viewer2d

Create viewer for 2-D image display

Since R2024b

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    Syntax

    viewer = viewer2d
    viewer = viewer2d(parent)
    viewer = viewer2d(___,Name=Value)

    Description

    viewer = viewer2d creates a Viewer object in a new figure window that is configured for 2-D image display. Use viewer to query and modify properties of the Viewer object after you create the object. For a list of properties, see Viewer Properties.

    example

    viewer = viewer2d(parent) creates a Viewer object in the specified parent container.

    viewer = viewer2d(___,Name=Value) creates a Viewer object and sets properties of the object using one or more name-value arguments in addition to any of the input arguments from previous syntaxes.

    For example, viewer2d(BackgroundColor="green") creates a Viewer object in a new web figure with a green background.

    Examples

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    Open Live Script

    Create a viewer configured for 2-D image display. The viewer2d function creates a new Viewer object with default property values suitable for 2-D images.

    viewer = viewer2d
    viewer = 
  Viewer with properties:

                Parent: [1×1 Figure]
              Position: [1 1 560 420]
              Children: [0×0 GraphicsPlaceholder]

       BackgroundColor: [1 1 1]
    BackgroundGradient: off
         GradientColor: [1 1 1]
       OrientationAxes: off
        ClippingPlanes: [0×4 single]
              Lighting: on
         LightPosition: [0 0 0]

        CameraPosition: [1 1 1]
          CameraTarget: [0 0 0]
        CameraUpVector: [0 0 1]
            CameraZoom: 1

  Show all properties

    Add an image to the viewer using the imageshow function with the Parent name-value argument specified as the handle to the Viewer object.

    im = imageshow("peppers.png",Parent=viewer);

    Optionally, show the scale bar.

    viewer.ScaleBar = "on";

    Open Live Script

    Create a grid layout with one row and two columns. The layout opens in a new figure outside of the Live Editor.

    h = uifigure(Position=[100 100 1000 420]);
g = uigridlayout(h,ColumnWidth={'1x','1x'},RowHeight={'fit','1x'});

    Create two viewers to display 2-D images.

    viewerLeft = viewer2d(g);
viewerRight = viewer2d(g);

    Specify the title for each grid element.

    labelLeft = uilabel(g,Text="Spread Out",HorizontalAlignment="center");
labelRight = uilabel(g,Text="Close Together",HorizontalAlignment="center");

    Specify the layout options for the grid. Nest the left viewer and its label in the first column. Nest the right viewer and its label in the second column.

    labelLeft.Layout.Row = 1;
labelLeft.Layout.Column = 1;
labelRight.Layout.Row = 1;
labelRight.Layout.Column = 2;

viewerLeft.Layout.Row = 2;
viewerLeft.Layout.Column = 1;
viewerRight.Layout.Row = 2;
viewerRight.Layout.Column = 2;

    Display two images of hands side-by-side in the UI grid layout.

    imageshow("hands1.jpg",Parent=viewerLeft);
imageshow("hands2.jpg",Parent=viewerRight);

    This image shows how the grid layout appears in the figure window, which is displayed outside of the Live Editor.

    UI grid layout displaying the spread out hand on the left and the closed together hand on the right

    Input Arguments

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    Parent of the viewer, specified as a Figure object created using the uifigure function, or a Panel, GridLayout, or Tab object whose parent is a figure created using the uifigure function. You can use the uipanel, uigridlayout, and uitab functions to create the corresponding objects.

    Tip

    If you want to build an app in App Designer, or you want to add and position other UI components in a figure with the 2-D viewer, the recommended parent is a GridLayout object.

    When the parent is a GridLayout object, you can adjust the layout of the 2-D viewer using the Layout property.

    Example: parent = uifigure; viewer = viewer2d(parent); creates a parent figure using the uifigure function.

    Example: f = uifigure; parent = uipanel(f); viewer = viewer2d(parent); creates a parent Panel object whose parent is a figure created using the uifigure function.

    Name-Value Arguments

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    Specify optional pairs of arguments as Name1=Value1,...,NameN=ValueN, where Name is the argument name and Value is the corresponding value. Name-value arguments must appear after other arguments, but the order of the pairs does not matter.

    Example: viewer2d(BackgroundColor="green",BackgroundGradient=false) creates a Viewer object in a new figure with a green background and no background gradient.

