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.

Hi again, Thank you so much for all your help!!! I just wrote to the printers again today about Pantone colors, and calibrating, and getting some samples of my products. We'll see what they say; they're not always all that helpful, sometimes though. There's only two problems for me I can see or don't understand yet, 1) designing on one screen for cmyk then rgb if it's already calibrated for cmyk?... And 2), what to calibrate the screen to for cmyk or rgb, or will the calibrating software lead me through how to set it? Yeah, lol, it probably is hard work to match most colors just by eyeing it. If the companies say they match pantone swatches, I'll probably have to go that route unless I can do it just with some sample products with the calibration image like you said. It really would be a huge blessing if I could know my colors were going to be consistent and correct being printed and sold halfway around the world! Lol Thanks again!!! I really had no idea what direction to head for color accuracy.

Ok, I will forget about the pantone colors then. lol Unfortunately, I have to get a new device seeing my laptop is way overheating, battery has to be replaced, its old etc..; right now I'm trying to move soon so I can't get a monitor and set it up seeing I'm not in my new home yet... I would like to have something portable for now and later....as well as maybe a desktop computer after I'm moved or external monitor if needed. Will this calibration work for cmyk for the one company and the rgb and cmyk for the other? I'm guessing not which would mean two monitors, or two calibrations on one external monitor to be used at separate times? I don't know if they do that or not. Or just one external monitor for all the cmyk work and the laptop/desktop for rgb So then, I think you are saying I have to have the two companies print an adobe color page on the products while I calibrate my future laptop/desktop/external monitor, then when the products arrive compare and adjust in affinity designer on the color gamuts to the calibrated screen? Will that adobe page cover all the colors I might want design with (in cmyk or rgb on the other) or as long as the ones on the page are correct with the monitor then all the rest of the colors in the color space/gamut will be just fine? I'm still not quite sure what I should or need to purchase for designing on next.... Are drawing tablet monitors an option to use or just use an imac desktop or any comouter/ipad with a calibrated external monitor because the external monitor is not effected by the ipad/ computer colorwise once calibrated? Thank you so much for helping me this far to understand more of this process! I really appreciate it!! I've been so lost trying to figure it all out on my own. I feel it would be a whole lot easier if it were printed next door for me to do tests

