MATLAB figure export is very slow compared to R

Question

I regularly have to export many figures (hundreds) into a single file. Currently I use ``` print('-dpsc2', outfile, '-append'); ``` My code uses a single hidden figure that is being re-used for each new figure. Now, the problem is that I can achieve a maximum export speed of around 8 figures per second. In R, you can easily plot around 200 figures per second. Does anyone have any suggestions how to (substantially) speed up MATLAB's exporting capabilities? Jan

Accepted Answer

I feel your pain. This issue is also why the `getframe` function for generating movies is so inefficient. The only way I know around it is to write a simpler function that calls the low-level `hardcopy` function. Here's an example of this for image-based graphics along with some caveats. The `hardcopy` function supports both the 'dpsc2' and 'append' options that `print` does:

```
hardcopy(gcf,'outfile.ps','-dpsc2','-append');
```

Whereas `print(gcf,'-dpsc2', 'outfile.ps', '-append');` takes about 0.12 seconds, the above takes only 0.004 seconds on my machine!

If you do `help hardcopy` you won't get very much information. However, if you need to reverse engineer anything you can read the code for `print` (`edit print`) or the various private functions it calls (e.g., `edit private/render`, `edit private/paperfig`, `edit private/ghostscript`).

MATLAB figure export is very slow compared to R

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