[PyX-user] 3d graph -> bitmap -> pdf ???

[Benedikt K. <li...@be...>]

Hi All,

I have a problem concerning the file size of my plots. Producing 3d
graphs of my data leads to single PDF files of several MB size.
Including these graphs in my paper gives a nice to print document, but
it is way to big for easy electronic distribution as PDF. So I was
thinking if there is a way to produce these high quality vector graphics
for the print version of the paper but to somehow get some smaller sized
graph files for the electronic version.

Currently I am limiting the size by plotting only every x-th point. But
obviously this is a stupid solution if you are lucky enough to have high
resolution data in the first place. Alternatively I could use pipeGS to
produce bitmaps of the complete graph, but I'd rather keep the axes and
text as vectors and only have the actual data as bitmap.

My idea is basically to produce the highly resolved 3d graph, then
convert the plotted data into a bitmap while keeping axes and text in
vector format and then write the whole stuff to a PDF. This should keep
file sizes moderate even if the bitmap has printing quality of around
300 dpi.

Are there any opinions on whether some thing like this is possible at
all using PyX and if yes, how to do it? Or is there any other way to
keep file size small for complexe plots?

Thanks already,
bene