Hi Toltec, Thank you so much for telling me about all of that! I totally agree!! It is very complicated and controversial I'm noticing! I had only heard of calibrating a monitor, but have never done it, nor do I really know what to calibrate it to exactly. I hadn't heard of the Pantone colors yet. The printing companies would print my designs and sell them online so I wouldn't have access to them unless I ordered a product every time. I looked up again what kind of printing the two companies use, and on Redbubble's site, at some point, they wrote: "For our basic mens, womens & kids apparel we use direct to garment printing, which involves applying a pretreatment before loading the garment into a printer. This ensures the prints sink into the fibres of the textile, making them much more long wearing than traditional ‘transfer’ prints, which just sit on top. Our full bleed range, which includes products like the graphic tee, leggings, scarf & A-line dress are created using a different technique called sublimation printing, which uses heat sensitive inks. Under heat, these inks turn into gas and combine with polyester textiles. Since the ink becomes part of the structure of the material, the images on the fabric don’t fade or crack, even after many washes." Teespring says " Color system: We use an RGB workflow. Our DTG machines print Red and Green, as well as the traditional CMYK, which allows for a larger color gamut." As far as design profiles, Redbubble told me for designing : "Our printers (and all printers in fact) print in the CMYK color spectrum which is a mix of cyan, magenta, yellow and black. Most digital images default to the RGB spectrum and we try to match as close to these colors as possible. If you want to get your digital image looking as close to what will print, it’s best to design your image in CMYK right off the bat, especially for cloth products like t-shirts. Please ensure that the image you’re using has been converted over to CMYK. You’ll notice that the photo/design’s values will be dulled down a bit but you’ll be able to adjust the saturation and tones in your photo-editing program to the brightest CMYK colors. You can then save the file in sRGB and upload it to Redbubble. This is the general rule when printing work. If you’re simply displaying a graphic online and have no intentions of printing it, an image saved in RGB will be just fine. However, to avoid any surprise colour differences in print, it is always recommended to start off in CMYK....The generic CMYK profile will work just fine for printing. As for the RGB mode, we suggest using sRGB before uploading. It sounds like this would be RGB/32 in this case....We are unable to advise whether "print" or "print press ready" will be best for your work, as we are not trained experts with using Affinity Designer. As long as your image is saved as a PNG in sRGB, this will be suitable to print for the third party printers we work with. We recommend saving the image as PNG 8, as this will produce a smaller file size which will be much easier on our server As for your photos, it's good to get into the habit of double-checking the colors are to your taste in CMYK to begin with. You can then switch to sRGB before uploading as well." Teespring said for design profiles they print in a full spectrum of color, and it was up to me to use cmyk or rgb. Would the pantone colors work/apply to both companies then? I was starting with designs and patterns, but would love to print my photos eventually on canvases, bags, cups, etc... There are so many varieties on both sites to print on. Hoodies, Leggings, bags, etc... It sounds like you're saying that the computer, which the external monitor is connected to, won't effect the external monitor's display then? Also, if I understood correctly, I would need a desktop and external monitor or just a desktop computer to calibrate? Or I can get any computer to calibrate with swatches? And Would affinity designer still work for any of those printing processes? Can I design/draw on a screen drawing tablet monitor or an ipad connected to an external calibrated monitor? Or how can I draw to design or use affinity on what kind of projects? Cards maybe? Thank you so much for your in depth response! I really appreciate the insight!! I feel like its a whole new world sometimes. Lol

Thank you, Stokerg, for your quick and courteous reply!! :D. I have been debating on the middle storage size or the largest, because I thought the files probably take up a lot of space and I also like a lot of apps on my old little ipod (8 years old lol still going strong!). I've never had the opportunity to have an ipad in the past, but I've been really concerned about it not displaying the same color space for designing...I really don't want to have issues with my printed products (like pillows, phone cases, t-shirts) being totally different colors than what I see on my screen even though they might be in gamut. They aren't printed nearby so I can't compare unless I order one every time. I've been really considering getting an ipad though!! Yeah, hopefully someone will comment if it is definitely possible to connect a regular external hard drive to the ipad, because from what I had seen, it didn't seem that possible. I've always wanted to get one, I just need some perspective, wisdom, and recommendations from people like you who do this all the time what is best to get for accurate colors. :D. Thank you, again, for taking the time!

What internal storage size do I need if you do recommend an ipad for all the design files plus apps? And is there any way I could use a connector cord to a regular toshiba 3 terrabite hard drive to store my designs on there?

Hi, My MacBook Pro is pretty much dead, which happened very shortly after I got Affinity Designer causing me to search for a new laptop to use affinity on! I then realized some of the computer reviews say most laptops can't display all of the Adobe rgb colors and Adobe rgb contains the cmyk colors; the laptop I had considered first could only display 60% of the Adobe rgb colors. I had previously just started designing for teespring and redbubble products such as pillows, phone cases, bags, shirts, leggings, etc... One company had me use cmyk colors and the other said they can do rgb/srgb etc.... I also looked into an external monitor that could display full Adobe rgb colors, but figured if it's plugged into a laptop that doesn't display all the colors needed, then it probably would effect the external monitor displaying full colors and the same would happen to a drawing tablet seeing it transmits the screen over/mirrors the laptop display? I went to Best Buy and someone there agreed (about the external monitor and the drawing tablet monitor not displaying full color if the laptop doesn't) who did graphic design and said I should get a iMac 5k screen desktop which is powerful and has the best screen (seeing I'm also into photography and music) as well as an iPad maybe for drawing later. I told that person it seems that iPads and Macs have p3 color which is not the same as Adobe rgb and cmyk, especially in blues, greens, and reds. But they said the Mac would be ok........ I don't want to have to spend a ton of money, but I also don't want to think I'm designing with a certain green and have it print a totally different green even with gamut check on because my screen can't display all the colors it should for designing. What computers or iPads do you use for designing to get accurate colors or recommend any drawing tablets? I really want to be able to draw and have accurate colors! Thank you in advance for all your help!!! I'm so excited affinity Designer just came out on the iPad! Also, I would love a 12.9" iPad pro but don't know how to get a new one cheap or when the next ones will be realeased? I figure this generation would be best because it has the better color and processor for designing. Is the 10.5 really small after a while for designing? A lot of people say they like drawing on it better than drawing monitors for many reasons. Which do you prefer? Also, if I got an iPad, would that transfer or count as one of my operating system devices licenses seeing you can have affinity on multiple devices you own with the same os? Or would I have to purchase affinity again?

