octave(matlab), how create plots without displaying?

Question

The problem with octave(matlab). In the program I have loop where I plot data. In the end of each loop I save plots to disc. During this process octave draw each plot. It slows down the process. I need only plots to be saved on disc. If I could not display them,but just save, it would considerably accelerate the process. Is there way to draw plot to handler without displaying it? to draw I use scatter function.

Answer 1

This is not tested with matlab, and potentially only limited to octave.

Using f = figure('visible','off') will not work out of the box.

You need to select a proper graphics toolkit:

available_graphics_toolkits 
ans = 
{
  [1,1] = fltk
  [1,2] = gnuplot
}

The default is fltk which cannot write to file without displaying the plot. However, if you select gnuplot it will be able to write to file without displaying it first:

graphics_toolkit gnuplot

f = figure('visible','off')
plot(...)
axis(...)
filename=sprintf('output/%05d.png',t);                                                                          
print(filename); 

It is not particularly fast, but it doesn't use screen buffers or captures the mouse, which happens if the plot needs to be visible.

Answer 2

As answered in this question, I would do:

f = figure('visible','off')