Careful using tic/toc. As summarized in the documentation, "If your code is faster than 1/10 second, consider measuring it running in a loop, and then average to find the time for a single run". Even with larger durations, there is unavoidable variability (shown in this comment within this thread).
Alternatively, use timeit to determine how long a process takes (not to control real-time processes). Unlike tic and toc, the timeit function calls your code multiple times, and, therefore, considers first-time costs.
Check out this comparison of timing pause(0.1) using toc/toc and timeit. Notice the difference in variability. For a bit more info on tic/toc timing within a loop, see this answer.
Additionally, the pause() function is susceptible to variations due to your OS and concurrent system activity. The finer the temporal resolution, the higher the relative error. For more info on limitations to the pause function, scroll down to the tips section in this link.
f = @()waitasec;
t = zeros(1,100);
for i = 1:100
t(i) = timeit(f);
end
t2 = zeros(1,100);
for i = 1:100
tic
pause(0.1)
t2(i) = toc;
end
clf
hold on
h = plot(t, 'DisplayName', 'timeit')
h2 = plot(t2, 'DisplayName', 'tictoc')
legend()
function waitasec
pause(0.1)
end
If you're trying to control the speed of animation, consider using one of the animation techniques, some of which provide examples of controlling animation speed. This blog post uses a timer object to control animation speed. I have not read or vetted the article but keep in mind that Matlab recommends not using a timer for real-time applications.
