DarkClown

Is there a way in AD to convert a curve into a shape? And I don't mean to generate a new shape surrounded by the path but I want to convert the curve itself into a shape. (e.g. a 100px thick line with straight edges into a rectangular shape with a hight of 100px - generating a curve around the former path) Cheers, Timo

@Fixx: Regardless of the dpi, in 100% mode the pdf document should be displayed in max quality (only limited by jpg compression rate) - but it isn't. Attached my JPG and PDF Settings

Maybe we have to split the problems into different parts: 1) if the document in Publisher has a width of 420mm and is set up with 300dpi it requires 72,57dpi (explanation earlier in this thread) for a 1200 pixel output at original size. 100% (or original size) means 1 pixel in the document equals 1 pixel screen resolution (it doesn't go better - all the screen can display). The reality looks different. The pdf is significantly larger and far away from optimal quality: In the background there's the pdf reader displaying the 72dpi exported pdf - in the foreground you see the same picture as jpg with a width of 1200px displayed at 100% as well Maybe I'm making some kind of mistake here ... but currently I can't explain it. 2) I think I need to understand better how publisher works. My document is set up with Adobe RGB and 16 bit. This is the same color scheme my photography is saved (16Bit Adobe RGB as TIFF). This should enable publisher to work with high quality color resolution. The pictures are linked to the document. It seems in this case publisher ALWAYS exports the pdf with16bit color depth as well (no way to limit the pdf export to 8Bit in the setting). This again results in very high file size. The only way to prevent this is to change the color depth of the document to 8Bit. Now the exported pdf seems to have 8Bit as well. The smallest file size I can get (I've been fiddling around with many setting) still ist at least twice as big as the exported jpg. Pretty much overhead for a pdf! Another question in this context: When changing the document to sRGB and 8Bit will all the pictures "converted" instantly to this color format? And what happens to the pictures when I change the document setup back to Adobe RGB and 16 Bit? Will the original quality be maintained or is the 8Bit RGB data simply converted to 16Bit Adobe RGB - meaning I actually lost the quality of the original 16Bit? The problem increases when I follow Affinities "workaround" for CMYK output to already convert the document to CMYK to get a proper PDF output. Changing this back to RGB would mean CMYK colors will be re-converted and I'll never be able to get a proper RGB output again. My preferred solution is always to work with maximum 16Bit Adobe RGB (preferred even ProPhoto RGB) resolution and only convert the document into a CMYK or a 8Bit sRGB file as desired. As long as Publisher internally still works on max. res. with original data - I don't care for the color model on top as part of the document setup. But if a conversion is done and used afterwards based on the document setup it's a nightmare. On the other hand one has to understand this to know what happens for the pdf export. Certainly since the document setup has quite some influence on the output parameters since not everything seems to be covered in the pdf parameters you can choose in the pdf export dialog. Some setting seem to force a conversion (e.g. CMYK conversion) - other need to be done in the document setup (color bit depth). But all has an effect on the generated pdf document. Quite irritating. 3) And of course there's still the topic with the graphic that get's mirrored in a pdf printer when placed 90° rotated in the document. But I guess Affinity will blame that on a buggy pdf printer (despite the fact that it happens with more than one printer) Cheers, Timo

It's getting a bit weired now ... I checked my settings again. My jpg compression was the same for jpg and pdf (85%). What surely caused a problem was the setting "Convert Image color spaces" ... checking this causes additional 4.3 MB to the file size. (I thought it would reduce size) Embedding the ICC profile is insignificant, same with embedding fonts ... Strangely enough 100% in 72dpi is still 1/3 larger than the original 1200px jpg file but still really bad quality (bottom logo is 100% pdf - top is 100%jpg). And increasing the dpi will (of course improve quality but also) increase document dimensions in 100% view. So I got pfd size down to 680kb now - vs 330kb in JPG

@Lagarto: The document is a 13page calendar for print. But to advertise and promote it I need a preview in good quality (just a significant smaller resolution that it can't be used for print and a significant smaller filesize to be able to email it or have people download it)

I completely agree with you .... that's what I tried to do! But Output quality in that case is really crappy and file size still far to high ... Here is an example (as Thomaso mentioned correctly - with 72dpi) Top is the jpg with 1200px jpg Bottom is the pdf with 72 dpi Just compare the quality of the text ("Semiconductor" and "Timo Bierbaum Photography")- and the jpg size is 340KB - pdf size is more than 5MB! Aside that the pdf-size (in the pic) to have it equivalent sized than the jpg (that is on 100%) is only 76% ... but also looking at it on 100% it looks crappy ...

