shader=interp bug

[Atcold]

The option shader=inter gives different results on different PDF readers.
Is there a way to generate more reader-friendly outputs?
Perhaps exporting a PNG for these surfaces, while leaving the axis and the rest vectorial?
Also, when I export matplotlib figures in PDF I don't observe such distortions.
So, although I understand it's a viewer issue, other visualisation packages find an alternative.

From the manual last figure of section 4.8.3.

Adobe Acrobat

Mac Preview

From section 4.6.9

Adobe Acrobat

Mac Preview

[hmenke]

In my experience Apple's PDF rendering engine is fundamentally broken. PGF as well has obscure problems with shadings which appear exclusively in Mac Preview (or any other viewer that uses Apple's PDF renderer, e.g. Skim), see pgf-tikz/pgf#833. But since their renderer is non-free, it's impossible to debug this. Raising an issue with Apple seems more appropriate, especially since Adobe Acrobat, the reference viewer for PDF, displays it correctly.

[Atcold]

Thanks, @hmenke for your reply. Could you also address these points?

Perhaps exporting a PNG for these surfaces, while leaving the axis and the rest vectorial?
Also, when I export matplotlib figures in PDF I don't observe such distortions.
So, although I understand it's a viewer issue, other visualisation packages find an alternative.

[hmenke]

Perhaps exporting a PNG for these surfaces, while leaving the axis and the rest vectorial?

Not possible. We make graphics by writing to the PDF stream directly without intermediate formats. This would also need engine support.

Also, when I export matplotlib figures in PDF I don't observe such distortions.

Sounds like you should use matplotlib then. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

So, although I understand it's a viewer issue, other visualisation packages find an alternative.

And how does this alternative work? It sounds like you have insight. Care to explain?