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lacerto

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Posts posted by lacerto

  1. As OP's screenshot shows that a discrete video card is present, it is a good idea to check that there are no Desktop Color adjustments done in NVIDIA Control Panel: 

    https://www.nvidia.com/content/Control-Panel-Help/vLatest/en-us/mergedProjects/nvdsp/CS_Adjust_Color_Settings_Advanced.htm

    I am not sure if adjustments made there could be such that only show clear distortions in color managed apps, but it is worth checking (similarly as checking that monitor OSD does not force e.g. some game or office color gamut, or adjustments made to color channels or gamma).

  2. It seems the major issue was after all related to PANTONE inks behaving unexpectedly when rendered with complex gradients (and when flattening transparencies), so I noticed that Illustrator, too, distorts the colors when the PDF/X-1a export with PANTONE inks is opened back.

    Converting the PANTONE inks to global CMYK colors appears to have fixed the color issue, so the attached transparency flattened and CMYK-only PDF could probably be used as an acceptable base for .afdesign conversion:

    Artelac_Ectoin_GR_logotype_pdfx1_fixed_ai.pdf

    More generally: using PANTONE inks in these kinds of designs is often problematic since rendering on screen is at best only a kind of a guess.

  3. I tried to simplify the design by saving it as PDF/X-1a:2003 from Illustrator CS6 (the design itself was created with a later version of Illustrator). This flattens transparencies and makes sure everything is in CMYK color space (+ the two PANTONE inks included):

    Artelac_Ectoin_GR_logotype_pdfx1.pdf

    But Affinity apps do not support the full range of PDF-objects (e.g. Smooth Shaders) so this does not help. Perhaps there is some use of the produced PDF/X-1a file, even if it basically makes the design less truthful to the original (making it possibly easier to make fixes in Designer).

    I wonder if VectorFirstAid (by AstuteGraphics) would be able to simplify the design, but unfortunately it is quite a pricey package nowadays (and I am not sure if it even supports older CS based AI formats anymore), but if that cannot do it, I do not know what could...

    UPDATE:

    Here is a quick effort to fix this based on the above PDF/X-1a file. I applied Multiply blend mode to the logo guy to have the PANTONE tones blended with underlying blue. If exported further to a PDF format that allows live transparencies, the colors stay pretty much as viewed on the canvas (if transparencies are flattened, Affinity apps only support rasterization and the edges will get terribly jagged). There are all kinds of flaws but perhaps the design could be used (without rasterization) based on the PDF/X-1 version.

    Artelac_Ectoin_GR_logotype_kindoffix.afdesign 

  4. Most importantly, please note the "Layers" that will be exported to PDF layers (OCG = optional content groups), and viewable e.g. in Adobe Acrobat and other viewers supporting these layers, need to be "Layer" layers: that is, specifically containers that in Affinity apps are called as "Layers" (with capital L). 

    image.png.6fa2170882be14a3270c26f893350314.png

    Layers_designer_v2.pdf

    Additionally: if your intention was to share a PDF with layers with other applications, to maintain organization of the design, it is good to understand that e.g. Illustrator (at least up to CS6) does not read in OCG layers, at all (they are a different thing than native layers Illustrator uses):

    Illustrator:

    image.png.a7659126be5d1d4fe20635e3e2ad362f.png

    It is interesting to note that Affinity apps themselves do read in the OCG layer structure when they open PDFs, so basically PDF specs themselves appear to support sharing OCG layer structure (at least some levels deep). Illustrator itself e.g. only exports top level layers to OCG layers.

    But e.g. Inkscape does read in OCG layers and maintains layer names and hierarchy (at least to 2nd level):

    image.png.ef5db8706d4f44aa3b060d296bb36bbf.png
     

     

     

  5. 2 hours ago, thomaso said:

    Note, even if you don't create an imposed PDF, it can get printed imposed with various PDF viewers, for instance the free Adobe Reader.

