MikeA
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Everything posted by MikeA
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I'm sending a screen shot of that first (before the "More" dialog is opened) PDF export dialog. As the forum won't accept screen shots or other attachments for some reason, I'm uploading the screen shot to Google Drive. The link is below. The Raster DPI and Include Bleed options I mentioned are in that first dialog. They appear before the "More" button is clicked. It's these settings I'm referring to. They do change depending on which preset you select from the Preset drop-down menu. https://drive.google.com/open?id=1b3GQzs2ce__NIy5wIMMPHy7VaKCg1BCU
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A search in this part of the forum didn't turn up the following requests regarding Styles, but beg pardon if they've already been discussed and I've just missed them. The newbie experience: Select an object, select the make-a-style-from-it item from the object's context menu—but then it appears that nothing has happened. I thought I'd encountered a bug and tried it a second and third time. Still nothing. Then it occurred to me I'd better check Studio > Styles to see what might have changed there. Of course there were three new styles. User error, yes, but the "nothing happened" experience is perplexing and could be improved. I would like to suggest: Immediately after saving a style, the user sees a small dialog in which the new style can be named. Then there's the question of its category—if there are already user-defined categories. If there are, their names would appear in a drop-down menu in the dialog where the style's name can be entered. If the user simply clicks the dialog's CLOSE button, the style is saved using the default name selected by Publisher, and the style appears within the default category. Frosting-On-Cake: a CANCEL button...clicking that one would cancel the save-new-style operation entirely. Additionally: the ability to cut and paste (or copy and paste) styles between categories within the Styles panel. Of course, if there is a name conflict, error message: sorry, can't do it. But, Frosting-On-Cake: if a name conflict occurs, the user has the option to rename the style being moved or copied, or just cancel the operation.
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Thanks. I don't recall seeing that referred-to in any of their messages. They must have forgotten about their own blog post. Unfortunately, the link in the post to a profile for soft proofing the PDF on-screen is no longer working (it's in one of the comments). I'll see if I can get an updated link from them, along with instructions on just how users should apply the profile to a PDF. Yes, I plan to set both text colors and black backgrounds using the CMYK settings they have supplied in one of their KB articles. These seem like ideal situations for Publisher's swatches or even its Styles feature (for assigning a color quickly to, say, a large black rectangle).
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The instructions I downloaded (one of their KB articles, not the documentation that comes with the InDesign template) gives sundry recommendations for black type and expanses of black. They definitely warn against CMYK=100 across the board. More mail from them today notes: ". . . I can let you know that our instructions for other programs such as InDesign state that whatever color space you choose to use will need to be embedded into the file." [emphasis theirs]
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Hello @Gabe — checking just now in Affinity Publisher 1.8.2, I have the Export Settings dialog open and I'm cycling through a few of the presets for PDFs, including one I created. I notice that as I change them, some options available in the first portion of the dialog—not just the "More" dialog—appear to have been previously saved with the presets. For example: When I select PDF for print (a preset supplied with the program), the Raster DPI setting of "300" appears and the Include bleed box is unchecked. When I select the preset I made, the Raster DPI setting changes to "(72)" (not sure why the parentheses appear) and the Include bleed box is now checked. Thanks.
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Well. This is curious. I'm talking about book publishing in a Facebook group and someone who's been using Blurb as his printer says they request PDFs that are in RGB color space, not CMYK. MagCloud is a division of Blurb but is not Blurb "proper." Could their processes be that different? I suppose it's possible.
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Then I'll go with that for now (CMYK / images left in RGB). It's been interesting using both the RGB sliders and the CMYK sliders for black text. This monitor being what it is (alas), I don't see the subtle changes on-screen as I cycle through the various color settings that MagCloud recommends (and some it suggests be avoided). This surprised me: if the RGB sliders are set to 0,0,0, the CMYK sliders show 74C, 68M, 67Y, 90K. And what MagCloud suggests for black text — 100K and CMY=zero — becomes RGB 35,31,32.
