Why is my plot figure blank?

My plot figure appears to be blank after running this on my laptop:

pt = rand(2,5000);

plot(pt(1,:),pt(2,:),'bx');

All I see is a blank space on my plot and the axes are visible. However, when I run this on a different computer the data points are visible (indicated by blue Xs). The same version of Matlab is being used on both machines (R2019a).

MATLAB Version: 9.6.0.1214997 (R2019a) Update 6

Any idea of what the problem could be?

Thanks

[Daniel M]

That is strange. What is the output when you type

whos pt
which plot -all
which rand -all

[Bel Cho]

>> whos pt

Name Size Bytes Class Attributes

pt 2x5000 80000 double

>> which plot -all

built-in (C:\Program Files\MATLAB\R2019a\toolbox\matlab\graph2d\plot)

plot is a built-in method % connector.internal.LoggerLevel method

plot is a built-in method % matlab.lang.OnOffSwitchState method

C:\Program Files\MATLAB\R2019a\toolbox\matlab\polyfun\@alphaShape\plot.m % alphaShape method

C:\Program Files\MATLAB\R2019a\toolbox\matlab\polyfun\@polyshape\plot.m % polyshape method

C:\Program Files\MATLAB\R2019a\toolbox\matlab\bigdata\@tall\plot.m % tall method

C:\Program Files\MATLAB\R2019a\toolbox\matlab\graphfun\@digraph\plot.m % digraph method

C:\Program Files\MATLAB\R2019a\toolbox\matlab\graphfun\@graph\plot.m % graph method

C:\Program Files\MATLAB\R2019a\toolbox\bioinfo\bioinfo\@phytree\plot.m % phytree method

C:\Program Files\MATLAB\R2019a\toolbox\bioinfo\microarray\@clustergram\plot.m % clustergram method

C:\Program Files\MATLAB\R2019a\toolbox\bioinfo\microarray\@HeatMap\plot.m % HeatMap method

C:\Program Files\MATLAB\R2019a\toolbox\comm\comm\@channel\plot.m % channel method

C:\Program Files\MATLAB\R2019a\toolbox\curvefit\curvefit\@cfit\plot.m % cfit method

C:\Program Files\MATLAB\R2019a\toolbox\curvefit\curvefit\@sfit\plot.m % sfit method

C:\Program Files\MATLAB\R2019a\toolbox\driving\driving\@drivingScenario\plot.m % drivingScenario method

C:\Program Files\MATLAB\R2019a\toolbox\econ\econ\@blm\plot.m % blm method

C:\Program Files\MATLAB\R2019a\toolbox\econ\econ\@conjugateblm\plot.m % conjugateblm method

C:\Program Files\MATLAB\R2019a\toolbox\econ\econ\@customblm\plot.m % customblm method

C:\Program Files\MATLAB\R2019a\toolbox\econ\econ\@diffuseblm\plot.m % diffuseblm method

C:\Program Files\MATLAB\R2019a\toolbox\econ\econ\@empiricalblm\plot.m % empiricalblm method

C:\Program Files\MATLAB\R2019a\toolbox\econ\econ\@lassoblm\plot.m % lassoblm method

C:\Program Files\MATLAB\R2019a\toolbox\econ\econ\@mixconjugateblm\plot.m % mixconjugateblm method

C:\Program Files\MATLAB\R2019a\toolbox\econ\econ\@mixsemiconjugateblm\plot.m % mixsemiconjugateblm method

C:\Program Files\MATLAB\R2019a\toolbox\econ\econ\@semiconjugateblm\plot.m % semiconjugateblm method

C:\Program Files\MATLAB\R2019a\toolbox\finance\ftseries\@fints\plot.m % fints method

C:\Program Files\MATLAB\R2019a\toolbox\coder\half\@half\plot.p % half method

C:\Program Files\MATLAB\R2019a\toolbox\ident\ident\@iddata\plot.m % iddata method

C:\Program Files\MATLAB\R2019a\toolbox\ident\nlident\@idnlarx\plot.m % idnlarx method

C:\Program Files\MATLAB\R2019a\toolbox\ident\nlident\@idnlhw\plot.m % idnlhw method

C:\Program Files\MATLAB\R2019a\toolbox\mbc\mbcdata\@cgrules\plot.m % cgrules method

C:\Program Files\MATLAB\R2019a\toolbox\mbc\mbcmodels\@localavfit\plot.m % localavfit method

C:\Program Files\MATLAB\R2019a\toolbox\mbc\mbcmodels\@localmod\plot.m % localmod method

C:\Program Files\MATLAB\R2019a\toolbox\mbc\mbcmodels\@localmulti\plot.m % localmulti method

C:\Program Files\MATLAB\R2019a\toolbox\mbc\mbcmodels\@xregmodel\plot.m % xregmodel method

C:\Program Files\MATLAB\R2019a\toolbox\mbc\mbcmodels\@xregtransient\plot.m % xregtransient method

