Create animated line
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Syntax
an = animatedline
an = animatedline(x,y)
an = animatedline(x,y,z)
an = animatedline(___,Name,Value)
an = animatedline(ax,___)
Description
an = animatedline creates an animated line that has no data and adds it to the current axes. Create an animation by adding points to the line in a loop using the addpoints function.
example
an = animatedline(x,y) creates an animated line with initial data points defined by x and y.
an = animatedline(x,y,z) creates an animated line with initial data points defined by x, y, and z.
example
an = animatedline(___,Name,Value) specifies animated line properties using one or more name-value pair arguments. For example, 'Color','r' sets the line color to red. Use this option after any of the input argument combinations in the previous syntaxes.
an = animatedline(ax,___) creates the line in the axes specified by ax instead of in the current axes. Specify ax before all other input arguments in any of the previous syntaxes.
Examples
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Display Line Animation
Open Script
Create the initial animated line object. Then, use a loop to add 1,000 points to the line. After adding each new point, use drawnow to display the new point on the screen.
h = animatedline;axis([0,4*pi,-1,1])x = linspace(0,4*pi,1000);y = sin(x);for k = 1:length(x) addpoints(h,x(k),y(k)); drawnowend
For faster rendering, add more than one point to the line each time through the loop or use drawnow limitrate.
Query the points of the line.
[xdata,ydata] = getpoints(h);
Clear the points from the line.
clearpoints(h)drawnow
Specify Animated Line Color
Open Live Script
Set the color of the animated line to red and set its line width to 3 points.
x = [1 2];y = [1 2];h = animatedline(x,y,'Color','r','LineWidth',3);
Specify Datetime and Duration Values
Open Live Script
To plot nonnumeric points, such as datetime and duration values, start by initializing the animated line with values of the type you want to plot. You can specify either the first point in your plot or placeholder values such as NaT or NaN.
For example, plot datetime values on the x-axis and duration values (minutes) on the y-axis. Initialize the animated line with a NaT value and a minutes(NaN) value. Then create a datetime vector (x) and a duration vector (y) and add the points in those vectors to the animated line.
an = animatedline(NaT,minutes(NaN),"Marker","o");x = datetime(2018,5,1:5);y = minutes([1 7 3 11 4]);addpoints(an,x,y)
Set Maximum Number of Points
Open Script
Limit the number of points in the animated line to 100. Use a loop to add one point to the line at a time. When the line contains 100 points, adding a new point to the line deletes the oldest point.
h = animatedline('MaximumNumPoints',100);axis([0,4*pi,-1,1])x = linspace(0,4*pi,1000);y = sin(x);for k = 1:length(x) addpoints(h,x(k),y(k)); drawnowend
Add Points in Sets for Fast Animation
Open Script
Use a loop to add 100,000 points to an animated line. Since the number of points is large, adding one point to the line each time through the loop might be slow. Instead, add 100 points to the line each time through the loop for a faster animation.
h = animatedline;axis([0,4*pi,-1,1])numpoints = 100000;x = linspace(0,4*pi,numpoints);y = sin(x);for k = 1:100:numpoints-99 xvec = x(k:k+99); yvec = y(k:k+99); addpoints(h,xvec,yvec) drawnowend
Another technique for creating faster animations is to use drawnow limitrate instead of drawnow.
Use drawnow limitrate for Fast Animation
Open Script
Use a loop to add 100,000 points to an animated line. Since the number of points is large, using drawnow to display the changes might be slow. Instead, use drawnow limitrate for a faster animation.
h = animatedline;axis([0,4*pi,-1,1])numpoints = 100000;x = linspace(0,4*pi,numpoints);y = sin(x);for k = 1:numpoints addpoints(h,x(k),y(k)) drawnow limitrateend
Time Screen Updates for Efficiency
Open Script
Run through several iterations of the animation loop before drawing the updates on the screen. Use this technique when drawnow is too slow and drawnow limitrate is too fast.
