MATLAB: How to best include Matlab figure with transparency in a LaTeX document

alphafigurelatextransparency

Usually, the recommended way to include figures in LaTeX is via eps as discussed in https://de.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/answers/96084-how-do-i-include-a-matlab-figure-in-a-latex-document. This has the big advantage that eps stores the bounding boxes so that LaTeX will crop the figure automatically to remove whitespace.

But now I have a figure with alpha transparency and such transparency is not supported by eps. Of course I could export the figure into a PDF, but then I have to manually crop it before including it in LaTeX. So is there a better pipeline available?

Best Answer

In MATLAB R2019a you can save EPS with alpha transparency.

print('yourTransparentImage','-depsc');% place this code after the figure generation code

Find the attached zip file having transparent EPS file generated using this code. Also see the attached PDF with transparent EPS generated by LaTeX.

Otherwise, you can find a custom function to exports figures to a number of vector & bitmap formats here.

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MATLAB: How to include a MATLAB figure in a LaTeX document

The best way to do this would be to export your figure into an Encapsulated PostScript (EPS) format file and then include the EPS file in the LaTeX document. You can export a figure into a EPS format using the PRINT command as follows:

plot(1:10)
print -deps epsFig

This will generate a file called epsFig.eps in your current working directory. You can then include this eps file in your LaTeX document.

One method to include an EPS figure in your LaTeX 2E document is as follows:

1. Include the following line before the \begin{document} statement

\usepackage{graphicx}

2. Use the following template code to include any figure:

\begin{figure}
    \centering
    \includegraphics{Figure name without .eps extension}
    \caption{Insert caption}
\end{figure}

For more information on LaTeX, refer to the TeX Users Group at http://www.tug.org or the Comprehensive TeX Archive Network at http://www.ctan.org

Best Answer

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MATLAB: How to include a MATLAB figure in a LaTeX document

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