MATLAB: Plot title being placed and then erased, and subplots different sizes

force plot sizeplot title

Hey folks –
This one's a problem with a loop I wrote to plot a handful of figures, each with two subplots, and I can't seem to figure out how to keep the title above the subplots from disappearing. Here's my code for the loop:
for i = 1:plotPCnum
        I = num2str(i);
        h = figure;
        titlestr = char(['Scores and loadings for PC ',I]);
        title(titlestr);
        subplot(1,2,1); ...
            box('on'); hold('all'); plot(loads_wt(:,i)); axis square; axis tight;
            title(['Loadings PC ',num2str(I)]);...
            set(axes, 'XTick', [], 'YTick', []);
        subplot(1,2,2); imagesc(reshape(scores_wt(:,i), [nrows ncols]));...
            axis image;  title(['Scores PC ',num2str(I)]);   colormap('jet'); colorbar
        set(gca, 'XTick', [], 'YTick', []);
        saveas(h,titlestr,'fig');
        logline = char([titlestr,' has been created.']);
        fprintf(fidOUT,'%s\n',logline);
    end
What happens is that at the top right after I open the figure h and give it a title, as soon as the first subplot is opened that title disappears, and all I get is a series of plots each with 2 subplots with the subplot titles only. How can I code the figure title above the subplot titles so it doesn't disappear?
Also, the subplots are different sizes and I would like them to be the same size. How can I force this?
Thanks,
Jason

Best Answer

Take a look at this:
title('main title');
set(gca,'Visible','off')
set(get(gca,'Title'),'Visible','on')
axes('OuterPosition',[0 0 .5 1]);
The first few lines create axes that hold the main title, then make the axes invisible except for their title. The last line creates a smaller plot directly, overcoming the subplot command's desire to clear out stuff in the way.
As for your other question, one issue is that the second plot is leaving room for the colorbar. You could get(ax,'Position') for each axes and adjust their widths and heights to make them as you want.
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