animation - Creating a point moving along a graph in MATLAB

Question

I am looking to create a simple log(x) graph within MATLAB in which the model shows the point moving along the curve with time.

The overall aim is to have two of these graphs alongside one another and to apply an algorithm to them. I am really unsure where to start here.

I am relatively new at MATLAB coding so any help would be very useful!

Thanks Luke

Answer 1

Here is a variation on @Jacob's solution. Instead of redrawing everything at each frame (clf) we simply update the point's location:

%# control animation speed
DELAY = 0.01;
numPoints = 600;

%# create data
x = linspace(0,10,numPoints);
y = log(x);

%# plot graph
figure('DoubleBuffer','on')                  %# no flickering
plot(x,y, 'LineWidth',2), grid on
xlabel('x'), ylabel('y'), title('y = log(x)')

%# create moving point + coords text
hLine = line('XData',x(1), 'YData',y(1), 'Color','r', ...
    'Marker','o', 'MarkerSize',6, 'LineWidth',2);
hTxt = text(x(1), y(1), sprintf('(%.3f,%.3f)',x(1),y(1)), ...
    'Color',[0.2 0.2 0.2], 'FontSize',8, ...
    'HorizontalAlignment','left', 'VerticalAlignment','top');

%# infinite loop
i = 1;                                       %# index
while true      
    %# update point & text
    set(hLine, 'XData',x(i), 'YData',y(i))   
    set(hTxt, 'Position',[x(i) y(i)], ...
        'String',sprintf('(%.3f,%.3f)',[x(i) y(i)]))        
    drawnow                                  %# force refresh
    %#pause(DELAY)                           %# slow down animation

    i = rem(i+1,numPoints)+1;                %# circular increment
    if ~ishandle(hLine), break; end          %# in case you close the figure
end