How can I generate a plane to use with the SLICE command which is appropriately sized in MATLAB 7.8 (R2009a)?

I am using the SLICE command to slice my data with a plane at a particular angle. I create a plane and then rotate it (with the ROTATE command) appropriately. However, the resulting plane is too small and I cannot see the volumetric data on the slice.

[x,y,z] = meshgrid(0:0.05:4.5 ,0:0.1:2.3,1:1:3000);

v = x.*exp(-x.^2-y.^2-z/100.^2);

xmin = min(x(:)); ymin = min(y(:));

xmax = max(x(:)); ymax = max(y(:));

hslice = surf(linspace(xmin,xmax,100),...

      linspace(ymin,ymax,100),...

      zeros(100));

rotate(hslice,[1,0,0],90)

rotate(hslice,[0,0,1],45)

xd = get(hslice,'XData');

yd = get(hslice,'YData');

zd=get(hslice,'ZData');

delete(hslice)

h = slice(x,y,z,v,xd,yd,zd);

Answer 1

[MathWorks Support Team]

To avoid issues with the slicing surface's XData, YData and ZData not having a wide enough range for your volumetric data, generate XData, YData and ZData for the slicing surface manually.

For example, if you would like to slice volumetric data with a plane, start by writing an equation for the plane. A plane that is perpendicular to the XY plane and is rotated 45 degrees around the Z axes has a normal vector n=(-1 1 0). The plane is defined by the equation

 dot(n,X-p)=0

where X=(x,y,z) is the point that lies on the plane and p=(px,py,pz) is the point that the plane passes through. For the given n=(-1,1,0) and letting the plane passes through the origin (p=(0,0,0)), the equation becomes:

 -x+y=0 => y=x

To generate the data for the surface of this plane, create 2D arrays for X and Z (with a particular range) using MESHGRID, then use X and Z to calculate Y (although, as shown above, only X is necessary to calculate Y in this case).

% define the surface of the plane

[xg, zg] = meshgrid(linspace(0, 4.5), linspace(1, 3000));

yg = xg;

% define volumetric data

[x,y,z] = meshgrid(0:0.05:4.5 ,0:0.1:2.3,1:1:3000);

v = x.*exp(-x.^2-y.^2-z/100.^2);

% generate the sliced data

figure

h = slice(x,y,z,v,xg,yg,zg);

set(h,'FaceColor','interp',...

      'EdgeColor','none',...

      'DiffuseStrength',.8)

axis tight

axis([0 4.5 0. 2.3  1 3000])