Import external PDF or SVG to Makie figure

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1

Hello,

I would like to create a simple figure with Makie.jl, where on the left I have an Axis, and on the right an external PDF. I haven’t found anything around, except the MakieTeX.jl package, where I can import a PDF or SVG with

SVGDocument(read("file.svg", String))
PDFDocument(read("file.pdf", String))

However this is specific for latex files, while I just need to import a PDF.

Are there simpler ways?

2

Hello!

Try loading your PDF file with FileIO.jl and then plot it as an image:

using FileIO, CairoMakie # You'll need to install ImageMagick.jl package, too
pdf_file = load("path/to/your.pdf")

fig = Figure()
scatter(fig[1, 1], 1:10, rand(10))
img_ax, = image(fig[1, 2], pdf_file', axis = (aspect = DataAspect(), yreversed = true))
hidedecorations!(img_ax)
fig
3

I have installed imagemagick with brew update && brew install imagemagick but I still get

Error encountered while load File{DataFormat{:PDF}, String}("figures/header.pdf").

Fatal error:
ERROR: ArgumentError: Package ImageMagick [6218d12a-5da1-5696-b52f-db25d2ecc6d1] is required but does not seem to be installed:
 - Run `Pkg.instantiate()` to install all recorded dependencies.
4

Oh, probably my bad wording. You need ImageMagick.jl, like, the Julia package.

]add ImageMagick
5

Ok, it crashes now

julia> using FileIO

julia> pdf_file = load("figures/header.pdf")
Assertion failed: (string_info->signature == MagickCoreSignature), function GetStringInfoDatum, file MagickCore/string.c, line 1200.

[26859] signal 6: Abort trap: 6
in expression starting at REPL[4]:1
__pthread_kill at /usr/lib/system/libsystem_kernel.dylib (unknown line)
Allocations: 6701183 (Pool: 6700724; Big: 459); GC: 9
zsh: abort      julia --project
6

Ok, with a different PDF file works. It very strange since MakieTeX is able to import the previous file.

7

BTW, it seems that the image is resterized, while I still need it to be a vector graphic.

8

You could try if this still works Viewer for PDF images - #35 by jules

9

Why do you say that is specifically for latex files? An SVGDocument or PDFDocument in MakieTeX can work with arbitrary PDFs or SVGs…maybe that wasn’t made clear in the docs?