Export Publication-Quality Figures from SciDAVis (SVG, EPS, PDF)
A figure that looks crisp on screen can still print as a blurry mess — or be rejected by a journal’s production system. This guide explains how to get your SciDAVis graphs out of the program in the right format: when to use vector formats (SVG, EPS, PDF) versus bitmaps, how the Export Graph dialog works, what resolution journals actually require, and the font pitfalls to check before you submit.
Version note: written for v2.9.x (SourceForge binaries are 2.8). Export behavior is the same in both.
Step 1 — Understand vector vs. bitmap
| Vector (SVG, EPS, PDF) | Bitmap (PNG, TIFF, BMP, JPEG) | |
|---|---|---|
| What it stores | Instructions: “draw a line from A to B” | A grid of colored pixels |
| Zooming / resizing | Perfect at any size | Gets blocky when enlarged |
| File size | Tiny for line plots | Grows with resolution |
| Best for | Line plots, scatter plots, bar charts — nearly all SciDAVis output | Only when the journal explicitly demands raster, or for 3D surface screenshots |
Rule of thumb: if your figure is lines, symbols, and text — which is almost everything SciDAVis produces — export vector. Resolution becomes a non-issue, and the publisher can scale the figure to the column width without quality loss. SciDAVis exports to several bitmap formats as well as PDF, EPS, and SVG, so you are covered either way.
Step 2 — Prepare the graph before exporting
Export captures the graph window as it is. Fix these before exporting, not after in an image editor:
- Size the window to the final figure size. A single-column figure is typically ~8–9 cm wide; a full-page figure ~17 cm. If the window is much larger than the target, text and line widths will look wrong after scaling.
- Check fonts. Use standard, widely available fonts for all titles, tick labels, and legends (e.g. a common sans-serif or Times-like serif, plus Symbol for Greek letters). Decorative or system-specific fonts may not survive the trip through the publisher’s workflow.
- Make lines and symbols print-sized. On screen, 1-pt lines look fine; in print they can vanish. Use line widths of at least ~1 pt and symbols large enough to survive shrinking to column width.
- Simplify. Remove gridlines you don’t need, and keep the legend only if the figure actually needs it.
Step 3 — Export with Export Graph → Current
With the finished graph window active, choose Graph → Export Graph → Current (the Export Graph dialog). Choose the format:
- SVG — best for web pages, slides, and Word/LibreOffice documents. Editable in Inkscape if you need last-minute tweaks.
- EPS — the traditional choice for LaTeX workflows (
\includegraphics). Still requested by many journals. - PDF — the modern all-rounder: works in LaTeX, Word, and direct submission systems.
- PNG/TIFF — only when a bitmap is explicitly required. Pick the highest resolution/quality the dialog offers (see Step 4).
Multi-layer graphs export as one figure automatically — the whole graph window, all layers, goes into the single file (see multi-layer graphs).
Step 4 — Meet journal resolution requirements
If you must deliver a bitmap, journals typically require:
| Figure type | Typical requirement |
|---|---|
| Line art (plots, diagrams) | 600–1200 DPI at final print size |
| Grayscale / combination | 300–600 DPI at final print size |
| Photographs | 300 DPI at final print size |
“At final print size” is the part people miss: 300 DPI on a 17-cm-wide figure means roughly 2000 pixels across. Exporting a small window at screen resolution and upscaling later does not create real detail. So: size the graph window to the print dimensions first, then export the bitmap at the highest quality setting available. With vector formats you can skip this arithmetic entirely — one more reason to prefer them.
Step 5 — Check fonts and open the exported file
Before submitting, open the exported file in a different program (a PDF viewer, Inkscape, or the journal’s preview) and check:
- All text is present and selectable (vector) — no missing Greek letters or symbols.
- Nothing overlaps: long axis titles or legends that fit in the window can collide after format conversion.
- The file actually contains vector data where you expected it — zoom to 400%; lines and text should stay sharp.
If a font goes missing, the usual fix is to switch that text element to a standard font in SciDAVis and re-export. Embedding behavior depends on the Qt print drivers underneath SciDAVis, so the practical rule is: standard fonts in, standard fonts out.
Automating export with Python (optional)
Exporting dozens of figures by hand is error-prone. The documented scripting API exports layers and whole graphs directly:
g = graph("Graph1")
g.exportToSVG("/path/to/figure.svg")
g.exportToEPS("/path/to/figure.eps")
l = g.activeLayer()
l.exportImage("/path/to/figure.png", filetype="PNG", quality=100)See the Python scripting guide for batch-export loops.
Next steps
- Build the figure first: multi-layer graphs, or fit your data with curve fitting.
- Automate repetitive exports: Python scripting.
- Need the program? Download SciDAVis.