How to Disable "Couldn't create JOGL canvas--using painters" Message?

Whenever I use any function that involves plotting, I get the message "Couldn't create JOGL canvas--using painters". It's not a warning because it's not orange, nor is it an error because it's not red. So it's some sort of mysterious third thing.

Whatever it is, this message doesn't affect my work at all---it's just really annoying not being able to see the rest of my command window because of it. So I'd like to know if's possible to just turn the message off

Answer 1

[Shlok]

Hi Aaron,

The message "Couldn't create JOGL canvas--using painters" appears when MATLAB can't initialize OpenGL graphics properly, usually due to issues with the graphics driver or system libraries.

To resolve this, try launching MATLAB with OpenGL by running:

matlab -softwareopengl

or

matlab -softwareopenglmesa 

from the Windows Command Prompt. If that helps, consider updating your graphics driver.

If you'd like to prevent the message from showing up every time MATLAB starts, you can set OpenGL as the default for all future sessions. To do that, run this in the MATLAB Command Window:

opengl('save','software')

Then restart MATLAB.

Also, check out the following link for further troubleshooting:

https://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/answers/157894-resolving-low-level-graphics-issues-in-matlab

Hope this helps!

[Walter Roberson]

Note: As of R2025a, OpenGL is no longer used, so the opengl() command no longer has any function.

On the other hand, since OpenGL is no longer used, the messae about creating JOGL canvas should no longer occur starting in R2025a.

[Aaron]

Thank you, the matlab -softwareopengl fixed the issue and also has made my life significantly better. The opengl('save','software') command didn't work though, so I guess my computer is weird.

[Shlok]

Did you try running the opengl('save','software') command in the MATLAB Command Window?

[Aaron]

Yeah