'--' linestyle renders poorly in PDFs (but fine onscreen)

When I make a plot using dash-like linestyles and then print the plot to a PDF, the dashes are so small as to be invisible. For example:

x=0:0.1:10;
y=sin(x);
plot(x, y, 'Linestyle', '--');

This looks good onscreen, but when I print to a pdf there are so many dashed per unit length that the line looks continuous. Oddly if I print directly to a physical printer, the dashes look fine.

Any idea whether this is Adobe's problem, or MATLAB's? Or whether I can do anything about it?

Answer 1

[Jan]

The PDF is created by using an intermediate EPS or PS file. The conversion of dashed and dotted lines from Matlab to EPS is poor. Solutions:

• FEX: export_fig
• FEX: fixlines
• FEX: fixpslinestyle
• FEX: fix dashed and dotted lines.

Dear TMW: This problem is very old and very obvious. The solution looks very straight. So please update the EPS export accordingly. And to reduce the traffic on MATLAB Answers, buy export_fig and include it in the Matlab toolboxes, please.

[Drew Steen]

That's exactly what I needed, thanks.

[Jan]

You are welcome. Obviously you are not the only one who has this problem. It is worth to send as much improvement requests to TMW as possible.

[Thomas Kirven]

This doesn't work for me. I have dashed lines in a 3d figure. I print the figure as an eps file, then put it through these functions, and the file either comes out unable to be viewed or unchanged.

[Jan]

@Thomas: 3D graphics are renders by OpenGL in many cases. Then the created PDF contains a screenshot only and you cannot modify the contents directly. Please open a new thread and explain clearly, what the inputs are, and show an example of the problem as a screenshot. Thanks.

Again: Prefer to open a new thread than to hijack an existing one. This is an advantage for you and for the forum.