For example, update the screen every 1/30 seconds. Use the tic and toc commands to keep track of how much time passes between screen updates.
h = animatedline;axis([0,4*pi,-1,1])numpoints = 10000;x = linspace(0,4*pi,numpoints);y = sin(x);a = tic; % start timerfor k = 1:numpoints addpoints(h,x(k),y(k)) b = toc(a); % check timer if b > (1/30) drawnow % update screen every 1/30 seconds a = tic; % reset timer after updating endenddrawnow % draw final frame
A smaller interval updates the screen more often and results in a slower animation. For example, use b > (1/1000) to slow down the animation.
Input Arguments
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x — Starting x-coordinate
[] (default) | scalar or vector
Starting x-coordinate, specified as a scalar or vector the same size as y.
In polar coordinates, x corresponds to the starting theta value. In geographic coordinates, x corresponds to the starting latitude in degrees.
Data Types: single | double | int8 | int16 | int32 | int64 | uint8 | uint16 | uint32 | uint64 | datetime | duration
y — Starting y-coordinate
[] (default) | scalar or vector
Starting y-coordinate, specified as a scalar or vector the same size as x.
In polar coordinates, y corresponds to the starting radius value. In geographic coordinates, y corresponds to the starting longitude in degrees.
Data Types: single | double | int8 | int16 | int32 | int64 | uint8 | uint16 | uint32 | uint64 | datetime | duration
z — Starting z-coordinate
[] (default) | scalar or vector
Starting z-coordinate, specified as a scalar or vector.
Data Types: single | double | int8 | int16 | int32 | int64 | uint8 | uint16 | uint32 | uint64 | datetime | duration
ax — Target axes
any type of axes | Group object | Transform object
Target axes, specified as any type of axes, a Group object, or a Transform object. If you do not specify this argument, then animatedline uses the current axes.
Name-Value Arguments
Specify optional pairs of arguments as Name1=Value1,...,NameN=ValueN, where Name is the argument name and Value is the corresponding value. Name-value arguments must appear after other arguments, but the order of the pairs does not matter.
Example: animatedline(x,y,Color="red",Marker="o") creates an animated line with red circular markers.
Before R2021a: use commas to separate each name and value, and enclose Name in quotes. for example, animatedline(x,y,"Color","red","Marker","o") creates an animated line with red circular markers.
The animated line properties listed here are only a subset. For a complete list, see AnimatedLine Properties.
MarkerEdgeColor — Marker outline color
'auto' (default) | RGB triplet | hexadecimal color code | 'r' | 'g' | 'b'
Marker outline color, specified as "auto", an RGB triplet, a hexadecimal color code, a color name, or a short name. The default value of "auto" uses the same color as the Color property.
For a custom color, specify an RGB triplet or a hexadecimal color code.
An RGB triplet is a three-element row vector whose elements specify the intensities of the red, green, and blue components of the color. The intensities must be in the range
[0,1], for example,[0.4 0.6 0.7].A hexadecimal color code is a string scalar or character vector that starts with a hash symbol (
#) followed by three or six hexadecimal digits, which can range from0toF. The values are not case sensitive. Therefore, the color codes"#FF8800","#ff8800","#F80", and"#f80"are equivalent.
Alternatively, you can specify some common colors by name. This table lists the named color options, the equivalent RGB triplets, and hexadecimal color codes.
| Color Name | Short Name | RGB Triplet | Hexadecimal Color Code | Appearance |
|---|---|---|---|---|
"red" | "r" | [1 0 0] | "#FF0000" |
|
"green" | "g" | [0 1 0] | "#00FF00" |
|
"blue" | "b" | [0 0 1] | "#0000FF" |
|
"cyan" | "c" | [0 1 1] | "#00FFFF" |
|
"magenta" | "m" | [1 0 1] | "#FF00FF" |
|
"yellow" | "y" | [1 1 0] | "#FFFF00" |
|
"black" | "k" | [0 0 0] | "#000000" |
|
"white" | "w" | [1 1 1] | "#FFFFFF" |
|
"none" | Not applicable | Not applicable | Not applicable | No color |
Here are the RGB triplets and hexadecimal color codes for the default colors MATLAB uses in many types of plots.
