Designing Effective Graphics Using MATLAB The Cain Project in Engineering and Professional Communication Linda Driskill, Gang Cheng,

2 The Purpose of Using Graphs In problem solving As part of design As analysis of operating data For persuasion and interpretation Dramatize relationships Promote identification Make complex information accessible

3 Checklist for Good Graphics Purpose clear? Critical components defined? Pattern and arrangement lead eye without distraction? Graphic hierarchy consistent? Fonts legible? Presenter’s expertise shown?

4 Types of Graph in Matlab Line graph 2D 3D Bar graph Pie graph Ribbon graph

5 Considerations Purpose Problem solving? Persuasion and interpretation? Audience What are their background? What are they interested to know? Context Presentation? Report/Paper?

6 Context Presentation Big fonts Can use any color Can use animation Report Smaller fonts Often just black and white Animation impossible

7 An Example You have: Vector 1: x[0:0.2:10]; Vector 2: sin(x); Vector 3: cos(x); You are asked to: Plot sin(x) vs. x and cos(x) vs. x in the same figure; Customize the figure so that it becomes suitable for being used in a presentation. Customize the figure so that it becomes suitable for being used in a report/paper.

8 A Simple Matlab Program %start clear all;%clear the memory X=[0:0.2:10];%define the x vector sinx=sin(x);%calculate sin(x) cosx=cos(x);%calculate sin(x) plot(x,sinx,x,cosx);%plot the lines xlabel('x');%add x label ylabel('y');%add y label title([‘sin and cos Functions']);%add title %end

9 Default Figure Given by Matlab

10 We Want … Titles and labels bigger. Lines thicker. Colors more contrasting. Insert Legend. Data points shown. Try adding gridlines.

11 Anatomy of a Matlab Figure title Y labelX labelTick and tick label lines Axes

12 Open the Property Editor Figure Properties

13 Edit Figure Properties FigureImmediate apply

14 Edit Axes Properties axes

15 Edit Line Properties line

16 A Better-Looking Figure

17 Insert Legend legend

18 Legend Inserted Select object

19 Make Room for Legend

20 Edit Legend Properties legend

21 Insert Y Grid Line axesGrid Show

22 Final

23 Figure for Report/Paper

24 Frequently Used Functions “plot” “xlabel”, “ylabel” “title” “xlim”, “ylim” “axis” “legend” “errorbar” Type “help function name” in Matlab command window for detailed information on the usage of the function.

25 Other 2D Plotting Functions “loglog”: graph with logarithmic scales for both axes. “semilogx”: graph with a logarithmic scale for x-axis and a linear scale for y-axis. “semilogy”: graph with a logarithmic scale for y-axis and a linear scale for x-axis. “plotyy”: graph with y-tick labels on the left and right side.

26 A Whole Lot More … 2D contour “contour” “contourslice” 3D plots “plot3” “mesh” “surf” Movie “getframe” “movie”

27 Sample Movie A Bioartificial Tissue Seeded with Cells Z = 40 Z = 1 A movie created with mesh, getframe and movie