Save figure as seen on screen?

I would like to save a figure to png format exactly the same as seen on the screen. I searched the web and found:

set(gcf,'PaperPositionMode','auto'); saveas(gcf,[Filename '.png']);

that supposed to save the figure the same size, but it actually changed the size from 1200x600 to 1875x938, huh?

I also tried setting ‘PaperPosition’ and got the same size 1200x600, but the fonts in the saved figure became much larger compared to on screen and covered up parts of the graph.

If I use the "save" button in the figure window then it saves the figure as seen on the screen without a problem, but I would like to be able to do it programmatically if possible.

Please help. Thanks!

Answer 1

[Jan]

img = getframe(gcf);
imwrite(img.cdata, [FileName, '.png']);

[James Ryan]

Perfect.

It's really odd that none of the Save as or Export options on the figure window seem to support this.

[Amir Mazouchi]

use gca instead of gcf to get rid of all margins.

[Martim Zurita]

Jan (or anyone who knows the answer), is there a way to "save figure as seen on screen" in .pdf or .eps format?

When I try to do something like

img = getframe(gcf);
imwrite(img.cdata, [FileName, '.eps']);

I get the error "Unable to determine the file format from the file name."

[Jan]

imwrite cannot write eps files. The EPS format is thought for vector graphics, which can be scaled freely. Therefore it is not suitable for saving a figure "as seen on the screen". A raster image like TIFF, PNG or GIF would be matching.

If you use print() to create an EPS of the screenshot taken by getframe, a JPEG image is embedded in the EPS (or maybe a TIFF?). This indirect approach is less usefull than storing a raster image directly.

[Martim Zurita]

Thanks for the explanation, Jan!

In the end I managed to save my figure as seen on screen as a .pdf, using the export_fig function and the code

export_fig test.pdf

Answer 2

[John Petersen]

It's the same ratio at least. You may want to look at using export_fig() which you can download from the file exchange. This will preserve the figure size.

[Image Analyst]

As mentioned in the FAQ: http://matlab.wikia.com/wiki/FAQ#How_do_I_save_my_figure.2C_axes.2C_or_image.3F_I.27m_having_trouble_with_the_built_in_MATLAB_functions.. While you're reading that C, might as well look over the rest of the FAQ also.