Thread Subject: Hardcopy is black - help

Hello

        I have had this problem before with this script that plots some 3D data
(surf). The figure window shows a nice plot. The hardcopy (pdf and png)
simply consist of a solid black rectangle where the plot ought to be.

        Earlier suggestions included (I was using Matlab 7 on Linux at the time)
using :

        set(gcf,'color','w','inverthardcopy','off');

        Now (I am using Matlab 7.4 on Linux), the presence or absence of this makes
no difference.

        The precise plotting code is :

    close all;
    h=figure(1);
    set(h,'Name',strcat(datafile1,namestring));
    xmin=min(x);
    xmax=max(x);
    ymin=min(y);
    ymax=max(y);
    surf(x',y,height');
    axis([xmin xmax ymin ymax]);
    %set(gca, 'color', [0 1 0]);
    %set(gcf,'color','w','inverthardcopy','off');
    colormap(jet(512));
    shading interp;
    h=colorbar('EastOutside');
    set(get(h,'title'),'String', '\mu m')
    %set(h,'YColor','black');
    %set(h,'FontWeight','bold');
    %set(h,'FontSize',16);
    %view(0,90);
    view([0 0 1]);
    xlabel('x(\mu m)');
    ylabel('y(\mu m)');
    %grid on;
    title(strcat(datafile1,' - height'));

    printcommand=['print -dpdf ',datafile1,'.pdf'];
    eval(printcommand);
    printcommand=['print -dpng ',datafile1,'.png'];
    eval(printcommand);

        Any suggestions to fix this problem would be appreciated.

Thanks.

Geico Caveman wrote:
> Hello
>
> I have had this problem before with this script that plots some 3D data
> (surf). The figure window shows a nice plot. The hardcopy (pdf and png)
> simply consist of a solid black rectangle where the plot ought to be.
>

This usually indicates a problem with the opengl driver. Try starting
MATLAB with the -softwareopengl switch

Richard Quist wrote:

> Geico Caveman wrote:
>> Hello
>>
>> I have had this problem before with this script that plots some
>> 3D data
>> (surf). The figure window shows a nice plot. The hardcopy (pdf and png)
>> simply consist of a solid black rectangle where the plot ought to be.
>>
>
> This usually indicates a problem with the opengl driver. Try starting
> MATLAB with the -softwareopengl switch

Thanks for your response.

I tried this switch. No good. The hardcopy o/p is black as before.

Geico Caveman <spammers_go_here@spam.invalid> wrote in
message <faian9$n9r$1@news.asu.edu>...
> Richard Quist wrote:
>
> > Geico Caveman wrote:
> >> Hello
> >>
> >> I have had this problem before with this script
that plots some
> >> 3D data
> >> (surf). The figure window shows a nice plot. The
hardcopy (pdf and png)
> >> simply consist of a solid black rectangle where the
plot ought to be.
> >>
> >
> > This usually indicates a problem with the opengl driver.
Try starting
> > MATLAB with the -softwareopengl switch
>
> Thanks for your response.
>
> I tried this switch. No good. The hardcopy o/p is black as
before.

You can try "forcing" print to use a different renderer,
which may help. Try adding '-zbuffer' to the print command
(the other choice for the png format would be '-opengl', but
that's probably what's being used currently).

The other thing to look at is whether there's an update for
your video driver

Rich Quist wrote:

> Geico Caveman <spammers_go_here@spam.invalid> wrote in
> message <faian9$n9r$1@news.asu.edu>...
>> Richard Quist wrote:
>>
>> > Geico Caveman wrote:
>> >> Hello
>> >>
>> >> I have had this problem before with this script
> that plots some
>> >> 3D data
>> >> (surf). The figure window shows a nice plot. The
> hardcopy (pdf and png)
>> >> simply consist of a solid black rectangle where the
> plot ought to be.
>> >>
>> >
>> > This usually indicates a problem with the opengl driver.
> Try starting
>> > MATLAB with the -softwareopengl switch
>>
>> Thanks for your response.
>>
>> I tried this switch. No good. The hardcopy o/p is black as
> before.
>
> You can try "forcing" print to use a different renderer,
> which may help. Try adding '-zbuffer' to the print command
> (the other choice for the png format would be '-opengl', but
> that's probably what's being used currently).
>
> The other thing to look at is whether there's an update for
> your video driver

I will look into this. However, I found an older machine with Matlab 7 on
it. The hardcopy generated by the same code on that machine is perfect.

Something changed 7 -> 7.4.

Rich Quist wrote:

> Geico Caveman <spammers_go_here@spam.invalid> wrote in
> message <faian9$n9r$1@news.asu.edu>...
>> Richard Quist wrote:
>>
>> > Geico Caveman wrote:
>> >> Hello
>> >>
>> >> I have had this problem before with this script
> that plots some
>> >> 3D data
>> >> (surf). The figure window shows a nice plot. The
> hardcopy (pdf and png)
>> >> simply consist of a solid black rectangle where the
> plot ought to be.
>> >>
>> >
>> > This usually indicates a problem with the opengl driver.
> Try starting
>> > MATLAB with the -softwareopengl switch
>>
>> Thanks for your response.
>>
>> I tried this switch. No good. The hardcopy o/p is black as
> before.
>
> You can try "forcing" print to use a different renderer,
> which may help. Try adding '-zbuffer' to the print command
> (the other choice for the png format would be '-opengl', but
> that's probably what's being used currently).
>
> The other thing to look at is whether there's an update for
> your video driver

As a matter of record, I found that zbuffer worked for me. There appears to
be some loss of resolution though.

I did not use a command line switch. Instead, I use a set() on gcf for this.

Geico Caveman <spammers-go-here@spam.invalid> wrote in message <fb5b00$n2b$1@aioe.org>...
> Rich Quist wrote:
>
> > Geico Caveman <spammers_go_here@spam.invalid> wrote in
> > message <faian9$n9r$1@news.asu.edu>...
> >> Richard Quist wrote:
> >>
> >> > Geico Caveman wrote:
> >> >> Hello
> >> >>
> >> >> I have had this problem before with this script
> > that plots some
> >> >> 3D data
> >> >> (surf). The figure window shows a nice plot. The
> > hardcopy (pdf and png)
> >> >> simply consist of a solid black rectangle where the
> > plot ought to be.
> >> >>
> >> >
> >> > This usually indicates a problem with the opengl driver.
> > Try starting
> >> > MATLAB with the -softwareopengl switch
> >>
> >> Thanks for your response.
> >>
> >> I tried this switch. No good. The hardcopy o/p is black as
> > before.
> >
> > You can try "forcing" print to use a different renderer,
> > which may help. Try adding '-zbuffer' to the print command
> > (the other choice for the png format would be '-opengl', but
> > that's probably what's being used currently).
> >
> > The other thing to look at is whether there's an update for
> > your video driver
>
> As a matter of record, I found that zbuffer worked for me. There appears to
> be some loss of resolution though.
>
> I did not use a command line switch. Instead, I use a set() on gcf for this.



I used the 'print' command, and -zbuffer switch which turned out to be a practical workaround. Very helpful posts, thanks!

OS: WinXP; MATLAB ver.: 7.6.0; Image type: JPEG