Why export_fig won't work if code is run automatically?

Hi, I've created a script that will update graphs every hour and save them as .jpgs using export_fig. When I manually run the script, it all goes smoothly, but when I use a c-shell to run MATLAB, the .jpg created is scrunched with no plot (only the title and axis labels are there). My .csh looks like this:

#! /bin/csh

matlab -nodisplay -nodesktop -r "run /home/mmateling/realtime/capebird.m"

So the script runs, with no errors, but there must be something wrong with the way my .csh script runs and the export_fig code. I am by no means a unix or matlab expert, so any help would be greatly appreciated!

Answer 1

[Image Analyst]

I think export_fig grabs pixels from the display memory, though I could be wrong. I never would have tried to run it with the nodisplay option so that nothing is displayed. Is anything at all being saved, like whatever happens to be on your screen at the moment?

[Marian]

Sorry, I should've included my code!

set(gcf, 'Color', 'white'); % white bckgr
saveas(gcf,'birdmet.jpg') 
drawnow 
export_fig(gcf, ...      % figure handle
    'birdmet',...       % name of output file without extension
    '-painters', ...     % renderer
    '-jpg', ...          % file format
    '-r100');           % resolution in dpi

I used a multitude of different websites to help me get to this point. And I tried taking out nodisplay and it still doesn't work. When I run my code as is, the .jpg is created exactly as I would expect, and is saved into my directory using export_fig

[Marian]

Ok - I've got it working now! Thank you!

Answer 2

[Sean de Wolski]

Did you drawnow() before exporting/printing?

[Marian]

This must've been the main problem! I wish I could accept both answers - I used

drawnow update expose

and took out the code nodisplay (as Image Analyst said to do, below), and it is finally working. Thank you!

[Sean de Wolski]

Well you could vote for 'em both :)