When zooming, 3D plotted data exceeds uipanel extent despite axes being clipped

I'm working with a GUI which has a number of uicontrols as well as a set of axes. I would like the user to be able to zoom in on data plotted in the axes without the axes filling up the entire GUI.

To accomplish this, I've placed the axes inside a uipanel. This seems to work for the empty axes, as the axes do not exceed the bounds of the panel, even when zoomed.

However, this does not seem to work for data plotted in the axes. While the axes plot area is confined or clipped to the uipanel area, the data exceeds the bounds and overfills the GUI when the zoom feature is used.

The below code reproduces my problem. After the first seven lines, the axes still remain confined. After running the eighth line, zooming in and out on the plotted data shows the problem.

f = figure;
p = uipanel('Position',[0.1 0.1 0.8 0.8],...
    'Clipping','on');
a = axes('Parent',p,...
    'Position',[0.2 0.2 0.6 0.6]);
plot3(1,1,1)
cla
points = [1 1 4 4 1; 0.5 0.5 -0.5 -0.5 0.5; 1 3 3 1 1];
plot3(points(1,:),points(2,:),points(3,:),'r');

Here are two images, one set to default zoom and one zoomed in enough to show the problem:

[Evan]

Note: I just uploaded images that show the problem I'm experiencing. While this problem is not pressing, I am curious as to whether this is not resolvable or simply a product of my poor handle on the hierarchy for figures, axes and the data plotted on them. So, despite the belated nature of this update, any expertise that could be lent would be met with appreciation!

[Silvia]

Hi Evan,

I have the same problem you are telling us. Did you solve it? How did you solve it? clipping is not working. Thank you very much.

[Evan]

Hi Silvia. Unfortunately, I was not able to find a way to solve this problem. Sorry for the late response.

Answer 1

[Evan]

While I'm able to replicate this in previous MATLAB versions R2012a, R2012b, R2014a as well as some releases prior to 2011, this clipping problem does not occur under the new graphics system in MATLAB R2014b. I'm marking this complete for this reason.

Answer 2

[Jan]

As usual for such bugs, it is required to know the Matlab version you are using. Perhaps you are talking about the documented bug 223595:

 Text clipping does not work when the axes is on a uipanel using Painters renderer.

But you graphics are not text. But try the workarounds (other renderers) in spite of this.

You find a lot of clipping problems for uipanel, when you ask your favorite internet search engine. Notice that the clipping of the line object might be controlled by the 'Clipping' property of the line object, although it would be more intuitive if this property is inherited from the parent axes. So what happens for:

plot3(points(1,:),points(2,:),points(3,:),'r', 'Clipping', 'on');

But I do not expect this to work, because the documentation states, that the default value is 'on' already.

[Bineet_Mehra]

I have the same problem. For one 3D figure, setting axis limits does not work. any suggestion ? Thanks ;;; Using old verison R2010b

Answer 3

[Walter Roberson]

set the 'Clipping' property of the uipanel itself.

[Evan]

It appears that the setting of the clipping property isn't affecting the behavior of the panel (sorry, I should have mentioned this in the question). I tried it out in my example code, but neither explicitly setting the property to 'on' during creation of the uipanel or setting the property to 'on' after plotting the data resolves the issue.

[Evan]

And, again, the problem isn't the axes. It's the data plotted on the axes.

Answer 4

[B Hiriyur]

Apparently axes are by default, big brothers to panels as they are higher up in the stack order. I use the following piece of code after plotting 3D data to manually force a panel to be the older child of the parent figure.

    % Reset Stack order
    hp = get(gca,'Parent');
    hc = get(hp,'Children');
    if length(hc)==2
        if strcmpi(get(hc(1),'type'),'axes') && strcmpi(get(hc(2),'type'),'uipanel')
            set(hp,'Children',[hc(2);hc(1)]);
        end
    end

This forces the axes to be hidden behind the panel when zooming.

[Evan]

While this code does do what you described (hide the axes behind the panel), it doesn't confine the axes when zooming. Instead, the axes remain hidden so long as they do not exceed the size of the panel (as they are "underneath" it). Once you zoom enough, however, the outer edges become visible, as they exceed the size of the panel. So, basically, this seems to do the reverse of what is needed.

Thanks for the tip about the stack order, though! I'll try to play around with it given that knowledge and hopefully figure something out.

[Evan]

And just to clarify: my problem doesn't seem to be the axes themselves not being clipped. It's the data within the axes. My example code, provided above, demonstrates this.