{
"title": "view",
"category": "plotting",
"keywords": [
"view",
"3-D camera",
"azimuth elevation",
"matlab view",
"rotate 3-D plot"
],
"summary": "Control 3-D camera angles for surfaces and spatial plots using azimuth/elevation views and MATLAB `view` semantics.",
"requires_feature": null,
"tested": {
"unit": "builtins::plotting::view::tests"
},
"description": "`view` reads or updates the camera orientation for the current axes or an explicit axes handle. In RunMat it stores subplot-local azimuth and elevation state, supports MATLAB `view(2)`, `view(3)`, `view([az el])`, and `view(az, el)` call forms, and integrates with the same handle/property system used by `get` and `set`.",
"behaviors": [
"`view` with no angle arguments queries the current `[az el]` pair.",
"`view(2)` selects the standard top-down 2-D camera and `view(3)` restores the standard 3-D camera preset.",
"Explicit azimuth/elevation values can be passed as two scalars or as a two-element vector.",
"View state is subplot-local and does not leak across different axes in a subplot grid.",
"Axes handles can be passed explicitly so camera changes target a specific subplot rather than whichever axes happens to be current."
],
"examples": [
{
"description": "Set an explicit 3-D camera angle",
"input": "[X, Y] = meshgrid(linspace(-2, 2, 60), linspace(-2, 2, 60));\nZ = sin(X.^2 + Y.^2);\nsurf(X, Y, Z);\nview(45, 30);"
},
{
"description": "Use MATLAB-style view presets",
"input": "[X, Y] = meshgrid(linspace(-3, 3, 40), linspace(-3, 3, 40));\nZ = sin(X) .* cos(Y);\nsurf(X, Y, Z);\nview(2);\nview(3);"
},
{
"description": "Query a subplot-local camera",
"input": "ax = subplot(1, 2, 2);\nplot3(cos(0:0.1:5), sin(0:0.1:5), 0:0.1:5);\nview(ax, [60 20]);\nget(ax, 'View')",
"output": "% Returns a 1x2 vector [60 20]"
}
],
"faqs": [
{
"question": "What do azimuth and elevation mean in view(az, el)?",
"answer": "Azimuth is the horizontal rotation around the z-axis (0° looks along the y-axis toward the origin). Elevation is the angle above the x-y plane (0° is level, 90° is directly overhead). `view(45, 30)` gives the classic isometric-ish perspective for 3-D surfaces."
},
{
"question": "How do I reset to the default 2-D or 3-D view?",
"answer": "`view(2)` sets the camera to top-down (azimuth 0, elevation 90) — useful for looking at a surface as a heatmap. `view(3)` restores the default 3-D camera at `[-37.5, 30]`, which is the standard MATLAB 3-D preset."
},
{
"question": "Can I set different view angles per subplot?",
"answer": "Yes. View state is subplot-local. Pass the axes handle explicitly to target a specific panel.\n\n```matlab\nax1 = subplot(1, 2, 1); surf(X, Y, Z); view(ax1, 0, 90);\nax2 = subplot(1, 2, 2); surf(X, Y, Z); view(ax2, 45, 30);\n```"
}
],
"links": [
{
"label": "plot3",
"url": "./plot3"
},
{
"label": "scatter3",
"url": "./scatter3"
},
{
"label": "surf",
"url": "./surf"
},
{
"label": "zlabel",
"url": "./zlabel"
},
{
"label": "get",
"url": "./get"
},
{
"label": "set",
"url": "./set"
},
{
"label": "Choosing the right plot type",
"url": "/docs/plotting/choosing-the-right-plot-type"
},
{
"label": "Styling plots and axes",
"url": "/docs/plotting/styling-plots-and-axes"
},
{
"label": "Plot replay and export",
"url": "/docs/plotting/plot-replay-and-export"
},
{
"label": "Complete plotting guide",
"url": "/blog/matlab-plotting-guide"
}
],
"source": {
"label": "`crates/runmat-runtime/src/builtins/plotting/ops/view.rs`",
"url": "https://github.com/runmat-org/runmat/blob/main/crates/runmat-runtime/src/builtins/plotting/ops/view.rs"
}
}