Multiple x axis labels and ranges

Hello everyone,

I would like to make a plot of 3 arrays of data into one figure. The y axis shows the depth in cm and the x axis should show the thickness of the layers, the density of the layers and the particle size of the layers. The particle size ranges from 0 to 31, the density from 1 to 1.4 and the thickness of the layers from 0 to 3. I would like to show the labels of every different data type with different colours. Also they should be same width. The plot that I have now causes the density to almost be a straight verticle line.

Depth_SW_N_LLM=0:0.1:8.2;
Depth_SW_N_LLM=Depth_SW_N_LLM';

TL_SW_N_LLM=zeros(83,1);          %Thickness Layers
TL_SW_N_LLM(1:21,1)=2;
TL_SW_N_LLM(22:27,1)=0.6;
TL_SW_N_LLM(28:41,1)=1.4;
TL_SW_N_LLM(42:54,1)=1.3;
TL_SW_N_LLM(54:83,1)=2.9;

D_SW_N_LLM=zeros(83,1);          %Density Layers
D_SW_N_LLM(1:21,1)=1;
D_SW_N_LLM(22:27,1)=1.0466;
D_SW_N_LLM(28:41,1)=1.0498;
D_SW_N_LLM(42:54,1)=1.2659;
D_SW_N_LLM(54:83,1)=1.34269;

PS_SW_N_LLM=zeros(83,1);          %PS Layers
PS_SW_N_LLM(1:21,1)=0;
PS_SW_N_LLM(22:27,1)=16.755;
PS_SW_N_LLM(28:41,1)=17.276;
PS_SW_N_LLM(42:54,1)=35.87;
PS_SW_N_LLM(54:83,1)=30.897;



SW_N_L_Matrix=[Depth_SW_N_LLM,TL_SW_N_LLM,D_SW_N_LLM,PS_SW_N_LLM];

figure
plot(SW_N_L_Matrix(:,2),SW_N_L_Matrix(:,1))
set(gca, 'YDir','reverse')
set(gca, 'XAxisLocation', 'top')
hold on
plot(SW_N_L_Matrix(:,3),SW_N_L_Matrix(:,1))
hold on
plot(SW_N_L_Matrix(:,4),SW_N_L_Matrix(:,1))
set(gca, 'XTIck', [0:5:30])
grid on

Could anyone please help me to make a nice plot out of this?

Answer 1

[Adam Danz]

This is a bit hacky but achieves what you're describing.

First I normalize all of your x-coordinates to values between 0:1.

Then I create the x-tick labels. You can reformat them as needed (number of decimals, etc). I also included a final label that explains what each row of values mean.

The data is then plotted in normalized coordinates along the x axis so the min and max values range from 0:1. The x tick labels must be rotated so they don't overlap.

% Normalize all x values (columns 2:4)
SW_N_L_Matrix_norm = (SW_N_L_Matrix(:,2:4) - min(SW_N_L_Matrix(:,2:4),[],1)) ./ range(SW_N_L_Matrix(:,2:4), 1); 

% Create x-tick labels
nTicks = 6; %number of ticks
ticVals = [ linspace(min(SW_N_L_Matrix(:,2)), max(SW_N_L_Matrix(:,2)), nTicks); 
            linspace(min(SW_N_L_Matrix(:,3)), max(SW_N_L_Matrix(:,3)), nTicks); 
            linspace(min(SW_N_L_Matrix(:,4)), max(SW_N_L_Matrix(:,4)), nTicks); 
            ]; 
% ticStr = strsplit(sprintf('%.2f\n%.2f\n%.2f|', ticVals(:)),'|');
ticStr = strsplit(sprintf('%.1f__%.2f__%.1f|', ticVals(:)),'|');
ticStr(end) = {'Thk__Dens__PSz'}; %x tick 'legend'

% Create the plot
figure
plot(SW_N_L_Matrix_norm(:,1),SW_N_L_Matrix(:,1))
set(gca, 'YDir','reverse')
set(gca, 'XAxisLocation', 'top')
hold on
plot(SW_N_L_Matrix_norm(:,2),SW_N_L_Matrix(:,1))
plot(SW_N_L_Matrix_norm(:,3),SW_N_L_Matrix(:,1))

% Set the x tick labels
xlim([0,1.05])
set(gca, 'XTick', [linspace(0,1,nTicks), 1.05], 'XTickLabel', ticStr, 'XTickLabelRotation', 90)

grid on

[Lodewijk Pleij]

Thank you adam, this helped a lot. Could you explain me how I can make the range for thickness start from 0?

[Adam Danz]

I normalized all of your x-values using this method:

dataNorm = (data - min(data)) ./ range(data);

If you want your normalization to start at 0 rather than the minimum value, then do this:

dataNorm2 = data ./ max(data);

But then you have the change the labels too

 linspace(min(SW_N_L_Matrix(:,3)), max(SW_N_L_Matrix(:,3)), nTicks); %from this
 linspace(0, max(SW_N_L_Matrix(:,3)), nTicks); %to this