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Re: 3d EPS export files huge on Mac OS X, not so much on PCs

• To: mathgroup at smc.vnet.net
• Subject: [mg121861] Re: 3d EPS export files huge on Mac OS X, not so much on PCs
• From: Robert Rosenbaum <robertr at math.uh.edu>
• Date: Wed, 5 Oct 2011 04:01:28 -0400 (EDT)
• Delivered-to: l-mathgroup@mail-archive0.wolfram.com
• References: <201110040532.BAA20783@smc.vnet.net>

EPS is a vector format which means that the files contain instructions 
for drawing an image instead of coordinates with associated colors as 
with raster figures (eg: bmp, tiff, png, jpg).  The problem is that EPS 
doesn't render 3D graphics, so Mathematica is left with two options:
1) embed a raster into the EPS, or
2) generate a sequence of vector graphics commands that draws the 
projection of the 3D image.
For some reason your PC is choosing option 1 and your mac is choosing 
option 2, which yields large files.

The function Rasterize will force Mathematica to choose option 1 before 
you even export the figure.
The problem is that axes labels will also be rasterized instead of 
embedded as fonts.  Here's a tutorial on how to get the best of both:

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/6301676/mathematica-rasters-in-3d-graphics


Best,
Robert




On Oct 4, 2011, at 1:32 AM, Roger wrote:

> I generated a very simple Plot3D plot on my Mac (OS X v 6.4,
> Mathematica 8.0) and right-click Save As... EPS. The resulting file
> was 1.3MB (with more complex plots, I've seen plot file sizes of
> around 200MB!). When the same plot is processed on a PC running some
> Windows OS, the result is about 400KB. Unfortunately I am required to
> produce EPS files rather than JPGs directly even though LaTeX promptly
> converts them to JPGs.
>
> A similar (identical?) problem was reported four years ago on this
> newsgroup with an older version of Mathematica - except then the
> problem was with PC export:
> 
http://groups.google.com/group/comp.soft-sys.math.mathematica/browse_thread/thread/a669fd00915cbbf5/8d8d847ffca75f6d?lnk=gst&q=plot3d+huge#8d8d847ffca75f6d
>
> Has anyone else seen this issue or have any suggestions? Thanks.
>
>

• References:
  • 3d EPS export files huge on Mac OS X, not so much on PCs
    • From: Roger <rljunk50@gmail.com>