Printing MATLAB Graphics (Using MATLAB Graphics)

Using MATLAB Graphics

Specifying the Rendering Method

You can specify the rendering method by setting the figure Renderer property. When the RendererMode property is set to auto (the factory default), MATLAB selects the rendering method for displaying and for printing. When RendererMode is set to manual, MATLAB uses the method specified by the Renderer property for both displaying and printing. (Setting the Renderer property automatically sets the RendererMode property to manual.)

The rendering method used for printing the figure is not always the same method used to display the figure.

In some cases, you may want to override MATLAB's renderer selection when you print, without changing the Renderer property. You can specify the rendering method to use for printing by using the -zbuffer or -painters option with the print command.

For example, these commands create a figure, display it using painter's algorithm, and print it using Z-buffer:

surf(peaks(32));
set(gcf,'Renderer','painters')
print -zbuffer

Limitations of Each Method

For many figures, it is possible to use either rendering method. There are certain situations, however, where painter's algorithm does not work or produces unacceptable results. For example:

If the figure uses truecolor for patch or surface objects, it cannot be rendered with painter's algorithm. If you set Renderer to painters, MATLAB issues a warning and the graphics objects do not display or print.
If the figure includes any lights, the lighting cannot be rendered with painter's algorithm. If you set Renderer to painters, the lighting disappears.

Note that in each case the figure retains all the appropriate data, so if you set Renderer back to zbuffer or set RendererMode to auto, the missing objects reappear.

In general, if you find that your printed output does not match what you see on screen, you should set Renderer to zbuffer, or use the -zbuffer switch when you print.

However, you cannot use z-buffer rendering if your device type is HPGL or Adobe Illustrator. If you attempt to print to one of these formats and Renderer is set to zbuffer (or if you use the -zbuffer option), MATLAB uses painter's algorithm instead.

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