    Adobe Reader is not much of a booklet printer, at least if you need to print onto oversized papers and get print marks included. InDesign has internal Print Booklet feature that is easy to use and that can create professional CMYK booklet PDFs in a snap (especially when using Adobe PDF as the virtual printer). On macOS, the booklet print option of Affinity apps offers a kind of poor man's alternative, but at least the colors will not be converted to RGB.

    But as said, asking the print shop to create a booklet from a regular page-wise exported PDF would be the easiest solution. 

  6. As you are on Windows, it is good to know that Affinity apps cannot create a CMYK print job, even if the virtual printer supported it (Adobe PDF does, but e.g. Microsoft Print to PDF, PDF-XChange or PrimoPDF do not so they always create RGB output). Many print shops however accept RGB PDF but then you also need to set up your design in RGB color mode and define e.g. text black as RGB 0, 0, 0. Otherwise (using CMYK color mode), your colors will basically be doubly converted (from CMYK to RGB and back to CMYK) and the results will be less than ideal.

    If the print shop requires CMYK, you could convert a properly created RGB PDF to an acceptable CMYK PDF (with RGB black text converted to K100, and colors converted to desired color profile) with e.g. PDF-Tools (by Tracker Software), which is not a free tool (costing currently USD82) but comes with a perpetual license. But complex things like overprinting (e.g. black text is customarily overprinted) could not be handled with that tool.

    All in all, considering all the extra trouble, you should be able find a print shop that outputs a standard page-based PDF output (created by exporting) to a booklet without extra cost.

  7. 1 hour ago, 2fish said:

    Dealing with database looks too complicated for me at this point. I'll keep working on it, but for now this is what I did: 

    Yes, it can be complex (and can support pretty complex configurations). That is often the cost of powerful features.

    1 hour ago, 2fish said:

    It would be great if Affinity comes up with a solution for creating frame texts from corresponding image names automatically. 

     

    Yes, a badly missed and much asked feature.

  8. On 1/5/2024 at 4:20 AM, Ken Hjulstrom said:

     A UI bug, perhaps?

    Seems so. On Windows (at least the latest version of Publisher) the check box is available.

    Note that within Affinity apps the native objects (shapes and text) are always converted to CMYK when exporting to PDF (in contrast of e.g. InDesign, where you can leave them as RGB as per relaxed specs of PDF/X-4).

    So if you do not have the color conversion option checked, you will get this (placed RGB images are left unconverted):

    image.png.07c1f085881a7c28ce4e6e6031d57666.png

    ...and if you do, you will get this (placed images converted to CMYK, as well):

    image.png.16260029d0912562fc7b128de9989928.png

    As you mention that you typically have material from multiple sources, it is good to know that Affinity apps have serious issues with all PDF/X-based standard export methods, since they do not support passing through non-PDF/X-based PDFs, at all, disregarding their PDF version number, so what happens is that these files will be rasterized [You would need to let Affinity app interpret these kinds of files to avoid that, but then you take risks of having replaced fonts, ignored print settings, and misinterpreted/inaccurately rendered objects.]. 

    In this sense, using the default export method (PDF (press-ready)) with PDF 1.7 compatibility level would be most compatible as it has no problems passing through any PDFs. All PDF levels starting from 1.4 allow mixed color spaces and live transparencies so PDF/X-4 is not anything special in this respect. But if you do not mind rasterizing (especially if you can afford exporting at e.g. at 600 DPI), then PDF/X-4 is basically "problem-free".

    You should also be aware of the fact that Affinity apps do not convert the color space of PDF content that is defined to be passed through (the default setting), so if you have RGB based PDFs, they will be left in RGB color mode when you export to press-targeted PDF even if you explicitly export to CMYK color space and force conversion of image color spaces (unless being rasterized, in which case they will be converted). This, too, is something you (or printshops) would not expect in light of having experience with other page layout apps (so instructions you get from printshops related to color conversions do not necessarily produce what is expected). 

    [Note: In the screenshot above the color definition RGB 255, 255, 255 is of course wrong; the actual definition for the rectangle is obviously RGB 255, 0, 0, while the text  is RGB 255, 255, 255.]

