[R] Reducing the size of pdf graphics files produced with R

[Paul Hiemstra]

Hi all,

Maybe a bit late, but I found a way that worked great for me.

In windows, download CutePDF
In linux (debian for me), install CUPS and cups-pdf

Open your pdf with a viewer and print to CutePDF or cups-pdf. Both 
support a range of compression options. I use cups-pdf and reduced an R 
output file of 3.6 mb to 0.9 mb. Much better if you want to include in a 
Latex article

cheers,
Paul

Chabot Denis wrote:
> Hi,
>
> Without trying to print 1000000 points (see <http:// 
> finzi.psych.upenn.edu/R/Rhelp02a/archive/42105.html>), I often print  
> maps for which I do not want to loose too much of coastline detail,  
> and/or plots with 1000-5000 points (yes, some are on top of each  
> other, but using transparency (i.e. rgb colors with alpha  
> information) this actually comes through as useful information.
>
> But the files are large (not as large as in the thread above of  
> course, 800 KB to about 2 MB), especially when included in a LaTeX  
> document by the dozen.
>
> Acrobat (not the reader, the full program) has an option "reduce file  
> size". I don't know what it does, but it shrinks most of my plots to  
> about 30% or original size, and I cannot detect any loss of detail  
> even when zooming several times. But it is a pain to do this with  
> Acrobat when you generate many plots... And you need to buy Acrobat.
>
> Is this something the pdf device could do in a future version? I  
> tried the "million points" example from the thread above and the 55  
> MB file was reduced to 6.9 MB, an even better shrinking I see on my  
> usual plots.
>
>
> Denis Chabot
>
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-- 
Drs. Paul Hiemstra
Department of Physical Geography
Faculty of Geosciences
University of Utrecht
Heidelberglaan 2
P.O. Box 80.115
3508 TC Utrecht
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http://intamap.geo.uu.nl/~paul