Love2Design

Wow, that’s not good! Unfortunately the companies I have started designing products on usually accept a png image not a pdf format.

Hmm. Where could I maybe find the “generic cmyk profile” to import if needed? I don’t know where you find one online without any viruses. On the iPad, affinity does have the option to “import”but then brings you to “browse” expecting you to have it downloaded on your iPad already. From that link, I’m really not sure which of those would work best for the different products... I’ll have to write to the company again with the different options to see if they can recommend the best profile until affinity adds it on the iPad.

Yeah, I might not have gotten an iPad either if it weren’t for Affinity and Procreate! Yes, I used to set my document to cmyk8 in my computer and under that is where I expected the “generic cmyk profile” to be. I’m not sure which one to set it to exactly now instead making the document. The company who works with the printers said the generic would work best. I had really wanted one of the new iPad pros but for the price of the 12.9; I decided to start with this one for now. Plus, it’s running on the same ios12 now that I updated it so it has the same gestures which is awesome! It’s also typing great without any annoying delay so I'm happy with it so far! :)

I’m not sure out of these options on the right which would work best with their printers seeing the generic cmyk profile isn’t there. I would be designing for coated and uncoated items like mugs and pillows.

Hey Toltec, Dm1 is right the newest Apple Pencil only works on the iPads without the physical home button/latest generation. I ended up getting last year’s verison (2017) to save money for now on the 12.9 size. I like the split screen so you can work on your design on the right while having a tutorial or email etc... on the left, or have a third little video open, or switch back to full screen- it comes in handy. I also set up the virtual home button in settings. Anyways, I found a sale online at b&h photo and asked Best Buy to price match in store and they did! They also match a few other website competitors. If you buy apple care + (plus covers for accidents and I believe is cheaper to fix your iPad than if you didn’t have apple care +, the regular apple care comes with the iPads for 1 year but doesn’t cover accidents and such) with your IPad and pencil in the same transaction/same receipt, apple care + covers your Apple Pencil as well! Just check on the apple coverage website after to make sure it’s showing as covered, and contact apple if not for a email confirmation of pencil coverage. I got the silver 256 for now (last year version) with the cellular in case I ever needed it, seeing public WiFi and hotel WiFi are pretty insecure these days. WiFi only is cheaper, and you may not need the cellular option if you don’t take it anywhere or work offline when you’re out. I haven’t found the older pencil to be a pain hardly at all. The difference is in the way they charge. The newest one charges wirelessly on top of the iPad; the old one just plugs in the wall with the tiny adapter that comes with the iPad. It charges super fast so I don’t feel like I missed out on the new pencil! The new ones also have the double tap feature which is nice but not totally necessary. The old pencils are a bit heavier though. The newest iPads especially you have to check to make sure they aren’t bent and get a good sturdy case for itso it won’t bend or break when dropped. I also recommend a good screen protector; AmFilm had some great reviews on Amazon! It saved lots of people’s screens in a fall. I decided to wait for the price of the new ipad pro’s to come down and go with this for now because I loved drawing on the bigger size and having more storage than 64gb. You might just want the new one though; it all depends on your budget and preferences. Here is the link for the one I got, last years/older pencil. Just an idea if you wanted to wait for the new ones to go down in price like I did. https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1342549-REG/apple_mpa52ll_a_12_9_ipad_pro_mid.html Also, the regular iPads (not the pros) have more parallax under the pencil when drawing, aren’t as powerful, and can’t do as big of canvases in Procreate if you ever wanted to try that out. The newest iPad pros of course probably have a bit better screen than last years and are supposed to be faster, but not much for drawing. I LOVE drawing with the Apple Pencil; it makes designing/drawing so much easier! (Furthermore, the 10.5 (2017) I tried out in store seemed slower than the 12.9 (2017) and also more cramped for drawing which means more zooming in and out all the time in your workflow. I don’t know if it was just that 10.5 inch or if all of them are like that.) That’s a few helpful hints and tips to get you started. Hope it’s helpful for you seeing you helped me so much before. I did notice that affinity designer on the iPad doesn’t have the generic cmyk profile option, not sure which one is similar to use for same printing results. I don’t know if that matters to you in your workflow, but it’s something I just ran into.

