Export a 3D graph into a 3D interactive PDF

I need to convert a 3D graph generated by matlab into an interactive 3D PDF. I have tried both of the guides listed below but have been unable to get them to work.

https://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/fileexchange/25383-matlab-mesh-to-pdf-with-3d-interactive-object

https://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/fileexchange/37640-export-figure-to-3d-interactive-pdf

Could you please help

Thank you

[Walter Roberson]

What happened when you tried that second contribution, the one by @Ioannis Filippidis ?

[Mike]

I was unable to get the program to work and when I tried using the examples it said there was an error with the function.

[Jan]

I tried both tools and

https://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/fileexchange/31413-generate-u3d-files-from-stl-models-for-making-multilayer-3d-pdf-figures

for an hour and gave up. What a pity: it would be very useful and it seems to work for some users. But it is not stable enough for productive work and sharing code with other labs.

[Mike]

Thank you for trying the guides and helping me with this problem. Do you know if there is a way to convert a matlab graph to an interactive 3D PDF or is this not possible?

[Walter Roberson]

https://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/fileexchange/31413-generate-u3d-files-from-stl-models-for-making-multilayer-3d-pdf-figures maybe ?

[Mike]

I will give it a try and let you know how it goes

[Mike]

Do you know if there is a way to convert a matlab graph into an STL file?

[Walter Roberson]

There are File Exchange contributions to convert surface or patch to STL, and there is stlwrite()

[Mike]

Awesome thank you I was able to get the stlwrite to work

Answer 1

[Arun]

Hi Mike,

I understand that you want to convert a 3D graph by MATLAB into an interactive 3D PDF.

Here are few resources that might be useful in this regard:

1. GitHub repository that provides implementation to export figure as an U3D file or directly to 3D interactive graphics with a PDF (with updated code for the MATLAB File Exchange link you used): https://github.com/DmytroSytnyk/fig2u3d

2. You can convert surface or patch to a STL model and then generate U3D file from STL model for making multiplayer 3D PDF figures, here are steps to do so:

a. To convert surface or patch to a STL model:

• MathWorks File Exchange link: https://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/fileexchange/20922-stlwrite-write-ascii-or-binary-stl-files
• Using "stlwrite" function, for more information please refer MATLAB documentation link: https://www.mathworks.com/help/matlab/ref/stlwrite.html

b. To generate U3D file from STL model for making multipler 3D PDF figures you can use the shared MathWorks File Exchange link: https://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/fileexchange/31413-generate-u3d-files-from-stl-models-for-making-multilayer-3d-pdf-figures

I hope this helps you resolve the issue.