Re: Exported PDFs are too big in file size.
- To: mathgroup at smc.vnet.net
- Subject: [mg90983] Re: Exported PDFs are too big in file size.
- From: Jean-Marc Gulliet <jeanmarc.gulliet at gmail.com>
- Date: Sat, 2 Aug 2008 03:24:46 -0400 (EDT)
- Organization: The Open University, Milton Keynes, UK
- References: <g6uch9$pda$1@smc.vnet.net>
Mahn-Soo Choi wrote: > I usually export Mathematica plots to PDF format. I don't like bitmap > formats. > > The problem is the file size. Most of the 3D graphics on Mathematica 6 > are exported to PDF files as large as several megabytes > (even several tens MB sometimes). > > For example, this simple 3D graphics > > ContourPlot3D[ > Exp[-(x^2 + y^2 + z^2)/2], {x, 0, 2}, {y, 0, 2}, {z, 0, 2}, > Mesh -> None] > > generates a PDF as large as 3.7 MB!! > > With Mathematica 5, the file size was reasonable. > > Is there something I'm missing with Mathematica 6? > Thanks in advance for any help. On my system (Mac OS X Leopard 1.5.4) I would select the plot, then use menu "Print Selection" and choose "PDF". The Mac built-in PDF rendering engine produces a file of only 628 KB (rather than the 3.6 MB file produce by Mathematica), file that is rendered virtually instantaneously within Preview (built-in PDF viewer) rather than showing a animation of the polygons being drawn. Having say that, if you need an even smaller size, setting a lower value for the option *MaxRecursion* might dramatically decrease the size of the PDF file generated by Mathematica. For instance, ContourPlot3D[ Exp[-(x^2 + y^2 + z^2)/2], {x, 0, 2}, {y, 0, 2}, {z, 0, 2}, Mesh -> None, MaxRecursion -> 0] yields a 68 KB PDF file when the plot is exported by Mathematica. Regards, -- Jean-Marc