View angle control in MATLAB - Mini Project: Build & Apply

View angle control

📖 Scenario: You are working with 3D plots in MATLAB. Sometimes the default view angle makes it hard to see the shape clearly. You want to control the view angle to see the plot from different directions.

🎯 Goal: Create a simple 3D plot and change its view angle using MATLAB commands.

📋 What You'll Learn

Create a 3D plot using peaks data

Set a variable for the azimuth angle

Use the view function with the azimuth and elevation angles

Display the plot with the new view angle

💡 Why This Matters

🌍 Real World

Scientists and engineers often need to look at 3D data from different angles to understand shapes and patterns better.

💼 Career

Knowing how to control plot views is useful in data analysis, visualization, and presentations in many technical jobs.

1

DATA SETUP: Create 3D plot data

Create a variable called Z by calling peaks(30). Then create a 3D surface plot using surf(Z).

MATLAB

% Create variable Z with peaks data and plot it
% Your code here

Need a hint?

The peaks function creates a nice 3D surface data. Use surf to plot it.

2

CONFIGURATION: Set azimuth angle variable

Create a variable called az and set it to 45 to represent the azimuth angle in degrees.

MATLAB

Z = peaks(30);
surf(Z);
% Create azimuth angle variable az and set it to 45
% Your code here

Need a hint?

The azimuth angle controls the horizontal rotation of the view.

3

CORE LOGIC: Apply view angle control

Use the view function with the azimuth angle az and elevation angle 30 to change the plot view.

MATLAB

Z = peaks(30);
surf(Z);
az = 45;
% Set the view angle using azimuth az and elevation 30
% Your code here

Need a hint?

The view function takes two arguments: azimuth and elevation angles in degrees.

4

OUTPUT: Display the plot with new view angle

Run the code to display the 3D plot with the view angle set by view(az, 30). The plot window should show the surface from the new angle.

MATLAB

Z = peaks(30);
surf(Z);
az = 45;
view(az, 30);
% Run to display the plot

Need a hint?

Running this code will open a figure window showing the 3D surface from the specified angle.