Setting the figure size independent of the legend size

Hi,

I want to create a figure with an outside legend (SouthOutside) where the actual figure size, so the length of the x-axis and y-axis is set to a specific value. The idea behind is that I have multiple figures in a report with varying legend sizes, but the actual figure should always be the same.

I tried to use this, to get a figure of the size 10.8 by 8.1cm.

set(gcf,'units','centimeters','Position',[10.0,10.0,10.8,8.1]);

However, this determines the size of the window of the figure, so if the legend gets bigger the figure gets smaller.

Does anyone have an idea how to get a fixed figure size? Help would be highly appreciated.

I am pretty new to MATLAB so I don´t know if that makes it easier but I only need the figure as a .pdf so it doesn´t need to be shown in a window. Currently I use

exportgraphics

to export the figure as a .pdf.

(I use MATLAB R2020a)

Answer 1

[Adam Danz]

It sounds like you want to expand the axis size which would also require adjusting the figure size.

Here's a demo.

fig = figure; 
plot(magic(5))
lh = legend('Location','SouthOutside'); 

% Define desires axis size
newAxSize = [10.8, 8.1]; %[width, height] cm

% Adjust axis and figure sizes
ax = gca(fig); 
ax.Units = 'Centimeters';
sizeDiff = newAxSize - ax.Position(3:4); 
fig.Units = 'centimeters'; 
fig.Position(3:4) = fig.Position(3:4) + sizeDiff; 
ax.Position(3:4) = [10.8, 8.1];

movegui(fig) % make sure figure is not off-screen

[Markus Schaffer]

Thank you very much for this fantastic fast and helpful answer!

[Adam Danz]

Glad I could help out.