Well, the FoxIt example only shows the mirrored image problem. And of course quality gets better, when increasing the dpi. The problem from my perspective is that PDF defines "Original Size" on the base of the document settings. When I'm looking for a pdf for the web I'd like "Original Size" to just be based on the pixel not on pixel-per-inch. Meaning I want my exported pdf size to be based on screen resolution. Resizing to 1200px for example would result in "Original size" of 1pixel of my pdf is the equivalent to 1 screen pixel (in that case the dpi is defined by my screen resolution and not by the real document resolution) - as it's done with jpgs (that have no document size) - frankly spoken, I'm not sure if the pdf format is capable of that in general.

Just one example for the problems: test.jpg is a proper export out of publisher as JPG test_org.pdf is the exported file in Web format out of publisher (crappy quality) test_org.pdf test_foxIt printer shows the mirrored file out of the printer driver (same with microsoft pdf printer) - if the graphic is not rotated it works fine. test_FoxIt printer.pdf

That's true ... I don't have Acrobat Pro on my system - so need another way to realise this task. Maybe it's a sensible feature request for Publisher to have a scaling in the PDF output Options available?! It's even easier to use an online JPG to PDF converter to transform all single JPGs into one pdf ... I was just hoping to use Publisher as the native App for the task.

Gary, that's one (of many reasons) I want to reduce resolution down to 1200px screen resolution. Still good viewing quality but not enough to reproduce. Another reason is the file size since it needs to be distributed via email.

Joachim: I'm sure that works but it means I've got to change the layout for my complete document (and set it back to original resolution afterwards again) ... seems to be a questionable workaround :-(

@Gary: Yes, I've tried JPG output and that works fine in all required formats - but I want it as one PDF Document @Lagarto: I tried printing to printer driver but discovered many problems with that. E.g. rotated pics get mirrored in the output :-( (Using the FoxIt driver as well as the Microsoft driver) I'd like to have a 1200px in 100% pdf size. Using 300dpi that would result in 4inch document size - So I'm actually looking for a proper resize of the pdf document. Such a document should be perfect when viewed in 100% and of quite small size.

I'm struggling a bit with properly exporting documents to PDF in Publisher. Situation is: I've created a calendar A3/300dpi with - of course - HiRes pictures for each page. This results in a PDF size for print of 500MB - fair enough. Now I'd like to generate a pdf as a web preview that preferably would have 1200px width with good quality pictures and a small footprint (less than 4MB filesize). But I can't find any setting that will allow proper resizing for the required output size - maintainig picture quality in smaller size. Of course I can reduce my dpi but this eventually results in extremely bad graphic quality. Seems like the only way is to print it to a pdf printer driver and change setting in the driver - sadly this brings other problems that are not acceptable. is this really the only way to get a smaller pdf size or is it just me that has not figured out how to do it properly? Cheers, Timo

Just for those who as well struggle with the same problem as I do (Only one or two out of many fonts styles get displayed in the font list and even the ones shown change after each reboot). - Here's a workaround. As recommended I deleted all font managers - no effect I deleted the windows font cache and discovered that directly after deleting the font cache during this windows session Affinity products work as expected (I know it's never any Affinity product that has problems - so let's put it that way - idiot that I am i must have installed a cheap font of really bad quality that screwed up my system - but apparently this had no affect in the next session after deleting the windows font cache) So to be able to half-way work with A Publisher I 'm now deleting the windows font cache each time with a script before shutting down my system so with next startup I have to accept that the font cache needs to be regenerated again but at least AP works with all fonts

