rotate

Rotate object about specified origin and direction

Syntax

rotate(h,direction,angle)

rotate(h,direction,angle,origin)

Description

Note

hgtransform is recommended over rotate because it provides better performance. Consider using hgtransform unless you need to specify the origin of the axis of rotation.

rotate(h,direction,angle) rotates the graphics object h in the specified direction by the specified number of degrees. rotate modifies the data of the graphics object, including the values of the Xdata, Ydata, and Zdata properties. This behavior is different from that of view and rotate3d, which modify only the viewpoint.

rotate(h,direction,angle,origin) specifies the origin of the axis of rotation. The default origin of the axis of rotation is the center of the plot box. This point is not necessarily the origin of the axes.

Examples

Rotate Plot Around x-Axis

Create a surface plot of the peaks function and return the surface object.

s = surf(peaks(20));
xlabel("x-axis")
ylabel("y-axis")
zlabel("z-axis")
axis([0 20 0 20 -10 10])

Rotate the surface plot 25 degrees clockwise around its x-axis.

direction = [1 0 0];
rotate(s,direction,25)

Rotate Plot Around x-Axis and y-Axis

Create a surface plot of the peaks function and return the surface object.

s = surf(peaks(20));
xlabel("x-axis")
ylabel("y-axis")
zlabel("z-axis")
axis([0 20 0 20 -10 10])

Rotate the surface plot 25 degrees clockwise around its x-axis and y-axis.

direction = [1 1 0];
rotate(s,direction,25)

Rotate Plot Around Specified Origin

Create a surface plot of the peaks function and return the surface object.

s = surf(peaks(20));
xlabel("x-axis")
ylabel("y-axis")
zlabel("z-axis")
axis([0 20 0 20 -10 10])

Rotate the surface plot 30 degrees counterclockwise around its y-axis, and set the origin of rotation to (20, 10, 0).

s = surf(peaks(20));
xlabel("x-axis")
ylabel("y-axis")
zlabel("z-axis")
axis([0 20 0 20 -10 10])

direction = [0 -1 0];
origin = [20 10 0];
rotate(s,direction,30,origin)

Input Arguments

h — Graphics object

single object | vector of objects

Graphics object, specified as a single object or a vector of objects of one of these types:

• Surface object

• Patch object

• Line object

• Text object

If h is a vector of objects, all objects must be children of the same axes.

Note

Image objects do not support 3-D data. Therefore, any rotation of an image out of the xy-plane is not supported.

direction — Direction of axis of rotation

two-element vector of spherical coordinates | three-element vector of Cartesian coordinates

Direction of the axis of rotation, specified as a two-element vector of spherical coordinates ([theta phi]) or a three-element vector of Cartesian coordinates ([x y z]). Specify theta and phi in degrees.

For more information about specifying direction, see Axis of Rotation.

Example: rotate(h,[1 0 0],25) rotates the specified object clockwise around the x-axis.

Example: rotate(h,[90 0],25) rotates the specified object clockwise around the y-axis.

angle — Angle of rotation

scalar value in degrees

Angle of rotation, specified as a scalar value in degrees.

Example: rotate(h,[1 0 0],25) rotates the specified object 25 degrees clockwise around the x-axis.

origin — Origin of axis of rotation

three-element vector of Cartesian coordinates

Origin of the axis of rotation, specified as a three-element vector of Cartesian coordinates [x y z].

The default origin of the axis of rotation is the center of the plot box. This point is not necessarily the origin of the axes.

More About

Axis of Rotation

The axis of rotation is defined by an origin of rotation and a direction vector or point P. For the rotate function, use the direction input argument to specify P as the spherical coordinates [theta phi] or as the Cartesian coordinates [x y z].

In the two-element form for direction, theta is the angle in the xy-plane counterclockwise from the positive x-axis. phi is the elevation of the direction vector from the xy-plane.

The three-element form for direction specifies the Cartesian coordinates of point P. The axis of rotation follows the direction vector from the origin of rotation to P.

Version History

Introduced before R2006a