Jump to content
You must now use your email address to sign in [click for more info] ×

Frame Text elements print in Gray instead of Black


Recommended Posts

Hi, I am new here.
I jusr recently purchased Affinity Publisher and I am starting to use it for some black & white typesetting.

However, as soon as I started with some tests, I can’t seem to be able to print the text pages (Black only) on my laser printer and ensure it actually comes out as Black. It always prints screened, at a percentage which seems to be about a 90% Black.

I have searched the forums and Google to see if other users had encountered a similar problem, but I can’t seem to find anything.
I tried to set my document both with CMYK and Gray color format, to no avail. I also recreated the Black from scratch, giving a value of 0-0-0-100, but it prints in screened dark gray both if I use a "rich black" or a 0-0-0-100 CMYK Black.

I am using Publisher with an old Mac Tower and operating system El Capitan 10.11.6.
The problem seems to be with Affinity alone, as my old InDesign prints the Black correctly.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Staff

Hi etpicci,

Welcome to the forums :)

Could you please upload a sample document so I can look into this for you? Thanks in advance!

Please Note: I am now out of the office until Tuesday 2nd April on annual leave.

If you require urgent assistance, please create a new thread and a member of our team will be sure to assist asap.

Many thanks :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Staff

Thanks for your file & screenshot - the file appears correct in my opinion, the colour profile is correctly set and the text is certainly at 0,0,0,100.

I've tested printing this on a Samsung laser printer here from both a PC and Mac - the blacks print as expected and I'm unable to replicate your described issue.

Could you please open the Print dialog, then change the dropdown from 'Range and Scale' to 'Colour Matching' and provide a screenshot of your settings here? Thanks in advance :)

Please Note: I am now out of the office until Tuesday 2nd April on annual leave.

If you require urgent assistance, please create a new thread and a member of our team will be sure to assist asap.

Many thanks :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 hours ago, Dan C said:

Could you please open the Print dialog, then change the dropdown from 'Range and Scale' to 'Colour Matching' and provide a screenshot of your settings here? Thanks in advance :)

Hi,
I have opened the "Print" dialog box but I do not have a "Colour Matching" element in the dropdown menu. It‘s as follows:
833933473_Schermata2019-10-28alle18_52_55.png.37842226ef4cb41f4508d44275e533eb.png

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Staff

Thanks for your screenshots, my sincerest apologies for the delayed response.

Could you please check under Graphics & Printer Settings from the dropdown list shown in your screenshot to see if either of these options contain Colour settings.

It sounds as though the Printer isn't using the Coated FOGRA39 profile when printing. Do you know which profile your printer is using by default?

Could you please try exporting to PDF making sure the correct profile is selected and then print from Preview to see what happens?

Thanks in advance :) 

Please Note: I am now out of the office until Tuesday 2nd April on annual leave.

If you require urgent assistance, please create a new thread and a member of our team will be sure to assist asap.

Many thanks :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I tried to export the document in PDF, keeping the Fogra profile, but it always prints in gray (from the PDF even a lighter gray, for what matters).
I also tried to change the document color settings to "Grey-16" (instead of "CMYK-8") but it's the same. And so is if the document is in "RGB" format. :-(

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I also tried to select "Black point compensation" in the "Preferences" dialog box but again, to no avail.

Even choosing to "Perceptual" the rendering intent does not change anything. Always dark grey (screened) instead of Black… :-(

1754113611_Schermata2019-10-31alle21_07_59.png.44dd1b46b9491e18d8edf25ed789ad52.png

Edited by etpicci
addenda
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Staff

Thanks for the screenshots and information provided, unfortunately I'm still unable to replicate this here currently.

Could you please provide me with a copy of the PDF you've exported?

Please Note: I am now out of the office until Tuesday 2nd April on annual leave.

If you require urgent assistance, please create a new thread and a member of our team will be sure to assist asap.

Many thanks :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 11/4/2019 at 4:24 PM, Dan C said:

Thanks for the screenshots and information provided, unfortunately I'm still unable to replicate this here currently.

Could you please provide me with a copy of the PDF you've exported?

Well, I am sad as I would have loved to start to use Affinity Publisher instead of the Adobe products, but if I can’t even print out a page in Black it’s quite disappointing. :-(
Here’s the PDF, thanks much!
Large settings.pdf

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Staff

Many thanks for your PDF, this shows me that the correct colour profile is being applied, and your text is set to 100% K correctly.

Could you please try printing this PDF twice for me, first from Preview and secondly after importing into InDesign. Do both of these methods print correctly?

Please Note: I am now out of the office until Tuesday 2nd April on annual leave.

If you require urgent assistance, please create a new thread and a member of our team will be sure to assist asap.

Many thanks :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

7 hours ago, Dan C said:

Many thanks for your PDF, this shows me that the correct colour profile is being applied, and your text is set to 100% K correctly.

Could you please try printing this PDF twice for me, first from Preview and secondly after importing into InDesign. Do both of these methods print correctly?

Thanks. I did both and in Preview (which was what I already used the first time) it prints in a pretty light gray (abiud a 60% Black), while when I imported the PDF in InDesign it prints in Black (apparently in a correct way). What can I do? :-(

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 11/7/2019 at 2:00 PM, haakoo said:

Here are some threads about the black text issue
https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/search/&q=100%K

There are just two threads raising an issue about the 100% Black (and obviously I searched the forum before asking) but they are about a different problem, and none answers my specific one, which is pretty key, as I can’t even print Black elements in Black from within the application (not PDFs, exports, etc.). :-(

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think I have solved the problem.

The problem is not specific to Affinity Designer, rather it’s a problem of how printers basically handle the printing of Black text in color documents, and how Black is specified within said documents.
While InDesign has a "smarter" approach and lets you specify to print all the text boxes in Black in the Printer dialog box, many graphics applications (Including Illustrator) usually handle CMYK Black specified (correctly) as a 100% as a "bleak" Black, and thus they print it screened. Even if one specifies a CMYK rich Black, say 40/30/30/100, the text comes out blacker but still screened and "fuzzy" around the edges.

To obtain a perfectly sharp text in Affinity, for documents which need to be printed neatly just in black and white, just set it as a RGB Black (0/0/0) and print as usual.
I don’t know if it has any incidence, since it’s about continuous tone RGB pictures, but I also unchecked "Black point compensation" (see screenshot) and used rendering intent "Relative colourimetric", which is usually the default for most graphic applications.
To obtain it in InDesign, as said, you just have to leave the Black swatch "as is", and the application handles it automatically when you specify in the "Options" section of the Print dialog box "RGB composite" and "Text in Black".

Here there’s a solution that apparently should obtain the same crisp black for text in Illustrator, but it did not work for me (as it probably depends also on the printer drivers).

https://beeldbuijs.nl/how-to/print-100-black/

At any rate: now I can start to use Affinity Publisher. Yay! :17_heart_eyes:
Thanks much for the help and moral help.

438940303_Schermata2019-11-08alle23_57_12.thumb.png.addf50cdb2ab8262c87372fcf2abcb54.png

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

Terms of Use | Privacy Policy | Guidelines | We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.