drawnow

Update figures and process callbacks

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Syntax

drawnow
drawnow limitrate
drawnow nocallbacks
drawnow limitrate nocallbacks
drawnow update
drawnow expose

Description

drawnow updates figures and processes any pending callbacks. Use this command if you modify graphics objects and want to see the updates on the screen immediately.

example

drawnow limitrate limits the number of updates to 20 frames per second. If it has been fewer than 50 milliseconds since the last update, or if the graphics renderer is busy (either with the previous change or because it is initializing), then drawnow skips the new update at that time. Use this command if you are updating graphics objects in a loop and do not need to see every update on the screen. Skipping updates can create faster animations. Pending callbacks are processed, so you can interact with figures during animations.

example

drawnow nocallbacks defers callbacks, such as the ButtonDownFcn callback, until the next full drawnow command. Use this option if you want to prevent callbacks from interrupting your code. Deferring callbacks temporarily disables figure interactions, such as mouse clicks or resizing the figure. Deferring callbacks does not affect animation speed.

drawnow limitrate nocallbacks limits the number of updates to 20 frames per second and skips updates if the renderer is busy. This syntax also prevents callbacks from interrupting your code, which temporarily disables figure interactions.

drawnow update skips updates if the renderer is busy and defers callbacks. This syntax is not recommended. Use the limitrate option instead.

drawnow expose updates figures, but defers callbacks. This syntax is not recommended. Use the nocallbacks option instead.

Examples

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Open Script

Create an animation of a line growing as it accumulates 2,000 data points. Use drawnow to display the changes on the screen after each iteration through the loop.

h = animatedline;
axis([0 4*pi -1 1])
x = linspace(0,4*pi,2000);

for k = 1:length(x)
    y = sin(x(k));
    addpoints(h,x(k),y);
    drawnow
end

Open Script

Create an animation of a line growing as it accumulates 10,000 points by completing these steps:

  • Create an animated line object (h) and call the axis function to create an axes object with specific x- and y-axis limits.

  • Call drawnow immediately after the axis command to complete figure and axes initialization.

  • Create a for loop that adds points to the animated line and updates the plot.

Drawing each update on the screen might be slow since there are 10,000 points. You can make it faster by limiting the number of updates with the limitrate option. Calling the drawnow limitrate command before the end of the loop displays the changes, but only if 50 milliseconds has elapsed since the last iteration.

After the loop, display the final updates by calling drawnow one more time.

x = linspace(0,4*pi,2000);
h = animatedline;
axis([0 4*pi -1 1])
drawnow  % Complete initialization

for k = 1:length(x)
    y = sin(x(k));
    addpoints(h,x(k),y);
    drawnow limitrate  % Display changes
end

drawnow % Display final updates

Open Script

Compute all the data before the animation loop.

h = animatedline;
axis([0 4*pi -1 1])
drawnow % Complete initialization
x = linspace(0,4*pi,10000);
y = sin(x);

for k = 1:length(x)
    addpoints(h,x(k),y(k));
    drawnow limitrate  % Display changes
end
drawnow % Display final updates

If you have long computations, precomputing the data can improve performance. Precomputing minimizes the computation time by letting the computation run without interruptions. Additionally, it helps ensure a smooth animation by focusing on only graphics code in the animation loop.

More About

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Tips

  • The nocallbacks option always adds interrupting callbacks to the queue. If you want to discard interrupting callbacks, then use the Interruptible and BusyAction properties instead.

Extended Capabilities

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Thread-Based Environment
Run code in the background using MATLAB® backgroundPool or accelerate code with Parallel Computing Toolbox™ ThreadPool.

Version History

Introduced before R2006a

See Also

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