Merlin

I was working for about 90 minutes on a complex document and it froze 'not responding' when I inserted a rectangular frame. After waiting 10 minutes Windows said the file was not responding and did I want to exit program. I said yes. When I opened it there was no back up file so I am back to where I started. I also cannot find any rescue file on my computer. I updated to Version 1.8 just before I started working at 3:27pm and it crashed at 4:57pm. On Designer and Photo the program always opens with the rescued file, but Publisher did not. Any thoughts?

@Sean PI want to remind the administrators that this is an ongoing issue for me that has not been satisfactorily resolved. The time between my posts is not indicative of any successful solution, but just me persevering with an unsatisfactory solution, and the fact I don't use the software on a daily basis largely due to the frustrations I am experiencing. Today I tried again and after pasting an artboard from one file to another, and converting the artboard to a group, then dragging the group to where I needed it, Designer immediately hung up as "not responding". This was literally after about 2 minutes of work, most of which was opening the two files. I tried three times with exactly the same result.

@Sean P Designer just crashed without warning again. 30 November 2019 at 7.00am EST. I will try the high performance option above (thank you for the suggestion).

Excellent. Thank you for your help.

That's pretty cool but I just want to curve the line like an arc. It looks like you know how to do it though!

I have a rectangular image that I want to curve. I have worked out that 'convert to curves' only works on images. But when I convert the image to curves I can only curve the edges of the image and not the whole image. Particularly I want to make this straight line curved (as attached). Is there a way to do this?

@Sean P At 6:25am EST Saturday 9 Nov 2019 my file shut down again. The file closed without warning and the screen reverted to my desktop. There was a back up representing my work about 5 minutes earlier. When I first opened Designer it asked me if I wanted to assist development and report crashes to Serif, so I said yes. The crash appeared to occur when I was scrolling between art boards.

Hi @Sean P I split my large file into smaller files and things were working OK, but today a small file shut down on me after a single edit and a short scroll. Hence I followed your instructions today and will let you know what happens. I am just letting you know that the clock starts today. Regards

@Sean P Thank you for that guidance. I attach the crash reports for October 3, 8 and 9. There is no report for today despite three crashes. It doesn't seem like crash reports are being generated for every crash. I could privately send the file with your assurance it will not be disclosed or used or copied. Is Windows Clipboard History in Designer under Preferences because I can't find it? crashreports.zip

@Sean P I can’t send the file because it is contains confidential work and it is 154Mb. I also cannot find the location on my computer with the crash files your reference. I am looking under C:/Program Files/Affinity/Affinity Designer/ but after that I just get language directories. I am working with 48 small 2.5” x 3.5” art boards to create playing cards. Although crashes may occur while cutting/ copying and pasting between art boards it often crashes when I’m zooming or scrolling. In fact it also crashes while I’m opening the file. i would like to send you the crash reports if I could find them.

Thanks @AlainP (is that Alain Prost???). As you will see from this thread I’ve been having this problem much longer than the release of said Windows 10 update, but I appreciate the comment. i think the problem relates to having too many art boards in my file. I have tried splitting my file up, which is a pain because it reduces my efficiency, but seems to be working at the moment.

Damn and again... I won't even open fully now, which would be a disaster.

This is still happening. Instant close of file without warning. I am using Designer 1.7.3.481 and Windows 10. Three crashes in 2 hours. Today it even closed while it was opening and before I even touched my mouse. This is getting very concerning.

@mac_heibuYou have to make assumptions when designing something. But if you disagree with my observations I’ll delete it. I thought I was being helpful.

@mac_heibuRegarding ‘annotation’ I will edit my original post as that is a fair cop. But regarding the rest, I have been unsuccessful in getting printers to provide a color profile so I’ve had to research a workable solution.

Yes I have, but the purpose of my post is which color profiles to use when soft proofing for final printing production. If you blindly go to a professional printer and print hundreds of (say) business cards or flyers you might be surprised at the color output. Of course, calibrating the display is important, but that’s a whole different discussion. The difficulty I was having was how to select the correct color profile for printing, and I believe the above post addresses that... at least to my own satisfaction.

My conclusion is to use the CGATS (ANSI or SWOP) color profiles when soft proofing CMYK for printing in the USA, FOGRA for the rest of the World, except Japan, when you should use ISO TC130.

