Exported 3D plot into SVG shows swirly white lines between chopped subshapes in inkscape

when i export the 3D figures into svg using the following line

print(fig2,'LQF_axis','-dsvg','-painters');

svg file is generated and when i open it in Inkscape, there are some swirly white lines separating subshapes. It seems that the vector graphics chopped into pieces in not efficient way and therefore while lines are to be seen.

the problem i have it only with surface,

s=surf(X,Y,LQF_axis','FaceColor','flat','LineStyle','-','EdgeColor','k');hold on;

is there a way to get rid of these annoyed white lines in the exported svg file or to make a better connection of thiny chopped pieces genereted from the print command?

[Adam Danz]

Please share the MATLAB release you're using. Set the Products field in the right to MATLAB and then fill in the Release field. That info will help out.

[Abdullah]

Thanks. Just updated!

[Adam Danz]

Thanks, that's helpful to track the issue. Unfortunately I cannot offer a workaround with vectorized images.

[Felix Maurer]

Good day,

there is a workaround for surfaces that works for me in most cases. Since the issue is related to the grid size of the surface, you might plot the surface twice, a second time on top, with (1) different grid resolution, (2) a shift in case you cannot simply change the grid. The idea is that the white spaces of one surface are covered by the other.

Some advice: choose an odd ratio between grid sizes.

It is not a great solution, since you have the entire surface twice, but that is why it is only a workaround.

Here is sample code:

%% first only with one resolution (64)

close all;

figure;

hold on;

for N = 64

x = linspace(0,1,N);

y = linspace(0,1,N);

z = sin(x*(2*pi)).*cos(y'*(3*pi));

surf(x,y,z,'EdgeColor','none')

end

view([225 45])

print(sprintf('testSurfacePre.svg'), '-dsvg','-vector');

hold off

%% now only with two resolutions (64,67)

close all;

figure;

hold on;

for N = [64,67]

x = linspace(0,1,N);

y = linspace(0,1,N);

z = sin(x*(2*pi)).*cos(y'*(3*pi));

surf(x,y,z,'EdgeColor','none')

end

view([225 45])

print(sprintf('testSurfacePostRes.svg'), '-dsvg','-vector');

hold off

%% now only with two resolutions and offset

close all;

figure;

hold on;

k = 0;

for N = [64,67]

x = linspace(0,1,N);

y = linspace(0,1,N);

z = sin(x*(2*pi)).*cos(y'*(3*pi))+k;

k = k+0.001;

surf(x,y,z,'EdgeColor','none')

end

view([225 45])

print(sprintf('testSurfacePostResOffset.svg'), '-dsvg','-vector');

hold off

[Abdullah]

Thank your Felix for your comment. i will check it later on and if it worked i will accept your answer

Answer 1

[Adam Danz]

The white lines issue has been around for a while and is an effect of how viewing software rasterizes vectors. There have been some improvements to this issue over the years but these improvements do not solve the issue in all circumstances.

There are many similar threads in this forum that discuss this issue. Here are some similar threads that may or may not provide helpful advice.

• Artifacts in figures exported as PDF from Matlab
• White lines appear in postscript
• White line etching on exported .eps figures in R2014b
• Blank white lines in eps exported surf plots.
• White lines in eps figures in matlab 2015b
• How can I get rid of the white lines caused due to rendering issues?