Examples below can be generated by plot_example.m script in Tools repository.
subfig to place your figures reasonably. Note that a new figure is created each time, so don't forget to close your figures. Preferably close all at the beginning of your script.
imshow Matlab command for displaying bitmaps. Use image (or imagesc for grayscale bitmaps), then axes are kept shown.
axis image (this hides area outside the image) or axis equal.
quiver and quiver3 to plot bound vectors in 2D/3D.
quiver(X,Y,U,V,0) where X,Y is the origin and U,V the vector. The scaling argument 0 ensures the arrow is of the proper length.