Hi DM1, Thank you so much for that tip! Unfortunately, I had to trade in my old MacBook Pro and put that towards the iPad Pro. Lol Also my family is hoping to move this spring so I have to wait to get my next Mac if I want a desktop this time which is what I was leaning towards for other reasons. Therefore, I am presently without a Mac or MacBook Pro. I just wish I knew that one of the other profiles would work the same, but I am unfamiliar with them. I really hope Affinity will add the generic one soon on the iPad. The printing company said to create the document in the generic cmyk profile for best print results.

Hi Paul, Thank you for responding. Yeah that is the page I am referring to. I used to use “cmyk/8” and along with the “generic cmyk profile”, so underneath the cmyk/8 was where I expected the generic cmyk profile option to be. I’m not sure if the “U.S. Web Coated SWOP v2” would yield the same results for the printers they work with seeing it says “web” in it; I’m assuming that isn’t for printing on products like pillows and such but only for online wiewing/internet. I can set the size in pixel size so that’s fine, but I just wanted to deselect the A4 sizes seeing I won’t be working with those most of the time.

Hi everyone! I just got affinity designer on my iPad today and went to setup a new document with the settings I used to use on my MacBook Pro, but realized first the “Generic CMYK Profile” option seems to be missing (even scrolled up and down). I thought it would be there seeing the app is advertised as CMYK from start to finish and to be equal to the full-blown affinity designer desktop software, just on the iPad. Is there anyway to set it to the “generic cmyk profile” or is that coming soon? I don’t know if another profile would work/which to choose, but that is what the printer recommended using for best print results. Secondly, I had also chosen print press ready; I’m guessing all the A4, A0, etc... options are for paper sizes. I am designing for different sized products such as pillows, leggings, notebooks on Redbubble who prints the designs- so I don’t think I need one of those paper options selected but can’t see that you can select “none” for that. I hope that wouldn’t effect the outcome. I can set the pixels, but the “A4” sets automatically. Thank you in advance for your help with this! I’m looking forward to diving into this app; I just need to know what to set it to in order to get started.

Hi Toltec, Hmm, I will have to keep the text and gradients in mind. I really love what you can do with lettering/calligraphy in procreate... I know you can do a lot more with it though so hopefully it will work out. Thanks so much again, Toltec, for all your help!!

Hi Callum, It looks like it can export "as layered native .procreate file, PSD, TIFF, transparent PNG, multi-page PDF or web ready JPEG". I was assuming I would need to use png, and or psd or pdf? I was thinking I could change the colors on the layers too in affinity designer, having prevoiusly used designer on the desktop, but I've never used photo. I just want to make sure I get the right program on the ipad to change procreate designs to cmyk colors. From what I saw so far, people are only recommending AP, but I love AD for vector and know it better, so I was wondering if I could use that instead of photo for this additional purpose or not.

It looks like it can export "as layered native .procreate file, PSD, TIFF, transparent PNG, multi-page PDF or web ready JPEG". I was assuming I would need to use png, and or psd or pdf? I was thinking I could change the colors on the layers too in affinity designer, having prevoiusly used designer on the desktop, but I've never used photo. I just want to make sure I get the right program on the ipad to change procreate designs to cmyk colors. From what I saw so far, people are only recommending AP, but I love AD for vector and know it better, so I was wondering if I could use that instead of photo for this additional purpose or not.

