EPS Export in R2018a/b

In the recent years EPS export in Matlab has been rocky. But at last I could save decent figures in R2015b. Now in R2018a or R2018b if I export with 'renderer' set to 'opengl', I get a bitmap image (heap of pixels). If I set it to 'painters' I basically get all the restrictions of that algorithm (no alpha channel, for example). Better than nothing of course, but there's more stupid work in the pipeline to get a proper visualization. Is there a way to get a vectorized EPS output from an OpenGL figure? Do people at Matlab care? This maddening me.

(Edit: EPS export through the menu of the figure window, or with print -depsc2; same result. R2018a on MacOS 10.12.6).

[OCDER]

Upload the .fig file and the command you are using to save the eps file so that we can confirm this issue.

Answer 1

[OCDER]

Here are some posts that deal with similar issues:

https://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/answers/92521-why-does-matlab-not-export-eps-files-properly

opengl is a bitmap renderer, so it makes sense you are getting a bitmapped .eps file. Using painters is the right way to go, but again, you do lose the alpha channel as you are already aware of. Seems like svg is the other format to use, read this:

https://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/answers/55554-getting-transparency-in-a-vector-plot

[Pierre]

Thank you very much for the suggestion of SVG; apparently it seems to do the job, even for more complex graphics (though import in Illustrator is very slow then).

Nevertheless, I'd like to remind you that in R2015b you got vector graphics in EPS with the OpenGL renderer (file attached). Now you don't. It's called a regression, and that a product gets more limited by the years does not make perfect sense to me.

[OCDER]

I understand the frustration, as even Microsoft has removed support of eps files and caused a lot of headaches.

https://support.office.com/en-us/article/support-for-eps-images-has-been-turned-off-in-office-a069d664-4bcf-415e-a1b5-cbb0c334a840

I wonder if this article about the PostScript bug might explain why eps is being avoided. Seems like it could cause serious damages...

https://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/01/31/postscript_bug/