I've been making a nuisance of myself of this forum seeking advice on how to ensure the color of my prints match the color of my designs. This is particularly important to me because I want to mass produce a board game and would like it to look exactly how I designed it. According to print shops and manufacturers, CMYK at 300dpi is preferred for professional printing, so the following focuses on that requirement. The issue I have faced is my prints are much darker than my images on screen. Notwithstanding that screens tend to be brighter than paper, this was not the issue I was trying to solve. What I needed was to solve how to improve the brightness of my design so it appeared bright on the paper. I discovered that 'soft proofing' helped me put the issue into context by playing with the various color profiles, but I did not understand what any of the listed color profiles actually meant. I tried contacting local print shops in Tampa, FL but they had no idea what an ICC color profile is (very concerning). I asked a board game manufacturer in China, and they didn't know either. Nonetheless, what was important to me was to have at least a basic understanding of what the color profiles mean so I can at least apply them with some surety that the color of prints will be close to what I want. So here's a summary, which I hope someone other than me benefits from. By reference to the International Color Consortium (ICC) I will focus on three characterization data sets for color management found by Affinity software in my Windows 10 operating system, namely CGATS, FOGRA, and TC130 . Without writing an essay, these can be summarized as: CGATS is registered by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) and is most commonly used in USA. You can find the following ANSI registered CMYK color profiles in Affinity products. US Web Coated (SWOP) v2 - I understand this standard is now obsolete and should not be used, despite software using it as a default. US Web Uncoated v2 - this is for uncoated paper. Uncoated means it isn't gloss, matte, satin or any other treatment. It is probably like the multipurpose paper you might use at home. Coated GRACoL 2006 (ISO 12647-2:2004) is suitable for Grade #1 paper, which is the highest quality white paper. Web Coated SWOP Grade #3 Paper is a bright glossy paper similar to most magazines. Web Coated SWOP Grade #5 Paper is a low quality paper that might be slightly dull and yellow. FOGRA is a Germany based institute for graphic arts, and its color standards are mainly adopted in UK and Europe. The following profiles are in Affinity products: Coated FOGRA27 (ISO 12647-2:2004) - this has been superseded by FOGRA39 so should not be used. Web Coated FOGRA28 (ISO 12647-2:2004) for offset commercial and specialty printing with paper type 3 (coated web, 60 gsm) Uncoated FOGRA29 (ISO 12647-2:2004) for offset commercial and specialty printing with paper type 4 (uncoated white offset, 120 gsm) Coated FOGRA39 (ISO 12647-2:2004) represents commercial offset lithography on gloss or matte coated paper of 115 gsm. ISO TC130 is registered by the Japan National Committee and is adopted by ICC as an international standard as it is consistent with ISO 12647-2 and -3. The following profiles are in Affinity products: Japan Web Coated (Ad) is for sheet-fed offset printing Paper type 1, premium coated, 127.9 gsm Japan Color 2001 Coated is for sheet-fed offset printing, with paper type 1, (coated, 105 gsm), Japan Color 2001 Uncoated is as above but for uncoated paper. Japan Color 2002 Newspaper is for coldset offset printing for printing newspapers. Japan Color 2003 Web Coated is for heat-set web offset printing,with paper type 3, (coated, 70 gsm)

@brad thanks. You are of course right. This is an issue I need to resolve before mass production. It is fascinating to me how neither the print shop nor the manufacturer know what I’m talking about when I ask about ICC color profiles. I can offer no excuse for the print shop, but I believe I am just talking to sales at the manufacturer so they are probably just as dumb as me. However, when manufacturing there is always a stage where samples are produced, which will help a lot. I’m making strides in my understanding of this issue and how to address it, and how to ask the right questions, and will report it here once I am convinced I have something valuable to offer.

I am designing a board game, so I use the print shop for prototypes and play testing. The manufacturer will produce 1000s of copies of the game in a factory. So it’s important to get the colors right before it is mass produced.

I asked for detailed info on the card stock so I can soft proof and the response was: 94 GE Brightness Caliper 10.0 Brightness 94 Opacity 98 What’s that as a proof profile?

Simple question. Are there any guidelines for interpreting the list of proof profiles in Photo and Designer into typical paper types? Like a dummy’s guide. For example, when you go to a print shop or manufacturer they do not describe the paper or card by the descriptors used for the proof profiles. I typically print on what the print shop calls ‘100lb c/s2 gloss white card stock’. What is that equivalent to in the proof profiles?

I now have information from the manufacturer and they also say CMYK, PDF, 300 dpi. Neither my print shop nor manufacturer seems concerned about color profiles of their printers. I am looking at soft proofing. This is really interesting and does represent the darkening of images under certain proof profiles. So how does one know the correct proof profile to use? The proof profiles appear to relate to paper types. Can more profiles be added? How do you know which proof profile to use? Are there proof profiles for playing cards for example?

OK I am looking at soft proofing. This is really interesting and does represent the darkening of images under certain proof profiles. So how does one know the correct proof profile to use? The proof profiles appear to relate to paper types. Can more profiles be added? How do you know which proof profile to use?

@brad thanks for your calm insight. I am frustrated. I am designing a board game and have spent money on art that may be darker than I thought and need to correct it. So this is very much a matter of perception rather than precision. @RCR I will definitely look at cambridgeincolour.com and have already started. @walt I am disappointed in the print shop too. It is fully professional with the full range of products you’d expect from a print shop but I sometimes wonder about the attitude of the owner. It’s just around the corner from me, so very convenient, but I really hate going there because they don’t seem to be interested in the end product I want to achieve.