3-D Visualization

Defining the View

View Definition Topics

The view is the particular orientation you select to display your graph or graphical scene. The term viewing refers to the process of displaying a graphical scene from various directions, zooming in or out, changing the perspective and aspect ratio, flying by, and so on.

This section describes how to define the various viewing parameters to obtain the view you want. Generally, viewing is applied to 3-D graphs or models, although you may want to adjust the aspect ratio of 2-D views to achieve specific proportions or make a graph fit in a particular shape.

MATLAB viewing is composed of two basic areas:

Positioning the viewpoint to orient the scene

Setting the aspect ratio and relative axis scaling to control the shape of the objects being displayed

Positioning the Viewpoint

Setting the Viewpoint - discusses how to specify the point from which you view a graph in terms of azimuth and elevation. This is conceptually simple, but does have limitations.

Defining Scenes with Camera Graphics, View Control with the Camera Toolbar, and Camera Graphics Functions - describes how to compose complex scenes using MATLAB's camera viewing model.

Dollying the Camera and Moving the Camera Through a Scene - illustrate programming techniques for moving the view around and through scenes.

Low-Level Camera Properties - lists the graphics properties that control the camera and illustrates the effects they cause.

Setting the Aspect Ratio

View Projection Types - discusses orthographic and perspective projection types and illustrates their use.

Understanding Axes Aspect Ratio and Axes Aspect Ratio Properties - describes how MATLAB sets the aspect ratio of the axes and how you can select the most appropriate setting for your graphs.

MATLAB automatically sets the view when you create a graph. The actual view that MATLAB selects depends on whether you are creating a 2- or 3-D graph. See the "Default Viewpoint Selection" and "Default Aspect Ratio Selection" sections in this chapter for a description of how MATLAB defines the standard view.

Texture Mapping Setting the Viewpoint