OK, the feature is just not available when all windows are docked. You can't drag a layer from the panel to the title of another window either. The window is not activated, when you drag the layer over it as well. With at least one detached window you have to grab a layer from the panel - as Walt mentioned it does not work with objects from the document itself ... I think I just had a different understanding of drag&drop: Attached or detached windows: - dragging any layer OR object from within the active document or external resource to the title of another document window (will activate this window and drop the layer or object in the middle of the document) Detached windows: - dragging any layer OR object from within the active document or external resource to the inside of a document window (will activate this window and drop the layer or object where you released the mouse)

OMG ... can I make this post "unwritten" ... any way to CTRL-Z this? I dragged files from the Explorer to AP/AD ... but not within 2 documents ... and despite the new feature list that mentions " Added ability to drag and drop layers from one document to another " ... this is not working at all ... (no, really not at all .. not from the layer to document, not from within the document to another, not from the document to a layer ... just nothing, nada, niente, nix!) .. and yes, the latest beta! I guess it's a mistake in the "new feature list" ... we will keep it on the "request" list ... and my happiness is gone ... maybe after so much criticising in the past, I felt the (now unjustified) urge to say something nice ... Everyone please take their "likes" back! shame on me!

I've probably been one of the annoying critics of Affinity products in the past ... but since it's always easy to talk about negative things I feel it's time for some positive feedback as well. The new drag and drop feature for layers in the beta is excellent! Very long looked after and now working very well! Makes things just a lot easier. Thanks for implementing it!

Here are the Export settings...

When exporting a document to PDF the output is OK for export resolution of 300dpi. When exporting the same document with 400dpi I get a small frame around an element of the document (see attached screen copies - the frame is around the "TB Photography" logo). The logo itself has no frame and the background is a white document background. The frame is not shown when editing the document in AP. Any ideas? A known problem? Cheers, Timo

1 Bit export would do the job ... Still would be nice to have a preview with adjustable threshold ... even if I would have to export a picture to publisher ... (hard to understand the devs decision, since there seem to be many reasons to have this mode and it's no rocket science to flatten a grayscale pic to 1 bit. And I guess TIF would be a desirable format as well next to PDF). Just my 2 cents ...

It really would be helpful to get the 1-Bit mode implemented. It's been on the feature request list for nearly 4 years now .... Aside the above mentioned areas you need it for supplying coating layers for print.

Thanks everybody for supporting me and adding you knowledge. I'm not a font expert and never experienced any font issues until now with any other program before! I really appreciate your input to solve Affinities SW bugs. Regretfully I don't own any of the above Font products to sort out font issues. Also I would not even know what kind of problem I should look out for (I hope that's excused since even Affinity doesn't seem to know anything! about fonts and these kind of issues) - and I wouldn't even know, how to solve the problem with one of the font managers. Frankly spoken, there are two topics: 1) Can we expect a professional Desktop Publishing SW to handle any kind of font problems that might occur - with ease (as ALL the competitors do)? I would assume since font handling is THE only thing that matters as a base competency: yes, it's something you can expect. And if a font is "bad quality" just don't integrate it (not nice - but a suitable workaround). But screwing up the complete font list is just far to much! It's like building a high performance car but only running on Shell fuel and breaking down with BP fuel while everyone else copes with all of them. 2) This is a typical bananaware issue. I assume everyone at affinity is aware of the problem (that's - again I assume - why they don't comment on this topic). I can spend another 3 days on figuring out what might be the cause of the problem. De-installing all Font managers, deleting all caches, deleting all fonts except the once installed by the system, de installing all possible additional software that might affect the system - until we finally find out what crappy sw bug caused the problem. I see absolutely no interest of affinity of solving this ESSENTIAL problem themselves or in cooperation with the users... (I do see them discussing pros and cons of new features big time). They just wait for customers to come up with a proper bug report leading to the real problem. In this case it goes far beyond "beta testing" ... (certainly since the screwed SW is implemented in the final version already) ... Feels for me like they are waiting for us to tell them where the bug is. I currently don't have the time to reconfigure my system just for Affinity. I'll try all of the above suggestions, when my projects for my customers are finished. Projects I really tried to realise with Publisher. Got myself an InDesign subscription until the project is over ... a very painful decision. I'll get back to the topic, when i've got spare time or Affinity starts to support working on major bugs again. I'm happy to help, but hate to be ignored ... Cheers, Timo Thx again for all your support!

