Print figure to pdf -- file size too large

Hello,

I have a function which creates a plot that has roughly 500,000 data points on it. When I print this figure to a pdf and open the pdf file it takes slightly longer to open than a less complex plot (meaning less data points). A colleague of mine uses the same function to generate the same plot and print to pdf; when he opens this pdf file it may take 5 minutes to display the plot.

He can send me the pdf file generated on his machine and it still takes longer than expected to open the file on my machine.

I was under the impression that when printing to a pdf I was essentially saving an image. Why would a complex plot with more data points take longer to open (as a pdf) than a plot with less data on it if this is true?

Problem is occurring on a Windows 64-bit machine running Matlab 2014b. I am using a Windows 64-bit machine running Matlab 2013b.

I have tried specifying the resolution '-r300' but that does not seem to make a difference.

Is there a different way I can save this figure to a pdf file to avoid this problem?

I have included some sample code which reproduces the results:

t = linspace(0,10,500000);
A = 10;
for i=1:length(t)
    x(i) = A*sin(40*pi*t(i))+rand(1)/2;
    y(i) = A*cos(40*pi*t(i))+rand(1)/2;
end
hf = figure;
plot(x,y,'linewidth',2);
grid on
title('200 Circles','fontweight','bold','fontsize',14)
xlabel('x','fontweight','bold','fontsize',14)
ylabel('y','fontweight','bold','fontsize',14)
print(hf,'-dpdf','Test_plot.pdf')

Thanks for the help!

-Tom-

Answer 1

[Richard Quist]

I would guess that the PDF is being saved with an embedded image in 13b, and as a fully vectorized file in 14b. Try adding '-opengl' to your print command to force the use of the OpenGL renderer which will embed the figure as an image.

print(hf,'-dpdf','Test_plot.pdf', '-opengl')

Rich

[Tom]

Rich,

Thanks! It looks like this is just what I was looking for.

Cheers,

-Tom-