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Thanks for the link. I guess I should try the beta. The unknown remains whether this export-to-PDF for MagCloud should be done with • An RGB Affinity Publisher document converted to CMYK during export with images left in RGB color space • An RGB Publisher document whose color space is left as-is during export (in which case MagCloud does the entire conversion to CMYK) • A CMYK Publisher document with images in RGB color space that are left in RGB during export MagCloud's tech support seems a bit wobbly in its replies about color spaces, and the one guy I know who's actually made such a book said he just dragged and dropped stuff into InDesign and didn't pay much attention to any tech specs (so not much info there). It's all b&w images and MagCloud did an excellent job with it. But what are the bloody settings he used. This stuff could make a person crazy...
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Viewed locally in Acrobat Reader, the flower in the "magcloud.pdf" file has extremely vibrant color. Viewed online here, though, it's quite drab—likewise the green patch. I'm using the same monitor to view both. (Acrobat Reader doesn't seem to display any information about the color space or embedded profile, if any.)
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Interesting. The InDesign-related instructions I downloaded for a MagCloud 8"x8" book show the Hyperlink option checked. (I'd include the screen shot, but this forum isn't allowing me to attach images. I dunno...maybe it doesn't like the browser I'm using — Vivaldi for Windows.) Oh. That's a bit frustrating. How stable is beta 1.8.3 at the moment? Then again perhaps the Publisher document (for now) could be RGB, with certain colors set (using the CMYK sliders) as you recommended in the other thread—to avoid setting "full" black—for example, if a page's background is black. Then again I don't know if colors set that way would be sufficient in a document whose "native" color space is RGB. They do say that during production the whole business is converted to CMYK, anyway. I'm not finding specs in the instructions I downloaded (InDesign template, 8"x8" book, perfect binding) that pertain to the color profile for the document, overall. They do say: For the best output, we recommend using images that are 300 dpi with the original color profiles embedded in the PDF. Text should be CMYK with the fonts embedded. Yes, true at the least for the 8"x8" perfect-bound book format. I haven't looked at instructions for other formats yet.
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As I recall, when you upload a PDF for printing by MagCloud, they automatically create a digital version for you from the same PDF. They don't want crop marks that I know of. I've just gone to my account on MagCloud to have a look at the electronic (PDF) version of the print book I bought there a few days ago. It looks a wee bit dull compared with the print version, but that's likely my monitor, which is not what I'd call sterling and is left at 75% brightness (the setting recommended by the software I use to profile it). If I were to crank it up to 100% the PDF version of the book would probably look much better. Thanks.
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You are right. I'd started using PDF/X3, which produces PDFs that Acrobat Reader's "Properties" dialog describes as compatible with PDF 1.4 (Acrobat 5). But that setting in the Publisher export dialog disables hyperlink creation. The one you're recommending supports it. Thanks once again.
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MagCloud requests no spot colors, so that will definitely remain unchecked. I will change the 'overprint black' setting in the output preset. If I create a document from my test .aftemplate file and add a hyperlink, even then the Include Hyperlinks option in the PDF output dialog is inaccessible (and it is unchecked despite the presence of the link within the .afpub file). This would matter to people who make MagCloud books: MagCloud provides customers who buy a book on the site an electronic copy along with the printed copy. Any thoughts on what is needed to make the Include Hyperlinks option become available in that output dialog? Thanks again.
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Best guesses so far concerning Publisher's PDF export settings — in order of their appearance within the export dialog and its "More..." sub-dialog. Raster DPI: 300 Include bleed: Enabled Area: All pages [not spreads] Rasterize: "Unsupported properties" [But should "Everything" or "Nothing" be selected instead?] Downsample images: Enabled Above DPI: 300 Resampler: Bicubic Use document resolution: Selected Allow JPEG compression: Selected Quality: at least 80 Compatibility: PDF/X-3 [Exporting from Affinity Publisher using the "PDF/X-3" setting produces the same compatibility setting in a PDF output file, per Acrobat Reader's "Properties" dialog, as MagCloud specifies in its instructions.] Color space: "As document" [it will likely be CMYK] ICC profile: "Use document profile" [likely the default that appears when you select CMYK color space] [Above two selections automatically select "Embed ICC profile."] The following 6 options are all disabled: Convert image color spaces Honor spot colors Overprint black Include hyperlinks Include layers Include bleed [Neither the hyperlinks or layers option is accessible in this dialog; they cannot be selected at all. Why is that?] Include printers marks: Disabled Embed fonts: "All fonts" Subset fonts: Disabled Allow advanced features: Disabled [Is there a reason to enable this option for book publishing?]
