Surf and XLIM YLIM -- setting the limits on a 3D graph doesnt seem to work?

I have the following code

y=randn(50,50); 
x=randn(50,50);
z=randn(50,50);
surf(y,x,z);
set(gca,'xlim',[0 2],'ylim',[0 2]);

Hence I only wish to show the surface between 0 and 2 on the x and y axis.

however, xlim ylim do not seem to work as per normal here. The data is shown overhanging the axis and doesnt look neat and tidy.

what have i done wrong? thank you

Answer 1

[Sean de Wolski]

Clipping is known to not necessarily work for three-d plots:

http://www.mathworks.com/support/solutions/en/data/1-15HPR/index.html

With newer versions of MATLAB you can use addlistener to listen to the 'PostSet' limit events on the axes and update the surface's data with new data NaNing out everything outside of the new limits.

Alright, you piqued my interest:

function Clip3d
%Clip a three dimensional surface example

%
% Sean de Wolski 02/14/2013 - MathWorks
%

%Data
yy=randn(50,50); 
xx=randn(50,50);
zz=randn(50,50);

%Objects
figure;
ax = axes;
h = surf(xx,yy,zz);
drawnow;
xlimits = get(ax,'XLim');
ylimits = get(ax,'YLim');

%Listen to changes
addlistener(ax,'XLim','PostSet',@(src,evt)ClipMe(src,evt));
addlistener(ax,'YLim','PostSet',@(src,evt)ClipMe(src,evt));

      function ClipMe(src,evt)
          %When limits change
          zzNaN = zz; %copy

          %Which changed?
          if strcmp(get(src,'Name'),'XLim')
              xlimits = evt.NewValue;
          else
              ylimits = evt.NewValue;
          end

          %Clip with Nans
          zzNaN(xx<xlimits(1) | xx>xlimits(2)) = NaN;
          zzNaN(yy<ylimits(1) | yy>ylimits(2)) = NaN;
          set(h,'ZData',zzNaN); %update
          drawnow;
      end
  end