Keeping non-vector elements in a vector graph export

I am using Planet3D to generate some plots of transfers around the Solar System. I have figures such as this:

When I export them using

exportgraphics(gca,'name.pdf','ContentType','vector')

I get a pdf file of 90MB that is of course excessive. This is due to the high-resolution surfaces used by the Planet3D function. The alternative is to export it as a non-vector graphic (jpg or png), but I would like to keep the vector nature of the axes and the legend in order to integrate the figure text in my document. I wonder if there might be a way to tell the exportgraphics function to generate the figure with everything as a vector except for the planet objetcs, which can perfectly be rendered in low-resolution and inserted in the resulting pdf.

Answer 1

[Kartik]

Hi,

You can export the plot as a vector graphic while using low-resolution planet objects by setting the "Renderer" property of the figure to "Painters". This renderer creates vector graphics and is well-suited for simple graphics such as lines, patches, and text, but does not support high-resolution surface rendering.

Here is an example code that demonstrates this approach:

% Generate plot with Planet3D function
figure
p = Planet3D('Earth','Texture','Natural','Clouds',true);
hold on
% Add other plot elements
plot3(...)

% Set Renderer property to Painters
set(gcf,'Renderer','Painters')

% Export plot as PDF with vector graphics
exportgraphics(gca,'name.pdf','ContentType','vector')

For more information on the "Renderer" property and its options, see the MathWorks documentation:

https://www.mathworks.com/help/matlab/ref/matlab.graphics.axis.axes-properties.html#d120e397736

https://www.mathworks.com/help/matlab/ref/rendererinfo.html?searchHighlight=rendererinfo&s_tid=srchtitle_rendererinfo_1