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This is to follow up earlier questions about using Affinity Publisher documents for books printed via MagCloud. Making the template hasn't been difficult. The unknown information (so far) has to do with the PDF settings. MagCloud has instructions for InDesign but none for Affinity Publisher. I see from other threads that there are people here with experience producing books on MagCloud. I would be much obliged for feedback about this if your time permits. The rest of the post concerns MagCloud's recommendations for InDesign's PDF export settings. The comment I'll add below it contains my guesses about PDF export from Publisher. Settings here are in order of their appearance in the MagCloud instructions. InDesign options for which there don't seem to be equivalents in Affinity Publisher are marked "**" below. (I'm using v. 1.8.2 for Windows.) Pages: All Spreads option: Disabled ** Created tagged PDF: Disabled [But so far PDFs I've exported from Publisher don't seem to be tagged] Export Layers: "Visible and Printable Layers" Hyperlinks: Include [optional] ** Include interactive elements: Disabled For both color and greyscale images: Bicubic downsampling to 300 ppi for images above 300 ppi Compression: JPEG Image quality: High [presumably meaning 80+] For monochrome images: ** Bicubic downsampling to 1200 ppi for images above 1800 ppi ** Compression: CCITT Group 4 The instructions draw particular attention to these next two options, which don't appear in the Publisher export dialog: ** Compress text and line art: Enabled ** Crop image data to frames: Enabled Compatibility: Acrobat 5 (PDF 1.4) Bleed: Include Color conversion: None Profile Inclusion Policy: "Include RGB and all tagged S..." [The screen shot does not display the full setting.] Fonts: Subset fonts when percentage of characters used is less than: 0% All security features appear to be disabled.
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There's also this, from the online help. Might prove useful at some point. To use plain text as filler text by default: From the Affinity Publisher menu, select Preferences. From the Edit menu, select Preferences. On the General tab, check Insert filler text as text.
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Incorrect title string being written during export -- v. 1.8.2
MikeA replied to MikeA's topic in V1 Bugs found on Windows
You got here before I could. ; -) I was headed here to correct my mistake about this. Apologies to the forum for the "misinforming" post. -
Bingo. There it is. User error (mine) again. The online course I took, which was to introduce users to the rock-bottom-basics of the program, did not mention this and I hadn't yet looked at it in Tools / Studio. Thanks kindly.
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Publisher insists on using, as the title string that it embeds in both PDF and JPEG output files, the name of an .aftemplate file that was deleted from disk. But the program has stored that name string somewhere and will not let go of it. How do I get rid of it? Otherwise I will have to run ExifTool and edit the string every time I export a document. Having the title that far off the mark just isn't acceptable. For a PDF file, the string in question is written as the document title (ExifTool shows the tag name as simply "Title"). For a JPEG file, ExifTool shows the string being used as the value of the IPTC tag "ObjectName". If need be I'm willing to edit the Windows registry to get rid of this thing. Please tell me it can be gotten rid of...
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That 'name' string problem is definitely looking like a bug. I created a newly named PDF export preset and when I saved the PDF, the OLD — and now deleted — document template name was again used. Somehow the program has stored this string somewhere and insists on using it repeatedly as the PDF title string even when the export preset by that name is removed. Not very convenient. I need to get rid of that damned unwanted name string somehow.
