MATLAB: How to keep parent figure settings after inserting children figures

children figurecontrol appearanceparent figure

I want to create a figure which looks like a subplot (1,3,1-3) but without any space between subplots to compare observed and modeled observations. I've set parent/children figures using a code below:
%%Figure settings
figW = 7.5; % parent figure width
figH = 5.9; % parent figure height
lM = .75; % left margin
rM = .25; % right margin
bM = .75; % bottom margin 
tM = .25; % top margin
W = (figW-lM-rM)/3; % width of a subplot
H = (figH-tM-bM); % height of a subplot
axLW = 1.0; % line width
fontS = 8;
fontN = 'Helvetica';
%%Axes
fig_h = figure('Color','w','Units','inches','Position',[0 0 figW figH],...
    'PaperOrientation','landscape','PaperSize',[figW figH],'PaperPosition',[0 0 figW figH/figW]);
movegui(fig_h,'center');
ax_1 = axes('Parent',fig_h,'Position',[lM/figW bM/figH W/figW H/figW],...
    'Box','on','LineWidth',axLW,'FontSize',fontS,'FontName',fontN);
ax_2 = axes('Parent',fig_h,'Position',[(lM+W)/figW bM/figH W/figW H/figW],...
    'Box','on','LineWidth',axLW,'FontSize',fontS,'FontName',fontN);
ax_3 = axes('Parent',fig_h,'Position',[(lM+2*W)/figW bM/figH W/figW H/figW],...
    'Box','on','LineWidth',axLW,'FontSize',fontS,'FontName',fontN);
%%Axes settings
set(get(ax_1,'YLabel'),'String','Measured pCO_2 [\muatm]',...
  'FontSize',fontS,'FontName',fontN);
set(get(ax_1,'XLabel'),'String','Calculated pCO_2 (pH-DIC) [\muatm]',...
  'FontSize',fontS,'FontName',fontN);
set(get(ax_2,'XLabel'),'String','Calculated pCO_2 (pH-ALK) [\muatm]',...
  'FontSize',fontS,'FontName',fontN);
set(get(ax_3,'XLabel'),'String','Calculated pCO_2 (ALK-DIC) [\muatm]',...
  'FontSize',fontS,'FontName',fontN);
%%Figure limits
max2 = max([pco2b_pal;pco2s_pal;pco2h_pal]);
max3 = max([pco2b_dal;pco2s_dal;pco2h_dal]);
set(ax_1,'XLim',[0 4000],'YLim', [0 3000], 'XTick',1000:1000:3500, 'XTickLabel',{'1000';'2000';'3000'},...
        'YTick',500:1000:3000,'YTickLabel',{'500';'1500';'2500'});
set(ax_2,'Xlim',[0 13000],'YLim',[0 3000],...
        'XTick',4000:4000:max2,'XTickLabel',{'4000';'8000';'12000'},'YTick',500:1000:3000,'YTickLabel','');
set(ax_3,'Xlim',[0 7000],'YLim',[0 3000],...
       'XTick',2000:2000:max3, 'XTickLabel',{'2000';'4000';'6000'},'YTick',500:1000:3000,'YTickLabel','');
The figure looks like that:
But after adding 1:1 line to a child figure 1 using code lines:
%%1:1 Line
xl = (0:1500:3000);
yl = (0:1500:3000);
%%Plot 1 in a parent figure 
p1 = plot(xl,yl,'k'); %1:1 line
set(p1,'Parent', ax_1,'Linewidth',1)
the plot looks like that:
My problem is that I don't know how to keep parent figure settings after inserting children figures? Do you know why subplot 3 changes when I insert the line to subplot 1?
Thanks, Gosia

Best Answer

You can keep the parent figure settings after inserting the children axes by plotting the line directly in the axes where it is meant to be drawn. It can be done by modifying the following lines of code:
%%Plot 1 in a parent figure 
plot(ax_1,xl,yl,'k','Linewidth',1);
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