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How can I export an eps image (vector graphics)?

Posted Sep 6, 2012, 9:44 a.m. EDT Version 4.0, Version 4.0a, Version 4.1, Version 4.2, Version 4.2a, Version 4.3, Version 4.3a, Version 4.4 15 Replies

Matan Mussel
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Hello,

I would like to export an image of the model geometry as an .eps file (vector graphics). I could not find how to do that and it seems that the only options are jpg, png and bmp.

Thank you.
15 Replies Last Post Feb 5, 2016, 6:06 a.m. EST
Ivar KJELBERG COMSOL Multiphysics(r) fan, retired, former "Senior Expert" at CSEM SA (CH)
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Posted: 1 decade ago Sep 6, 2012, 11:49 a.m. EDT
Hi

indeed COMSOL does not make ALL formats, but arnt htere some translators out on the free market ?

and perhaps suggest the format to "support" it might appear in a future release, if one do not need to pay extra for that one ;)

--
Good luck
Ivar
Hi indeed COMSOL does not make ALL formats, but arnt htere some translators out on the free market ? and perhaps suggest the format to "support" it might appear in a future release, if one do not need to pay extra for that one ;) -- Good luck Ivar
Matan Mussel
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Posted: 1 decade ago Sep 6, 2012, 11:54 p.m. EDT
Hi Ivar,

Thank you for your quick reply. I'm not sure I understood your answer - is this option impossible in COMSOL (4.2a) ? This is really odd as the geometry surly coded as a vector graphics (you can zoom-in infinitly) and this is a common requirement for scientific articles. I'm sure I'm not the first that ask for eps picture.

Matan

Hi Ivar, Thank you for your quick reply. I'm not sure I understood your answer - is this option impossible in COMSOL (4.2a) ? This is really odd as the geometry surly coded as a vector graphics (you can zoom-in infinitly) and this is a common requirement for scientific articles. I'm sure I'm not the first that ask for eps picture. Matan
Ryan McDevitt
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Posted: 1 decade ago Sep 7, 2012, 9:29 a.m. EDT
Line plots can be exported as .eps, but all other plots are limited to .bmp, .jpg or .png. You can confirm this on the COMSOL website, where it lists supported formats.
Line plots can be exported as .eps, but all other plots are limited to .bmp, .jpg or .png. You can confirm this on the COMSOL website, where it lists supported formats.
Ivar KJELBERG COMSOL Multiphysics(r) fan, retired, former "Senior Expert" at CSEM SA (CH)
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Posted: 1 decade ago Sep 7, 2012, 9:30 a.m. EDT
Hi

I do agree with you, but that is also why I suggest that you send your question to support, here on the Forum we are only users of COMSOL, not COMSOL developpers ;)

Then what I do not know is if eps is a Adobe protected format, in which case it probably requires some licence agreements, hence also increasing in cost of the COMSOl software for us. I personally prefer to use my maintenance budget to save get new physics modules, rather than to have all file formats, even if eps is rather "common".

But then my need is not to write articles, but to write reports to my clients of my COMSOLl results, so I can happily live with jpg and png ;)

--
Good luck
Ivar
Hi I do agree with you, but that is also why I suggest that you send your question to support, here on the Forum we are only users of COMSOL, not COMSOL developpers ;) Then what I do not know is if eps is a Adobe protected format, in which case it probably requires some licence agreements, hence also increasing in cost of the COMSOl software for us. I personally prefer to use my maintenance budget to save get new physics modules, rather than to have all file formats, even if eps is rather "common". But then my need is not to write articles, but to write reports to my clients of my COMSOLl results, so I can happily live with jpg and png ;) -- Good luck Ivar
Alexander Kuznetsov
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Posted: 1 decade ago Sep 7, 2012, 12:19 p.m. EDT
Just save it as .png at very high resolution and then convert to .eps. Usually it works fine for journal publications.
Just save it as .png at very high resolution and then convert to .eps. Usually it works fine for journal publications.
Matan Mussel
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Posted: 1 decade ago Sep 9, 2012, 1:58 a.m. EDT
Hello all,

Thank you very much for your quick reply and helpful suggestions. I'll go with saving the picture as a high resolution png and will send COMSOL a suggestion for having a vector graphics export feature in their future versions.

Hello all, Thank you very much for your quick reply and helpful suggestions. I'll go with saving the picture as a high resolution png and will send COMSOL a suggestion for having a vector graphics export feature in their future versions.
Chris Layman
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Posted: 1 decade ago Oct 18, 2012, 7:23 p.m. EDT
I too find this so frustrating, in 3.5 you could save as eps and now you can't?! Seems weird, this must be done on purpose for some cockamamie reason. Saving as a png and converting to eps defeats the whole purpose of a vector graphics format. This is THE default format for scientific publications, and being able to manipulate them in an editor such as Illustrator is pretty darn important.
I too find this so frustrating, in 3.5 you could save as eps and now you can't?! Seems weird, this must be done on purpose for some cockamamie reason. Saving as a png and converting to eps defeats the whole purpose of a vector graphics format. This is THE default format for scientific publications, and being able to manipulate them in an editor such as Illustrator is pretty darn important.
Ashish Khandelwal
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Posted: 1 decade ago Jun 4, 2013, 4:13 a.m. EDT
Hi

Its EASY to get eps image in COMSOL4.0 and above.


In COMSOL 4.0 and advanced version just above the plot windo there is a 'camera' to export picture. Click on it you will get a popup windo of image snapshot, there in targets you select 'file' option. Once you go for file you can see different extension 'eps' is also an option there.


