How do you save a figure with a trasparent background?

How do you save a figure with a trasparent background? I want to save a figure as a png image that has a transparent background so I can put the image into PowerPoint and the PowerPoint graphic will show through the Matlab figure.

Answer 1

[jonas]

The most recent version of export_fig includes a -transparent option for .png export

[Ron Beck]

Thanks for the tip. It worked for outside the polar plot. I would like to have the inside the polar plot transparent also if possible. Is it simply another setting? I just want the plotted lines to show up.

[jonas]

set(gca,'color','none')

or in case it doesn't work you can set it to default,

set(0,'DefaultAxesColor','none')

[Ron Beck]

Thanks for the response, but neither worked. Is it critical where I put the lines of code?

[jonas]

Sorry for the late response. If you did not solve it already perhaps you can upload the code and I will have a look.

The first option calls the current axis (gca), so it should be located after the figure. The other option should be at the beginning of the code.

Answer 2

[cui,xingxing]

since Matlab R2020a, use "exportgraphics", for example ,you can do like this

x = 0:.1:2*pi;
y = sin(x);


% save to transparented image
figure;
plot(x,y,'LineWidth',4);
set(gcf, 'color', 'none');    
set(gca, 'color', 'none');
exportgraphics(gcf,'transparent.eps',...   % since R2020a
    'ContentType','vector',...
    'BackgroundColor','none')

[Niklas Kurz]

Awesome, thank you for providing this information!

[Darcy Cordell]

Does this also work for png format? Doesn't seem to work for me...

Answer 3

[Subba Reddy]

Non matlab way, Can use gimp software to remove white background from image, by selecting the background with color select tool, invert selection and copy. Then create new gimp window with background option as tranperancy, and paste it into that and export that as png. Not programmable but can be used to prepare images for presentation.

[James Van Zandt]

is it no longer supported?

pdf

Warning: Background transparency is not supported; using white instead.

png

Warning: Background transparency is not supported; using white instead.

eps

Warning: Background transparency is not supported; using white instead.

>> ver

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

MATLAB Version: 9.9.0.1467703 (R2020b)

[James Van Zandt]

Pardon - I was commenting on a previous suggestion. Here's the relevant code:

fprintf('pdf\n'); exportgraphics(gca,'l16.pdf','BackgroundColor','none');

fprintf('png\n'); exportgraphics(gca,'l16.png','BackgroundColor','none');

fprintf('eps\n'); exportgraphics(gca,'l16.eps','BackgroundColor','none');