C:\Program Files\MATLAB\R2019a\toolbox\mbc\mbcmodels\@xregtwostage\plot.m % xregtwostage method

C:\Program Files\MATLAB\R2019a\toolbox\mbc\mbctools\@sweepset\plot.m % sweepset method

C:\Program Files\MATLAB\R2019a\toolbox\mbc\mbcview\@cgdatasetnode\plot.m % cgdatasetnode method

C:\Program Files\MATLAB\R2019a\toolbox\mpc\mpc\@mpc\plot.m % mpc method

C:\Program Files\MATLAB\R2019a\toolbox\robust\rctobsolete\robust\@frd\plot.m % frd method

C:\Program Files\MATLAB\R2019a\toolbox\signal\signal\@dspdata\plot.m % dspdata method

C:\Program Files\MATLAB\R2019a\toolbox\stats\classreg\@LinearModel\plot.m % LinearModel method

C:\Program Files\MATLAB\R2019a\toolbox\matlab\timeseries\@timeseries\plot.m % timeseries method

C:\Program Files\MATLAB\R2019a\toolbox\wavelet\wavelet\@dtree\plot.m % dtree method

C:\Program Files\MATLAB\R2019a\toolbox\wavelet\wavelet\@ntree\plot.m % ntree method

C:\Program Files\MATLAB\R2019a\toolbox\wavelet\wavelet\@wdectree\plot.m % wdectree method

C:\Program Files\MATLAB\R2019a\toolbox\wavelet\wavedemo\@edwttree\plot.m % edwttree method

C:\Program Files\MATLAB\R2019a\toolbox\wavelet\wavedemo\@rwvtree\plot.m % rwvtree method

C:\Program Files\MATLAB\R2019a\toolbox\wavelet\wavedemo\@wvtree\plot.m % wvtree method

>> which rand -all

built-in (C:\Program Files\MATLAB\R2019a\toolbox\matlab\randfun\rand)

C:\Program Files\MATLAB\R2019a\toolbox\matlab\randfun\@RandStream\rand.m % RandStream method

C:\Program Files\MATLAB\R2019a\toolbox\distcomp\parallel\@codistributed\rand.m % codistributed method

C:\Program Files\MATLAB\R2019a\toolbox\distcomp\parallel\@codistributor1d\rand.m % codistributor1d method

C:\Program Files\MATLAB\R2019a\toolbox\distcomp\parallel\@codistributor2dbc\rand.m % codistributor2dbc method

C:\Program Files\MATLAB\R2019a\toolbox\distcomp\parallel\@distributed\rand.m % distributed method

C:\Program Files\MATLAB\R2019a\toolbox\distcomp\gpu\@gpuArray\rand.m % gpuArray method

>>

[Walter Roberson]

Use

opengl info

to check to see which graphics card matlab is using and what driver version. Make sure you are up to date on the driver version.

[Stephen23]

Also check the default line properties:

https://www.mathworks.com/help/matlab/ref/matlab.graphics.primitive.line-properties.html

[sandhya sandhya]

With MATLAB R2017b I got output

pt = rand(2,5000);

plot(pt(1,:),pt(2,:),'bx');

[Bel Cho]

>> opengl info

Version: '3.3 INTEL-14.0.69'

Vendor: 'Parallels and Intel Inc.'

Renderer: 'Parallels using Intel Iris OpenGL Engine (Compat)'

MaxTextureSize: 16384

Visual: 'Visual 0x04, (RGBA 32 bits (8 8 8 8), Z depth 16 bits, Hardware acceleration, Double buffer, Antialias 8 samples)'

Software: 'false'

HardwareSupportLevel: 'full'

SupportsGraphicsSmoothing: 1

SupportsDepthPeelTransparency: 1

SupportsAlignVertexCenters: 1

Extensions: {85×1 cell}

MaxFrameBufferSize: 16384

[Daniel M]

Always sounds silly to suggest, but have you tried closing MATLAB and starting a new session?

[Walter Roberson]

You are using parallels virtual machine under a host operating system. What host are you using?

[Bel Cho]

@Daniel M I have. I have even uninstalled and reinstalled the program.

@Walter Roberson I am using Parallels on MacOS Catalina.

[Daniel M]

I have heard of a lot of issues with Catalina recently. You can report bugs here

<https://www.mathworks.com/support/bugreports/>

[Walter Roberson]

Yes, there is good reason to be suspicious of graphics in Catalina at present.

[Bel Cho]

Ok I will report this bug. Thank you all who commented/helped with this!

[Karina]

I reinstalled and installed the matlab 2023 and it doesn't give me any plots I go to school and it does at school. Same code working in University but not on my laptop. Please let me know why its blank

[Walter Roberson]

@Karina

Are you using Parallels Virtual Machine on MacOS to run MATLAB ? If so then which version of MacOS is your host?