Hi, Should I get affinity designer or affinity photo on the iPad- in order to convert my Procreate paintings/drawings to cmyk/Pantone colors? (I want to print my art on products, but am not sure if I would need "designer" or "photo" for the cmyk conversion seeing procreate doesn't have cmyk values to use.) Or is there another way to do it? I don't want to lose image quality either.... Also, how many brushes does affinity designer have on the iPad? I would love to know any procreate product designers' workflow!! (whether AD or AP on the iPad.)

Thank you, that makes a lot more sense now! Lol I don't even have a monitor really right now so if you've seen it, you're really good! Haha I do need to figure out what screen/computer exactly I want to get next. Yeah, my only concern was if it was calibrated to cmyk colors then I wanted to edit a photo or read something online I would need a separate monitor because the colors wouldn't be as bright. Lol. I was getting hung up on what calibration did and what I was changing my screen to exactly. Ok, any calibrator company, good to know!! As far as soft proof, I think I finally thought the right thing! Yay! Lol I just couldn't know if pantone colors were available in affinity d. when designing in the cmyk profile, without a computer right now. Yeah, I haven't gotten into serious photo editing yet, but I plan to get more into that as well! Hmmm, that's really weird they said that then... So the other thing I'm hung up on is seeing they said their printer can print red and green and cmyk though for a larger color gamut and an rgb workflow , how would the red and green part effect my work if I tried designing in cmyk? Cmyk doesn't have red really or green? If I design in rgb then the printer converts it to the closest colors.

P.S.- Just heard back from teespring and I had asked about their printers specifics, how it works on their end exactly. "You can use whatever Pantone series you would like as our system will match the colors when uploaded. You can design using either RGB or CMYK and it will be matched by the printers we use. Keep in mind that while we do call out all pantone color that print items will appear slightly different than a digital image on a screen. Since the use of RGB and CMYK for best results differs depending on the material being printed on our system will replicate both as needed. " I asked them after that to be clear, "The printer is converting an rgb design then to cmyk inks?" and they said "No, our printer can print both, there is no conversion." So I'm assuming they must have a different printer then?

Hey Oh sorry, I meant red and green when I said rgb really. It was a little confusing seeing teespring said they can print red and green as well as cmyk. So then, to make sure I'm understanding what calibration does: it will change the white balance and other colors to a good balance, but it won't be setting my screen to cmyk colors. Then viewing the soft proof in designer will be a more accurate display of the cmyk colors because my screen is balanced so to speak. (I had been using the soft proof layers and removing them before sending my files just having started in designing before my computer died, but hadn't calibrated my screen. oops lol. I was afraid to but getting more comfortable with the idea now. I will calibrate my next one!) If the above statement is wrong, Can the calibration software set my screen to cmyk colors? Also, if I were to edit photography it would probably need to be on a separate monitor if that were the case or can I turn that custom calibration profile off temporarily? I've been looking into the pantone swatches and found out there is a calibrator called X-Rite and Color Munki, smile, photo, etc ...which is tied to pantone and people say it has more features/shows and tests more than the spider. Is the x-rite the best kind to get and do you need one better than the smile, or the more money=the better job it does? Does a calibration device replace the idea of downloading an icc profile then? It looks like you can calibrate an ipad or a phone now with some of their devices the x rite color true I think it was and maybe the idisplay. Also with a kind of spyder datacolor maybe. Not sure on all the names off the top of my head. Waiting to hear from Redbubble, but Teespring says they do match pantone colors. Yes, I agree, it's best to know what is going to print before rather than when its too late! I also realized affinity designer supposedly has pantone colors in the swatches panel so then if I bought the pantone swatches book, and set my objects to the same color in the software, would a soft proof be necessary or only to tell if it fits in the cmyk gamut? Can you use pantone colors from the swatches panel if you're in cmyk 8 design profile/color space (not sure what you call it in affinity designer's settings for your project of cmyk). Thanks again for your patience and wisdom, I'm feeling like I'm starting to get a better understanding of this whole new world of design and color for printing. Probably still missing pieces, but hoping it will all fit together someday.