stevenh

ahhh. Callas. I used to use PitStop back in the day. I worked Pre-press for many years as a commercial printer. Now I'm just a one-man graphics department, so having input from other working pros is really helpful.

Tried your test. Added my results to the original post:

Hey Hangman - I just did your test, and unless I missed a step, the color separations looks good to me. 1. opened your orig AD file in AD2.2.0 (Made the PMS spot color and set to overprint just for fun) [03.PDF Source File Master.afdesign] 2 Exported as PDF/X-1a:2003 [03. pdf_X-1a_source.pdf] 3. Placed pdf in AP 2.2.0 and grouped as layer so PASSTHROUGH is applied [03.PDF Source File Master.afpub] 4. Exported as PDFG/X-1a:2003 [03. pdf_X-1a_AP2.2.0_output.pdf] Output oks like all % values are maintained Let me know what you think. BTW - what did you use to show the Comparison color values in the SAMPLE and PASSTHROUGH screenshot? 03. pdf_X-1a_AP2.2.0_output.pdf 03. pdf_X-1a_source.pdf 03.PDF Source File Master.afdesign 03.PDF Source File Master.afpub

not yet - just got too busy at work... but it is still on my list. This week for sure

The issue is when you print directly from Affinity. My suggestion is to export all your Client files as PDF/X-1a:2003 (this is CMYK + Spot Color) unless you have a reason to use a different PDF version ( ie screen use only) Affinity talks about the different formats for output here: https://affinity.help/publisher/en-US.lproj/index.html?page=pages/Publishing/publishPDFFiles.html?title=Publishing PDF files

Thank You, stokerg. Nice to see that the staff browse these posts, and contribute to the forums. So many different people, and workflows, with one thing in common... we just want our Affinity tool of choice to to be great. Looking forward to watching the bugs get squashed!

Good info - thanks for that, Hangman. I'll try your PDF test myself using the 2.2 suite and see if the bug still exists.

Seems this has been around a LONG time, and it makes no sense as to why Affinity has not corrected it. Just re-documenting, and hoping others may have some input that is helpful... A CMYK file in AP, even when output to a high end RIP does not maintain CMYK data, and instead all data is (apparently)sent RGB. Both InDesign and QuarkXpress output color data correctly from the print dialog box. Single color black becomes process. Gray scale and 100K Affinity Designer files shift color as well. Exporting to PDF X-1a and printing maintains proper CMYK values. It's very disheartening that an Adobe subscription is still required just to insure that Affinity will make correct output, and that they count on it as a "Proper" work-flow. Maybe, they should consider making "AffinityPDF" as a 4th spoke in the suite. Sample below is from AP 2.2.0 Printed from M2 MacStudio/EFI Fiery RIP G-250 V2.1

I have been fighting with Affinity and the color profile/pdf/eps output for a while now. The same pdf, with correct overprints placed in Quark will output correctly. Placed in AP, overprinting grey text would not work. Your post is the closest I've gotten to doing what I want. ALSO: An applied drop shadow mixed 100%K would distill as 4/c - even with your export setting. Changing the drop shadow to 2-0-0-95 made it work aPlacing the PDF in AP with the PDF Passthrough outputs correctly. Setting it to "Interpret" does not. I know this is an old thread, but THANK YOU

Reviving an old topic i have the broken Help dialog on all Affinty apps currently. Entering in a term in the search field brings up no results at all. If I open the a link from the sidebar it is fine Currently running OSX Monterey 12.6 APhoto - 1.10.5 ADesigner - 1.10.15 APub - 1.10.5

I would like to chime in with my thanks. Followed Dan Cs instructions, placed the 'afreg.cfg' file in: ~/Library/Application Support/Affinity Photo/ and relaunched. Allowed registration of Designer 1.10.4 no problem. Also download of all freebie-extras. Mac 10.14.6 Thank you so much

Bug or ? Ive been a designer quite some time now, but this just made me scratch my head... Simple test - made a Black and White image in Affinty Designer. Document Space is Gray8. Saved as eps. Open in Designer - 100K converted to process. (I found this out when i need to convert anBW logo to a 5% black for a ghosted background.) Other tests found that Designer did the same to spot colors. Illustrator opened the eps as BW, but 100K = 85%. Acrobat saw the eps as 85% black as well. How can you open/export an existing file and retain proper color descriptions? This could be a nightmare if you were making t-shirt art for example. Any thoughts? BW Test.afdesign BW Test.eps

I agree. Lock should mean LOCKED. No edits at all. After all these years I do not understand why this is not a feature. So important. Best would be a "Lock Layer" and individual "Lock Selected"

Often i will make a temporary background layer with about a 15% black fill – I use to see if there are any ghost pixels after removing the image background. For me it's easier to see than on the checkerboard

Really enjoy and appreciate all the feedback from Dedicated Users like yourselves. Thank you