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

[Paul Hiemstra]

Hi,

I tried to compile gsview on my system, but that failed and because 
CUPS-pdf works, I didn't try any further.

cheers,
Paul

Gavin Simpson wrote:
> On Thu, 2008-02-07 at 11:52 +0100, Paul Hiemstra wrote:
>   
>> 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
>>     
>
> An alternative on Windows and Linux is GSView and Ghostscript:
>
> http://pages.cs.wisc.edu/~ghost/gsview/
>
> Using the convert option (File menu) one can use the pdfwrite driver and
> set (under properties) CompressPages to TRUE. You can tweak a lot of the
> PDF/Distiller preferences here as well.
>
> G
>
>   
>> 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
>>>
>>> ______________________________________________
>>> R-help at stat.math.ethz.ch mailing list
>>> https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help
>>> PLEASE do read the posting guide http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html
>>> and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code.
>>>   
>>>       
>>     


-- 
Drs. Paul Hiemstra
Department of Physical Geography
Faculty of Geosciences
University of Utrecht
Heidelberglaan 2
P.O. Box 80.115
3508 TC Utrecht
Phone: 	+31302535773
Fax:	+31302531145
http://intamap.geo.uu.nl/~paul