MATLAB: Transparent background for figures

figureprint

I get the following warning in r2011a

set(gcf, 'Color', 'None')
Warning: Setting the ColorSpec to 'none' for a figure will not be allowed in a future release.

I use the "none" color so that I can print pdf and eps files with transparent backgrounds. How are you supposed to set a transparent background?

Best Answer

You can edit the eps file generated by print, and remove the line which creates the background rectangle, thus making the background transparent.

Or you can use the latest version of export_fig, which will do this for you when the -transparent option is specified, and will allow you to export to pdf as well.

Related Solutions

MATLAB: Does the exported figure in MATLAB 6.5 (R13) not retain the transparent background

The ability to export figures with transparent backgrounds in the JPEG,TIFF,BMP and PNG formats is not available in MATLAB.

To work around this issue, export your figure to EPS-file format. For example:

figure('Color', 'r'); plot(1:3)
set(gcf,'Color', 'none')
set(gcf,'InvertHardCopy','off')
print -deps xxx.eps

The JPEG-file and TIFF-file formats do not support transparency.

To export a figure with a transparent background to the PNG format, please refer to the workaround suggested in the bug report:

http://www.mathworks.com/support/bugreports/details.html?rp=299665

MATLAB: How to put a MATLAB figure in a presentation so that the slide background shows through

export_fig by Oliver does this.

Excerpt from the help for export_fig:

For transparent background (and semi-transparent patch objects), set the figure (and axes) 'Color' property to 'none'; pdf, eps and png are the only file formats to support a transparent background, whilst the png format alone supports transparency of patch objects.

logo;
set(gcf, 'color', 'none');
alpha(0.7);

export_fig perfect_solution.png

Maybe Oliver can enlighten us on how he did it.

EDIT: Here's is an example of the exported image over a fancy, textured background:

(Image Source: http://sites.google.com/site/oliverwoodford/software/export_fig)

Best Answer

Related Solutions

MATLAB: Does the exported figure in MATLAB 6.5 (R13) not retain the transparent background

MATLAB: How to put a MATLAB figure in a presentation so that the slide background shows through

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