  9. 5 hours ago, thomaso said:

    via right-click + option key:

    Ah, thanks! It is good to be able to copy the mere filenames or the full paths so there is no need to do separation or combination in Excel.

    2 hours ago, 2fish said:

    Thanks a lot for your help! I'm new to this app, so it will take me a some time to process it all and learn how to use it. 😀👍👍👍

    You're welcome. Data Merge is easily one of the most powerful features of Affinity Publisher and worth learning!

  10. 2 hours ago, barryg01 said:

    If someone has fixed the problem on the forum how do I find them?

    In the Search box on the top right of this page, enter your search key word, e.g. KDP Bleed, and you'll get a URL showing results: e.g. https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/search/&q=KDP Bleed&quick=1

    To be able to resolve the issue, it may be necessary to have a closer look on the file itself (considering that there can be multiple reasons that can cause this error). If you cannot post your file publicly, you can send it to private address so that Serif personnel can have a look on it.

  11. 4 hours ago, 2fish said:

    Thanks a lot for your help! I have macOS, so will see what I can do with it. But it looks like exactly what I want.

    Basically it seems to be supported similarly on macOS (though it probably is not possible to add data columns in the file system itself, similarly as on Windows). If you do not have Excel, you can use Numbers.

    Here's a video demo on how you could do it (Full Path could be used if the image files are not in the same folder as the Publisher file where the TOC is to be created):

    After having copy pasted each image group into the actual layout, you can create a TOC that uses ImageName paragraph style to fetch TOC page numbers for image locations in the publication.

    You could easily use the same method to additionally autocreate e.g. square or ellipsoid miniature images to be used in context of TOC.

  12. 10 minutes ago, thomaso said:

    Wouldn't this placement of custom text in the slug area be possible without bleed marks?

    Of course, similarly as trimming is possible without crop marks! Separating marks are useful especially if ink is not printed globally / coherently on edges to clearly delineate the actual print job.

     

    13 minutes ago, thomaso said:

    Please don't misunderstand me

    No worries. I just wanted to be a bit sarcastic towards David 🙂

  13. 16 minutes ago, thomaso said:

    which I always found rather confusing by its double marks.

    I am not sure I understand what you mean. Crop marks show where the page is trimmed, and bleed marks show where the bleed ends. If "double marks" bother, simply just turn off bleed marks. ID has minimal marks and their distance can also be defined. Bleed marks can be useful e.g. in cover production and possibly also in package design.

  14. 38 minutes ago, thomaso said:

    I can't reproduce a PDF in APub V1 resulting in a missing bleed box when bleed is activated for export.

    It is missing at least when producing with v2 on Windows, if you do not include any visible print marks (e.g. crop marks). Below a screenshot and PDF with 3mm bleeds on all four sides, but without visible print marks:

    Itimage.png.07e0ee7ff53094f4c9f785ef4d9f0f69.png

    InDesign and QXP (at least, probably also Corel, Xara, etc. EDIT: Just checked, and both do) do produce bleed box whenever bleed has been defined, no matter if there are print marks included.

    I think that the same omission applies to 1.x versions of Affinity apps, but it could of course be some macOS vs. Windows difference...

    bleedboxmissing_v02.pdf

     

  15. Can you provide some additional information, or an actual sample of your publication?

    I remember to have read on this forum of similar issues, and I think that there can be multiple causes for these kinds of errors. The preflight checkers at least for inner pages might e.g. calculate or give warnings about page sizes based on objects placed "too close" to recommended margins (white space). There might also be problems related to accuracy of page boxes created by Affinity apps compared to other layout apps, and absence of page boxes (e.g. bleed box) in certain cases (e.g., Affinity apps do not provide this information unless visible bleed crop marks [or other print marks] are output, even if the document itself has bleeds).