Hi, thank you for responding firstdefence and Lee D! Yes, it does still seem a bit paler, but I've changed the document setup "colour format" to cmyk8 as well as changing it to the "Generic CMYK Profile" (which Redbubble said should be fine for printing instead of the web swop one it selected), and I've added "adjustments." I just hope it prints correctly. In addition, I added the "Soft Proof", and it looks like it should be fine in the gamut check for the generic cmyk profile. If it looks fine in the gamut check, does that mean 100% it will print correctly? I heard about a printer total ink limit or total ink area coverage in a video discussing rgb converting to cmyk printing- does that apply only to printing paper? Or does it apply to printing on products as well? Redbubble also said to use png-8 not 24 to make it easier on their server. Is that good quality; there won't be a white outline like I saw on the internet? I still have a lot of the questions from my original post, but some of the most important ones are in this post as well. As far as I can see on the internet so far, affinity's "print" option is for your home printer and "print press ready" is for commercial printing on paper and other products like pillows or phone cases? Is that correct? I'm really wondering about this: If I want to print a photo on a product like a computer bag or pillow with my logo over it, importing the photo into affinity designer and creating the text then exporting the text and photo, will it effect my photo and how do I import and export it properly? Also, will it apply cmyk colors to it and will that be bad for the quality of the photo or products? Thank you again in advance so much for your help with this! I truly appreciate it! It's always good to get the basics first and then go from there!

Hi, I'm brand new to affinity designer and designing with in depth options like affinity has. I'm trying to create designs in order to put onto products like pillows, mugs, shirts, canvases, etc...on sites like Redbubble and Teespring. I think I need some more clarification on the specific settings I should select on importing and exporting. 1) When creating the document should I select "print" or "print-press ready" when making designs from scratch (or "Photo" if I'm importing a photo) if it will be on products? 2) How do i safely import and export my photo without messing up it's pixels accidentally or having it change the coloring so I can add a little text on it? I don't want my products to appear blurry or have any color problems. One site says I can upload rgb as well as cmyk; the other says I can make it in cmyk and save it as srgb after editing tones and saturation. 3) How do I safely edit tones and saturation without messing it up for printing? 4) If my photo was an "HDR" photo, do I import and export it with the HDR options? Do I need to convert my photos to cmyk or can I keep them as they were when captured? 5) What rgb setting should I use for my designs for products/what is the difference between rgb 8, rgb 16, and rgb 32, png 24 or png 8 dithered, cmyk u.s. web coated swap v2 or a different option, bilinear and bicubic etc... 6) I have one design I made in rgb colors- which I am trying to edit to look the same in cmyk. Do I need to use the soft proof feature or just add adjustments to get the colors looking bright and correct like the rgb? It turned it yellowish and pale. 7) Do I need to set up margins and bleeds if it will be on products or paper? Anything I'm missing that I need to adjust would be great to know as well! Thank you everyone in advance for your help!! I LOVE affinity designer for what it can do; I just need to learn what settings to use and more about how to use it to it's full potential!