([pointsx1(jj), pointsx2(jj)], [pointsy1(jj), pointsy2(jj)], [pointsz1(jj), pointsz2(jj)]);
            line([pointsx2(jj), pointsx3(jj)], [pointsy2(jj), pointsy3(jj)], [pointsz2(jj), pointsz3(jj)]);
            line([pointsx3(jj), pointsx4(jj)], [pointsy3(jj), pointsy4(jj)], [pointsz3(jj), pointsz4(jj)]);
            line([pointsx4(jj), pointsx5(jj)], [pointsy4(jj), pointsy5(jj)], [pointsz4(jj), pointsz5(jj)]);
            
            xlim([-5 30]);
            ylim([-5 30]);
            zlim([-5 30]);
            grid on;
            xlabel('X Axis');
            ylabel('Y Axis');
            zlabel('Z Axis');
        end
    end

For more information, please refer to

Create animated line - MATLAB animatedline - MathWorks India

A moving point plot in MATLAB figure with animation. - MATLAB Answers - MATLAB Central (mathworks.com)

Hope it helps!