Good luck for your journal submission

regards,
Ashish
Hi Its EASY to get eps image in COMSOL4.0 and above. In COMSOL 4.0 and advanced version just above the plot windo there is a 'camera' to export picture. Click on it you will get a popup windo of image snapshot, there in targets you select 'file' option. Once you go for file you can see different extension 'eps' is also an option there. Good luck for your journal submission regards, Ashish
Sergio Mazzotti
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Posted: 1 decade ago Mar 14, 2014, 3:37 a.m. EDT
Hi,

I'm struggling with the same problem as you guys, but also if I use the "camera", I can't export something in an eps format(this option does not exist) and I'm using COMSOL 4.4.
Can somebody tell me what went wrong?

Best

Sergio
Hi, I'm struggling with the same problem as you guys, but also if I use the "camera", I can't export something in an eps format(this option does not exist) and I'm using COMSOL 4.4. Can somebody tell me what went wrong? Best Sergio
Gunnar Andersson COMSOL Employee

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Posted: 1 decade ago Mar 14, 2014, 3:47 a.m. EDT
You can export to EPS from the Image Snapshot dialog (the camera icon), but only if what's shown in the graphics window is a 1D plot.
You can export to EPS from the Image Snapshot dialog (the camera icon), but only if what's shown in the graphics window is a 1D plot.
Sergio Mazzotti
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Posted: 1 decade ago Mar 14, 2014, 4:56 a.m. EDT
Hi Gunnar,

thanks for your very quick response. The Plot I want to export is a 2D or 3D Plot. Is there really no possibility of exporting it as .eps? I need the Plot as an .eps file. Do you have any other suggestions how I can get a very good resolution as .png?
Best and thanks for your help.

Sergio
Hi Gunnar, thanks for your very quick response. The Plot I want to export is a 2D or 3D Plot. Is there really no possibility of exporting it as .eps? I need the Plot as an .eps file. Do you have any other suggestions how I can get a very good resolution as .png? Best and thanks for your help. Sergio
Gunnar Andersson COMSOL Employee

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Posted: 1 decade ago Mar 14, 2014, 7:17 a.m. EDT

thanks for your very quick response. The Plot I want to export is a 2D or 3D Plot. Is there really no possibility of exporting it as .eps? I need the Plot as an .eps file. Do you have any other suggestions how I can get a very good resolution as .png?


No, there is no way to export a 2D or 3D plot to EPS. PNG is usually the best format; set the Resolution in the Image Snapshot to the DPI of the media where you will use the code, and set the image's size in pixels or millimeters depending on what you will use it for.



[QUOTE] thanks for your very quick response. The Plot I want to export is a 2D or 3D Plot. Is there really no possibility of exporting it as .eps? I need the Plot as an .eps file. Do you have any other suggestions how I can get a very good resolution as .png? [/QUOTE] No, there is no way to export a 2D or 3D plot to EPS. PNG is usually the best format; set the Resolution in the Image Snapshot to the DPI of the media where you will use the code, and set the image's size in pixels or millimeters depending on what you will use it for.
Felipe Beltran-Mejia
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Posted: 1 decade ago Mar 15, 2014, 1:36 p.m. EDT
What I do in those cases is to plot it using matlab.

After that I export it to SVG format using the plot2svg function, available through Matlab Exchange Central.

I prefer SVG than EPS, but if you need EPS then I believe that would be even easier.

Also, I add my vote for a vectorial graphics export option!!

Felipe BM
What I do in those cases is to plot it using matlab. After that I export it to SVG format using the plot2svg function, available through Matlab Exchange Central. I prefer SVG than EPS, but if you need EPS then I believe that would be even easier. Also, I add my vote for a vectorial graphics export option!! Felipe BM
Antoine Riaud
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Posted: 1 decade ago Sep 18, 2014, 4:20 a.m. EDT
I have a solution for 2 D data:
You can use the Livelink with matlab, open the figure in matlab using the function
mphgeom (for the geometry of your problem)
mphplot (for a physical field you computed)
I had to change the renderer of matlab to do get real eps.
After opening the livelink, a typical command line in matlab command window is
mphgeom(model); %displays the geometry in matlab
axis equal
axis off % removes the axis the figure
set(gcf,'Renderer','painters'); %default is OpenGL, it doesn't work here. You may get some warnings here
%about RGB display.
print('-depsc','simulation_geometry'); %saves the eps

Also, you can import the data in matlab (mpheval) and then display them using matlab functions, such as contourf, and save them as eps using the print command.
I have a solution for 2 D data: You can use the Livelink with matlab, open the figure in matlab using the function mphgeom (for the geometry of your problem) mphplot (for a physical field you computed) I had to change the renderer of matlab to do get real eps. After opening the livelink, a typical command line in matlab command window is mphgeom(model); %displays the geometry in matlab axis equal axis off % removes the axis the figure set(gcf,'Renderer','painters'); %default is OpenGL, it doesn't work here. You may get some warnings here %about RGB display. print('-depsc','simulation_geometry'); %saves the eps Also, you can import the data in matlab (mpheval) and then display them using matlab functions, such as contourf, and save them as eps using the print command.
Felipe Beltran-Mejia
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Posted: 9 years ago Feb 5, 2016, 6:06 a.m. EST
Great solution Antoine.
Thanks for sharing!

Do you know if this is possible to do with a surface plot?

I want the plot axes and the numbers as vectorials, and the surface plot as a embedded bitmap. Unfortunately, Painters renderer is not able to do this.

Do you know a way to achieve this result?

cheers,
Felipe Beltran-Mejia
Great solution Antoine. Thanks for sharing! Do you know if this is possible to do with a surface plot? I want the plot axes and the numbers as vectorials, and the surface plot as a embedded bitmap. Unfortunately, Painters renderer is not able to do this. Do you know a way to achieve this result? cheers, Felipe Beltran-Mejia

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