  16. If the amount of images is remarkable and the project is well planned, one option would be to use Publisher Data Merge to fetch the images and image file names from an Excel sheet. The field that picks the filename could then have a paragraph style with invisible fill color and the text field receiving the filename would be grouped with the picture frame so that it can be easily moved together with the image. 

    Then, when you do the layout, you would copy the images from the generated merged image publication and position and size the images in the actual layout, and then create a separate TOC for the images. The following screenshot shows just the merged file where each image is on a separate page:

    image.png.584ec259ed4824b8061e478c27758843.png

    If you have lots of images, you could use the Merge Data Layout tool and merge e.g. 100 images per page and then copy paste the generated image packages (above the filename and image itself wrapped in a picture frame control and grouped in MyImage groups) into the publication layout. 

    On Windows you can use Windows Explorer to copy filenames onto Clipboard (Ctrl + Shift + C, or Copy as path from the context menu) and then place in Excel sheet:

    image.png.14381e655d20018c1f68a1f7a22e5a8c.png

    You could of course use the same method to include whatever image data, as Windows is capable of showing lots of file related (e.g. EXIF) data as extra columns in context of filenames listed in Details view of Windows Explorer. [You would need e.g. the free PowerToys Text Extractor to grab text on screen in table format); for professional projects, I would recommend e.g. xplorer2]. When using an Excel sheet, you could also easily include image captions to be used in context of images. 

    The following shows how captions could be added as Comments in Windows Explorer and then copy pasted onto an Excel sheet:

    image.png.eead7efc8671e6811df61933b04e3219.png

    You might be able to do something similar also on macOS.

  17. A few further notions:

    • Compatibility: PDF/X-4 => This is basically in conflict with a recommendation of converting to target color space (whether preserving or not existing color values) since PDF/X-4 by default allows mixed color modes and e.g. in InDesign the default is that colors are not converted but kept, and all involved profiles embedded. So at least check what PDF standard (X-mode) your new printshop recommends, if any...
    • Color Space: As Document => Assuming that your document color space is CMYK
    • Convert image color spaces: Unchecked => This option is the closest to what InDesign's "Color Conversion" option does: if conversion is used, at all, all RGB images will be converted to target CMYK color space, so in this context this option should be checked.
  18. One crucial question related to use of export time color profile change is the purpose the conversion is wished to be used, and whether there are placed CMYK images involved. In InDesign "Convert to destination (preserve numbers)" allows export-time conversion of placed CMYK images with embedded or individually (in context of layout) assigned profiles, making it possible e.g. to repurpose a job inherently designed for coated paper to be used in newsprint (with recalculated TAC values). "Preserving numbers" would in such cases allow recalculation of placed CMYK content with conflicting color profiles, while keeping the native CMYK definitions (in text and shapes). 

    Reassigning the document with an alternative color profile within Affinity Publisher (using File > Document Setup > Color) does allow "preserving numbers", but there is then also no way to export and recalculate color values of placed CMYK image content (since it will be done only if there is a conflict between the document and target profile). This kind of need, however, is today pretty marginal since the placed image content should ideally be in RGB color mode, in which case colors would be converted correctly to repurposed target whenever exporting to CMYK (while keeping the current document color profile).  

  19. Your printshop might be willing to run two simple routines on a kind of a grayscale PDF that you can produce with settings I described above without making any changes in the document, and make your production file fully PDF/X-1a-compatible, keeping text as text and as K-100 and images true grayscale. 

    image.png.6bf24132199de9f429e5f4cdef7edc16.png

    Rasterised text example_gray_to_konly_pdfx1a.pdf

    UPDATE: The file above was created with Adobe Acrobat Pro 2020 conversion routines, but I now tested PDF Tools by Tracker Software (only for Windows, perpetual license about USD82), and it can do it, as well. RGB (e.g. PNGs with transparency) images can be effectively auto-masked with 1-bit raster images and optionally converted to grayscale or target (four-color) CMYK. Verifies 100% PDF/X1a-compliant with Acrobat Pro preflight tools.

    Rasterised text example_PDFX1a_pdftools.pdf

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