# PDFs exporting with incorrect colour for 3d plots

I'm encountering a problem when exporting a 3D surface plot as a pdf -- the whole surface comes out one shade of purple (see figure on right) instead of with Mathematica's automatic ColorFunction. On the other hand, if I export the very same plot as a jpg, the picture exported retains the colour function used (see left). This issue cropped up very unexpectedly, as just a few hours ago I was happily creating pdfs with no problem using the same method.

This is an example of the code I've been using:

ct =
ListPlot3D[tct,
BaseStyle -> {FontSize -> 14, FontFamily -> "Helvetica"},
ViewPoint -> {-2, -2, 2}, ColorFunction -> Automatic]

Export["ct.pdf", ct, ImageResolution -> 300]


I tried changing the ColorFunction e.g. ColorFunction->"Watermelon" and in this case the colours were preserved in the pdf (see bottom pic).

Can anyone shed some light on what's going on here? I'd like to create pdfs with the ColorFunction -> Automatic, but I'm quite simply baffled!

### Edit

My input file "ct" is three columns of numbers {x1, y1, z1}, {x2, y2, z2}, ... e.g.

0   0   1
0   1   2
1   0   3
1   1   6


-
I cannot reproduce the problem. Can you give a complete minimal example (i.e. include an example value for tct) and mention your exact Mathematica and OS versions? –  Szabolcs Jan 24 at 23:53
Can't reproduce this either (Win7-64, Mathematica 9.0.1). –  Sjoerd C. de Vries Jan 24 at 23:59
I'm using Mac OS X 10.8.5 and Mathematica 9.0.1 –  Smoded Jan 25 at 0:06
What are you viewing the results with (and creating the example screenshot in)? The preview app? It's been known to have issues, so if using it, try using Adobe reader. I ran the plot (faked data that has similar surface shape) with 40K data points on MM 9.0.1 Windows, no problem. –  rasher Jan 25 at 7:10
@Smoded It seems we're still coming back to the same point: people can't reproduce your problem because you didn't provide a complete example. –  Szabolcs Jan 25 at 16:59