MATLAB Creating Graphical User Interfaces

DPI-Aware Behavior in MATLAB

In this section...

“Visual Appearance” on page 9-58

“Using Object Properties” on page 9-60

“Using print, getframe, and publish Functions” on page 9-61

Starting in R2015b, MATLAB is DPI-aware, which means that it takes advantage of your

full system resolution to draw graphical elements (fonts, UIs, and graphics). Graphical

elements appear sharp and consistent in size on these high-DPI systems:

• Windows systems in which the display dots-per-inch (DPI) value is set higher than 96


• Macintosh systems with Apple Retina displays

DPI-aware behavior does not apply to Linux systems.

Previously, MATLAB allowed some operating systems to scale graphical elements. That

scaling helped to maintain consistent appearance and functionality, but it also introduced

undesirable effects. Graphical elements often looked blurry, and the size of those

elements was sometimes inconsistent.

Visual Appearance

Here are the visual effects you might notice on high-DPI systems:

• The MATLAB desktop, graphics, fonts, and most UI components look sharp and render
  with full graphical detail on Macintosh and Windows systems.

9 Lay Out a Programmatic UI