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You're right — and I had mis-typed the PDF option in the above comment. My error entirely. (I hid the comment in which I mentioned it, but you must have seen it before I clicked that 'hide' menu item.) Using PDF/X-3 does produce an output file that Acrobat Reader says is PDF version 1.4 (Acrobat 5.x). So that much at least should work for MagCloud's purposes. Thanks kindly for the tip about unchecking the 'subset fonts' optoin. Publisher's estimate of the output file size is wildly inaccurate. The program estimates 440K for this small .afpub document I'm using as a test. The actual output file size is 2.2 MB. Interesting to see that for 'title' (per Acrobat Reader, anyway), Publisher has passed along the title of the document template itself. When I saw this I also spotted what looks like another "gotcha". I renamed that template outside Publisher, at the command line. But Publisher doesn't know its name has changed and passed along the original name to the PDF file. This must mean one had better do the renaming within Publisher. ... no, wait. That doesn't appear possible within Publisher. If it's to be renamed it has to be renamed on disk but it would seem that the original name was stored internally and not updated when the file was renamed. Could be a bug.
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I'm finding that when a PDF export preset is saved and the settings include Area: Pages — when the preset is used the next time the setting has reverted to Spreads, not pages. Should the user-created preset not store all possible settings in this dialog?
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Whew. Someone's tiny brain is starting to hurt. I think it might be mine. Publisher's PDF export dialog's "More..." panel contains quite a few options. Compatibility options include everything you've mentioned, including the one the book company (MagCloud) recommends for InDesign. Publisher's dialog has an option to convert image color spaces; I'm not sure what the equivalent command is for InDesign. A possible "gotcha": there's a MagCloud export preset made for InDesign. It automatically selects an option to export pages and has a "Spreads" checkbox that should remain UNchecked. Affinity Publisher doesn't have an equivalent check-box, but you can select "Area: all spreads" or "Area: all pages." I'm guessing I select "Area: All pages." The more I look over the requirements for InDesign exports, the more I see a number of options that don't have obvious equivalents in Affinity Publisher. Or if they do, they're worded much differently in the dialog. ("Subset fonts when percent of characters used is less than: 0%" does not seem to have a Publisher equivalent at all, for example—not that I know what it means.) The downsampling options in InDesign are more involved than Publisher's, with separate options for color and monochrome images (no such distinction made in Publisher's output dialog). Not sure what to do about those. Color Conversion for InDesign is to be set as "No color conversion." I'm guessing that the appropriate setting in Publisher would be "Color space: As document" and "ICC Profile: Use document profile". Just a guess. So—on the whole, InDesign's PDF export dialog has a lot more options. I guess this just has to involve trying what seems to come closest, then find out if the PDF fails MagCloud's preflight checks. Or if it passes, but something goes haywire on the press. How nice if it ends up actually working. : -) Perhaps if there are any Serif employees in the vicinity they might want to comment. (Serif: I can send you that MagCloud PDF describing the requirements. Due to the ongoing forum problems I won't be able to attach it here but I can send it in email.)
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Hmm. Perhaps before exporting them from Capture One I had better soft-proof them using CMYK to see how disappointed I'll be... there will be a few with pretty vivid colors (deep blue sky in the early evening, for example). I've seen that the same book company did an absolutely bang-up job with a photographer's b&w images in a book I've just ordered from him. But color...another matter of course. As for the export method: in their instructions for exporting from InDesign, the screen shot of the export dialog shows "Compatibility: Acrobat 5 (PDF 1.4)". And FWIW, they're recommending selecting "Optimize for fast web view."
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Thanks kindly for your reply. On picking one of the "press ready" templates supplied with the program, I see that Document Setup seems to have Convert set by default. (That's assuming I'm interpreting correctly what the UI is telling me. The button colors are: Assign: white text on a dark grey background. Convert: white text on a black background. The "Convert" button appears to be "pushed." This kind of UI makes me a bit crazy; I wish UI designers would use a bit of color — even just a small amount of yellow — to indicate button selections.) I take it this does not mean that a "placed" image in sRGB color space will be immediately converted to CMYK? Clearly all of it has to be CMYK as it goes onto the press, and the book company states that there is such a conversion for the entire document before printing. I guess I'll find out soon enough, if the placed images' colors go all bizarre on me. They recommend precisely what you recommended for text. For large areas of black they recommend either "Rich black" — 60C, 50M, 50Y, 100K or "Warm black" — 20C, 70M, 70Y, 100K Thanks again.