    Note

    The properties listed here are only a subset. For a full list, see Viewer Properties.

    Color of the background, specified as an RGB triplet, a hexadecimal color code, a color name, or a short color name. When you select light mode in MATLAB®, the default color is [0.9608 0.9608 0.9608]. When you select dark mode in MATLAB, the default color is [0.1 0.1 0.1].

    For a custom color, specify an RGB triplet or a hexadecimal color code.

    • An RGB triplet is a three-element row vector whose elements specify the intensities of the red, green, and blue components of the color. The intensities must be in the range [0,1], for example, [0.4 0.6 0.7].

    • A hexadecimal color code is a string scalar or character vector that starts with a hash symbol (#) followed by three or six hexadecimal digits, which can range from 0 to F. The values are not case sensitive. Therefore, the color codes "#FF8800", "#ff8800", "#F80", and "#f80" are equivalent.

    Alternatively, you can specify some common colors by name. This table lists the named color options, the equivalent RGB triplets, and the hexadecimal color codes.

    Color NameShort NameRGB TripletHexadecimal Color CodeAppearance
    "red""r"[1 0 0]"#FF0000"

    Sample of the color red

    "green""g"[0 1 0]"#00FF00"

    Sample of the color green

    "blue""b"[0 0 1]"#0000FF"

    Sample of the color blue

    "cyan" "c"[0 1 1]"#00FFFF"

    Sample of the color cyan

    "magenta""m"[1 0 1]"#FF00FF"

    Sample of the color magenta

    "yellow""y"[1 1 0]"#FFFF00"

    Sample of the color yellow

    "black""k"[0 0 0]"#000000"

    Sample of the color black

    "white""w"[1 1 1]"#FFFFFF"

    Sample of the color white

    This table lists the default color palettes for plots in the light and dark themes.

    PalettePalette Colors

    "gem" — Light theme default

    Before R2025a: Most plots use these colors by default.

    Sample of the "gem" color palette

    "glow" — Dark theme default

    Sample of the "glow" color palette

    You can get the RGB triplets and hexadecimal color codes for these palettes using the orderedcolors and rgb2hex functions. For example, get the RGB triplets for the "gem" palette and convert them to hexadecimal color codes.

    RGB = orderedcolors("gem");
H = rgb2hex(RGB);

    Before R2023b: Get the RGB triplets using RGB = get(groot,"FactoryAxesColorOrder").

    Example: BackgroundColor="r"

    Example: BackgroundColor="green"

    Example: BackgroundColor=[0 0.4470 0.7410]

    Example: BackgroundColor="#FF8800"

    Since R2025a

    Title for the viewer, specified as a string scalar or character vector. The title appears in the top center of the viewer window.

    Spatial units for the viewer, specified as a string scalar. Use this value to change the units label associated with viewer display tools, such as the scale bar and point and line annotations.

    Display scale bar in the lower-right corner, specified as "on" or "off", or as a numeric or logical 1 (true) or 0 (false). A value of "on" is equivalent to true, and "off" is equivalent to false. The value is stored as an on/off logical value of type OnOffSwitchState.

    Control the style of the scale bar by using the ScaleBarStyle value.

    Since R2025a

    Style of the scale bar, specified as one of the strings in the table. Control the visibility of the scale bar by using the ScaleBar value.

    ValueDescription
    "zoom"Display a scale bar with the zoom level of the image. The zoom level is based on a combination of available screen size, the image size, and the viewer camera zoom level. A scale bar zoom level of 100% indicates that one screen pixel displays one data pixel, or one unit in world coordinates if you specify the Transformation property of the Image object.
    "measure"Display a measurement scale bar with units specified by the SpatialUnits value.

    Output Arguments

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    2-D viewer, returned as a Viewer object configured for 2-D image display. When you create a Viewer by using the viewer2d function, the function sets certain properties to support 2-D visualization. For details about which properties have different defaults when created by viewer2d instead of viewer3d, see Viewer Properties.

    More About

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    Tips

    • To clear all objects from the scene and delete all data containers previously added to the 2-D viewer viewer, use the command:

      clear(viewer)

    • To delete all objects in the scene and the 2-D viewer viewer, use the command:

      delete(viewer)

    Version History

    Introduced in R2024b

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    See Also

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