rotate a 3D plot and keep it the same size

I'm creating a GIF from a series of 3D plots, each one rotated from the previous by changing the viewpoint. Here is a snippet that does the frame generation:

for az=0:5:355
    view([az,el]);
    drawnow;
    frame = getframe(gcf);
    im = frame2im(frame);
    [imind,cm] = rgb2ind(im,256);
    imwrite(imind,cm,filename,'WriteMode','append','DelayTime',dt);
end

The problem I'm having is that each frame is magnified to fill the figure window, causing the plot to change size as it rotates. Here is a link to the GIF (it is also attached).

What view settings must I change to keep the 3D surface the same apparent size as I rotate it?

[Krisztian Szucher]

With the gca command, you can get a handle for the current axes

 k = gca

now you can use

 inspect(k)

to see what settings are available. I'd suggest experimenting with the CameraViewAngle/Mode and PlotBoxAspect/Ratio properties from the inspector, to see if changing them result in the desired outcome.

Once you've figured out, you can use dot notation to set those parameters from code, e.g.

 k.CameraViewAngleMode = 'manual'

[Scott]

Yes, I've done that, but there are so many viewing parameters I don't know where to begin. I was hoping someone else had gone down this path and would know which ones I need to adjust. The "view" command bypasses having to deal with all the individual camera parameters. I was hoping there would be an easy way to prevent the automatic scaling of the plot to fill the figure window, instead of having to dive into all the nitty-gritty settings.

[Michael Krumin]

Hi,

The relevant axis properties are: 'CameraTarget', 'CameraPosition', 'CameraViewAngle', and 'CameraViewAngleMode'.

If you change the 'viewing orientation' of the 3D plot using view(az, el), then the distance of the camera from your 3D object doesn't change, and you only need to set 'CameraViewAngle' to control the 'zoom'. After you set it once, then the 'CameraViewAngleMode' becomes 'manual', and the 'CameraViewAngle' doesn't change on every call to view(az, el), so no need to reset it for every frame.

[Juan Diez Albar]

This piece of advice worked for me. Thank you soooooo much, Sir.

Answer 1

[Xiaofan Fei]

axis vis3d

[Ron Schmitt]

Thank you!

This issue has irritated me for years!

[Mango Wang]

Cool!!!

[Joseph]

Did not work for me. I'm trying to fix the exact same issue as in the OP's gif but nothing seems to help. Very frustrating that this is the default behavior.

[Joseph]

Just figured it out after an hour of searching. Misunderstood what CameraViewAngle was and had it set to 0. After setting to 15 and manual it now works.

Answer 2

[KSSV]

Read about axis, with this you can limit the axis. Also read about xlim, ylim and zlim with these you can set the limits of specific axes.

[Scott]

I've tried setting XLim, YLim and ZLim. That doesn't solve the problem. Take a look at the example GIF I attached and you'll see the limits don't change as the figure is rotated. What does change is the magnification of the plot to fill the figure window. Thanks for the suggestion, though.

[KSSV]

Try converting your az and el to Cartesian using pol2cart and specify viewpoint by view([x y z]). With z as your desired value.