Learning Processing: A Beginner's Guide to Programming Images ...

402 Learning Processing
void draw() {
// Begin making the PDF
if (recordPDF) {
beginRaw(PDF, " 3D.pdf " );
}
background(255);
stroke(0);
noFill();
translate(width/2,height/2);
rotateX(xTheta);
rotateY(yTheta);
box(100);
xTheta + = 0.02;
yTheta + = 0.03;
// End making the PDF
if (recordPDF) {
endRaw();
recordPDF = false;
}
}
// Make the PDF when the mouse is pressed
void mousePressed() {
recordPDF = true;
}
Two important notes about the PDF library.
• Images —If you are displaying images in the PDF, these will not necessarily look good after export.
A 320 � 240 pixel image is still a 320 � 240 pixel image whether rendered into a high-resolution
PDF or not.
• Text —If you are displaying text in the PDF, you will have to have the font installed in order to view
the PDF properly. One way around this is to include “ textMode(SHAPE); ” after size( ) . This will
render the text as a shape to the PDF and not require the font installed.
For full documentation of the PDF library, visit the Processing reference page at http://processing.org/
reference/libraries/pdf/index.html . While the PDF library will take care of many of your needs related
to high-resolution generation, there are two other contributed libraries that might be of interest. One
is proSVG by Christian Riekoff for exporting fi les in the SVG ( “ Scalable Vector Graphics ” ) format:
http://www.texone.org/prosvg/ . Another is SimplePostScript by Marius Watz for writing vector fi les in the
PostScript format: http://processing.unlekker.net/SimplePostscript/ .
21.4
Exercise 21-2: Create a PDF from any Processing sketch you have made or any example
in this book.
Images/ saveFrame( )
If you include “####”
in the fi lename—
“3D-####.pdf”—separate,
numbered PDFs will be
made for each frame that
is rendered.
fi g. 21.4
High-resolution PDFs are useful for printing; however, you can also save the contents of the Processing
window as an image fi le (with the same resolution as the pixel size of the window itself ). Th is is
accomplished with save( ) or saveFrame( ) .