| RGB Triplet | Hexadecimal Color Code | Appearance |
|---|---|---|
[0 0.4470 0.7410] | "#0072BD" |
|
[0.8500 0.3250 0.0980] | "#D95319" |
|
[0.9290 0.6940 0.1250] | "#EDB120" |
|
[0.4940 0.1840 0.5560] | "#7E2F8E" |
|
[0.4660 0.6740 0.1880] | "#77AC30" |
|
[0.3010 0.7450 0.9330] | "#4DBEEE" |
|
[0.6350 0.0780 0.1840] | "#A2142F" |
|
MarkerFaceColor — Marker fill color
'none' (default) | 'auto' | RGB triplet | hexadecimal color code | 'r' | 'g' | 'b'
Marker fill color, specified as "auto", an RGB triplet, a hexadecimal color code, a color name, or a short name. The "auto" option uses the same color as the Color property of the parent axes. If you specify "auto" and the axes plot box is invisible, the marker fill color is the color of the figure.
For a custom color, specify an RGB triplet or a hexadecimal color code.
An RGB triplet is a three-element row vector whose elements specify the intensities of the red, green, and blue components of the color. The intensities must be in the range
[0,1], for example,[0.4 0.6 0.7].A hexadecimal color code is a string scalar or character vector that starts with a hash symbol (
#) followed by three or six hexadecimal digits, which can range from0toF. The values are not case sensitive. Therefore, the color codes"#FF8800","#ff8800","#F80", and"#f80"are equivalent.
Alternatively, you can specify some common colors by name. This table lists the named color options, the equivalent RGB triplets, and hexadecimal color codes.
| Color Name | Short Name | RGB Triplet | Hexadecimal Color Code | Appearance |
|---|---|---|---|---|
"red" | "r" | [1 0 0] | "#FF0000" |
|
"green" | "g" | [0 1 0] | "#00FF00" |
|
"blue" | "b" | [0 0 1] | "#0000FF" |
|
"cyan" | "c" | [0 1 1] | "#00FFFF" |
|
"magenta" | "m" | [1 0 1] | "#FF00FF" |
|
"yellow" | "y" | [1 1 0] | "#FFFF00" |
|
"black" | "k" | [0 0 0] | "#000000" |
|
"white" | "w" | [1 1 1] | "#FFFFFF" |
|
"none" | Not applicable | Not applicable | Not applicable | No color |
Here are the RGB triplets and hexadecimal color codes for the default colors MATLAB uses in many types of plots.
| RGB Triplet | Hexadecimal Color Code | Appearance |
|---|---|---|
[0 0.4470 0.7410] | "#0072BD" |
|
[0.8500 0.3250 0.0980] | "#D95319" |
|
[0.9290 0.6940 0.1250] | "#EDB120" |
|
[0.4940 0.1840 0.5560] | "#7E2F8E" |
|
[0.4660 0.6740 0.1880] | "#77AC30" |
|
[0.3010 0.7450 0.9330] | "#4DBEEE" |
|
[0.6350 0.0780 0.1840] | "#A2142F" |
|
Output Arguments
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an — AnimatedLine object
AnimatedLine object
AnimatedLine object. Use an to modify the AnimatedLine object after its been created, such as changing property values or adding points to the line. For a list of properties, see AnimatedLine Properties.
Limitations
Animated lines do not support data tips.
Extended Capabilities
GPU Arrays
Accelerate code by running on a graphics processing unit (GPU) using Parallel Computing Toolbox™.
Usage notes and limitations:
This function accepts GPU arrays, but does not run on a GPU.
For more information, see Run MATLAB Functions on a GPU (Parallel Computing Toolbox).
Distributed Arrays
Partition large arrays across the combined memory of your cluster using Parallel Computing Toolbox™.
Usage notes and limitations:
This function operates on distributed arrays, but executes in the client MATLAB.
For more information, see Run MATLAB Functions with Distributed Arrays (Parallel Computing Toolbox).
Version History
Introduced in R2014b
expand all
R2023a: Specify single, double, integer, datetime, or duration coordinates
Create animated lines using single, double, integer, datetime, or duration data for the x-, y-, and z-coordinates.
See Also
Functions
- addpoints | clearpoints | getpoints
Properties
- AnimatedLine Properties
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