How about using dvipng.
\documentclass{minimal}
\newcount\n
\parindent=0pt
\begin{document}
\n=1
\loop\ifnum\n<256
\char\n
\advance\n by 1
\newpage
\repeat
\char0
\end{document}
Then run latex l; dvipng l; mv l256.png l0.png
Obviously, this only solves part of the problem, but it should demonstrate how to handle the ones that can be done with dvi output.
I get really good quality saving my files as eps with a dpi setting of 1000 in Python. With this setting, I can zoom in at the highest level and there is no loss of quality with the lines.
I don't know if there is a way for you to set the dpi in gnuplot. If you can't, make the plot in Python or do it in tikz/pgf-plots.
If you want to check the quality, check out this post I have on code review and run the code.
python optimize ode solving
Edit:
Here is a link to download the files they look better then the google doc output (this isn't the same image the code link produces just the first two I could find the fastest).
converted to pdf
eps
Edit 2:
Here is your data in a pdf compiled in latex(an image of it at least).
I deleted the first line that said x, t, u from the datagrid file.
Code: Open ipython with the alias ipython --pylab=qt
from mpl_toolkits.mplot3d import axes3d
import numpy as np
import pylab
x, t, u = np.loadtxt('/home/dustin/Documents/RandomPythonCode/datagrid.txt',
unpack = True)
x = x.reshape(-1, 701)
t = t.reshape(-1, 701)
u = u.reshape(-1, 701)
fig = pylab.figure()
ax = fig.add_subplot(111, projection = '3d')
cmap = pylab.get_cmap('selection')
ax.plot_surface(x, t, u, cmap = cmap, linewidth = 0)
pylab.savefig('name.eps', format = 'eps')
pylab.show()
Here are selection options I like: Accent, gist_rainbow, jet, and Paired.
To save it in a rotate form, you need: ax.view_init(elev=elevation_angle, azim=azimuthal_angle) and add in the angle changes which the plot will show you on the bottom as you rotate it.
Edit 3:
From my understanding of reading the gnuplot manual on set hidden3d, set hidden3d hides portion of the plot that wouldn't be viewable from certain angles since in real life we can't see through the object. This by default how the plot is viewed in python. You can't see everything and will obtain different views by rotating the plot. Therefore, I don't think there is anything that needs to be set to accomplish this goal.
Best Answer
My usual practice is to export MATLAB figures as .pdf files, because they are readily recognizable by PDFTEX and are rendered as vectorized images so resizing does not affect quality. The following is a nice MATLAB extension that works great for exporting figures as .pdf without the problem of exporting the image as a whole page:
http://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/fileexchange/23629-export-fig
It also has a nice documentation page: https://sites.google.com/site/oliverwoodford/software/export_fig