One potential way to solve this in a general case where the data in the 3D plot will be different for each use would be to generate a new figure with the 3D plot and use its parameters to set the parameters of the embedded axis. This is assuming that the new plot looks the way you would like.
You can generate the new figure with its visible property set to 'off' so that it does not appear on the screen.
Maybe something like this...
f = figure('Visible','off');
plot3(...
a = get(f,'Children');
myXLim = get(a,'XLim');
myYLim = get(a,'YLim');
...
plot3(handles.myAxis,...
set(handles.myAxis,'XLim',myXLim,'YLim',myYLim,...
delete(f);
I think you've touched on most of the properties that are likely to affect the display but here are the ones that come to mind for me:
X, Y, & Z Lim; DataAspectRatio; PlotBoxAspectRatio; CameraPosition; & CamerViewAngle
I would suggest looking up axes properties in the MATLAB documentation.
Within the tolerance of your GUI, you can also change the size of the embedded plot as follows:
position = get(handles.myAxis,'Position');
position2 = get(a,'Position');
position(3:4) = position2(3:4);
set(handles.myAxis,'Position',position);
This method assumes that the new plot and your axis are close to the same size and that they both use the same units for positioning (not normalized, but Characters or Pixels for instance). This might prevent some of the cropping you've seen in your GUI axis.
If you are likely to be plotting the same (or very similar) data in your GUI, you could just play around with the settings until the display looks correct and then hard code them into your program. While your GUI is running, you can query your axis' current properties with its handle.
myAxis = findall(0,'Tag','TheTagISetForMyAxis');
get(myAxis)
You can also set the properties manually in the same way using the handle and set() function.
