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Embedding and Publishing Interactive, 3-Dimensional, Scientific Figures in Portable Document Format (PDF) Files

2013; Public Library of Science; Volume: 8; Issue: 9 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1371/journal.pone.0069446

1932-6203

David G. Barnes, Michail Vidiassov, Bernhard Ruthensteiner, Christopher J. Fluke, Michelle R. Quayle, Colin R. McHenry,

Scientific Computing and Data Management

With the latest release of the S2PLOT graphics library, embedding interactive, 3-dimensional (3-d) scientific figures in Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF) files is simple, and can be accomplished without commercial software. In this paper, we motivate the need for embedding 3-d figures in scholarly articles. We explain how 3-d figures can be created using the S2PLOT graphics library, exported to Product Representation Compact (PRC) format, and included as fully interactive, 3-d figures in PDF files using the movie15 LaTeX package. We present new examples of 3-d PDF figures, explain how they have been made, validate them, and comment on their advantages over traditional, static 2-dimensional (2-d) figures. With the judicious use of 3-d rather than 2-d figures, scientists can now publish, share and archive more useful, flexible and faithful representations of their study outcomes. The article you are reading does not have embedded 3-d figures. The full paper, with embedded 3-d figures, is recommended and is available as a supplementary download from PLoS ONE (File S2).