Thanks for the suggestion, but no! ... aside the fact that it will be of no use anyhow - at least it's a way to express how (now be kind, Timo) "upset" I am. And my claims are many things - but not unsubstantial! I appreciate your political correctness - something, I'd like to call "luxury" one can afford and flirt with when one is not depending on functioning SW for customer projects. AP is not supposed to be "alpha" any more. And in this case we are not looking at a specialised, hardly ever used feature - but basic functionality. And no, it's not Affinities fault that there are badly designed font (I never said that) - but it's in their responsibility to deal with the fact that there are badly designed fonts around and not let these wreck the whole AP bio-system. Just don't access corrupted fonts or exclude then in other ways ... But by the looks of it Affinity lets "something" (and no one really knows if the behaviour has got anything to do with bad fonts - that's only been some vague assumption since no one from Affinity comments on the problem) screw up the whole font system. At least on my system. And is forcing me back to InDesign...

I'm not sure what makes a font that bad, that AP completely screws up it's font system. Even if a field in the font description is not filled in properly or completely that should be no reason for AP not to be able to display proper fonts any more ... can't be that hard - others can to it as well ... and seriously I would expect developers of a a DTP system TO SPEND AT LEAST A MINIMUM OF FOCUS on implementing proper font technology. But anyway - seems like this topic is of absolutely no interest for the Affinity guys. I checked my System fonts folder again - starting with "H" there currently is only the Adobe font folio Helvetica in there - nothing unknown any more. So I guess another font screws things up (if it's a font in the font folder at all - nowbody knows - maybe it's just a screwed up code within the publisher). And I can't check more than 100 fonts internally for something I don't even know what to look for ... In fact currently still 1 or 2 Helvetica fontfamily typefaces are offered by AP - ungrouped on the top level and they do vary as well each time I restart AP. TransType is a nice tool ... but you need to know what kind of errors you are looking for ... Hard to find a workaround for bananaware unless you have a good Idea what they screwed up ...

I'm aware not everything works smoothly with LO ... but I have far less struggles with fonts in LO than in Publisher. Grouping of Typefaces works differently but even though things are structured differently they at least still work - unless in Publisher! I'm not an expert in font technology ... more the "user" kind ... what makes it hard to know the reason why things don't work properly. But I would expect Publisher to even work with a semi-well designed font - as others do as well. I do use low cost or freeware fonts occasionally for economic reasons. But when customers provide me with their highly paid fonts for a business project I do expect them to work on my system. Considering I de-installed all font managers. Cleared my windows font cache and tried to get rid of my freeware crap and cheap stuff ... (ashes on me) .... I would need some support on how to get the professional stuff running (not from you guys - I'm really thankful how much effort you spend into helping me to find a solution) ... But for Affinity this should be a "red alert problem" ... a DTP system that cant handle font-families issues ... seems like McDonalds not even being capable of barbecuing burgers (but they still have fancy sauces) . I don't expect Adobe fonts not to meet proper requirements in terms of naming. So despite other problematic fonts that should work out fine. I'll check again for the font names in the windows folder. But it feels like doctoring on the symptoms ... Thanks again for your insights and your help. I'll keep you posted if cleaning up the windows font folder is of any further use. And if the problem is caused by other fonts it will be of no help if you provide me with a surely working Helv 51 set - I would expect that this was delivered by Adobe anyhow already. Despite that - It wouldn't be in the financial scope of the customer. But thanks for offering. I'll keep your expertise in mind if I come across font problems in the future. By the looks of it I'll have to get back to InDesign - Just because it's for the customers project. Never wanted to and I hate the thought ... but I just need to continue working on what gets me the money ... Don't want to think about the time I wasted on Affinity Publisher without being able to solve basic topics ... Thx, Timo