Graphics

Feather Plots

The feather function shows vectors emanating from a straight line parallel to the x-axis. For example, create a vector of angles from 90° to 0° and a vector the same size, with each element equal to 1.

• theta = 90:-10:0;
  r = ones(size(theta));
  

Before creating a feather plot, transform the data into Cartesian coordinates and increase the magnitude of r to make the arrows more distinctive.

• [u,v] = pol2cart(theta*pi/180,r*10);
  feather(u,v)
  axis equal 
  
   
  

Plotting Complex Numbers

If the input argument, Z, is a matrix of complex numbers, feather interprets the real parts of Z as the x components of the vectors and the imaginary parts as the y components of the vectors.

• t = 0:0.5:10;    % Time limits
  s = 0.05+i;      % Spiral rate
  Z = exp(-s*t);  % Compute decaying exponential
  feather(Z)
  
  
  

Printing the Graph

This particular graph looks better if you change the figure's aspect ratio by stretching the figure lengthwise using the mouse. However, to maintain this shape in the printed output, set the figure's PaperPositionMode to auto.

• set(gcf,'PaperPositionMode','auto')
  

In this mode, MATLAB prints the figure as it appears on screen.

Compass Plots

Two-Dimensional Quiver Plots