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PNG transparency black when printing compressed PDF


REL

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I am having the same issue, whereby a document created in Affinity Designer, some images are Jpg and some are PNG. (see attachment). I export the document to a PDF and the PNG images print black around them, it doesn't matter whether I export for print or web or 192 or 300. Visually on screen and in the exported PDF there is not a problem. Only on the printed document. I have had HP online today working on this problem thinking it is the printer, they have re-installed the drivers and it is still happening. This did not happen 6 months ago. I had printed a document out 12 months ago, no problems, then had to edit it and re-print a few months ago and this problem started occurring. I am using an iMac with Catalina installed, but this problem happened before that new operating system. I am using a HP OfficeJet Pro 7740 printer. I have been creating these documents for some 5 years without problem. Your assistance would be greatly appreciated. TIA.

Image.jpeg

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  • 3 weeks later...
  • Staff

You say the exported PDF prints with black borders but looks correct on screen ?

Can you attach a copy of that PDF ?

Also can you create a PDF using the Print to PDF option from the print dialog and attach that?

Can you also attach one of the source images causing the problem please

 

Regards

 

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Pauls, I didn't get notification that a moderator replied here, I am sorry for the late response by me. Due to that, I communicated via email, who I believe are sending the Affinity file through to someone in the team who looks after these issues. I am assuming there are more than just you.  

if you look at the Split Liner image, the black that surrounds the white tape is not supposed to appear. The two rows of images with the black square behind the image should not be showing. They are clear PNG's. The PDF looks perfectly fine. It is only when it is printed that the issue occurs.  I have uploaded the original 'export to PDF' file and the 'print to PDF' file. The print to PDF file is the one that says 'for Affinity' in the file name, and lastly one of the PNG's that is having an issue. Thank you for your assistance in this, it is greatly appreciated. I have also clicked 'notify me of replies'. 

Die Cut & ConvertingV2.pdf

Die Cut & ConvertingV2 for Affinity.pdf

3m SJ5832 Black.png

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I use Photo, erase the background, export as PNG, then place PNG into file created in Affinity Designer. Once the double sided flyer is complete, I then export that file to a PDF, and print the PDF. I've been doing this for three years. It's only been the last three months or so that this problem has occurred. 

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  • Staff

I suspect the background is not erased as well as it could be on that png which may be casuing the problem in your workflow. It does appear to print fine on everything I can try

I would recheck the background erasing and maybe also try saving it as a TIF then using that in the PDF

Annotation 2019-12-06 111119.png

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Thank you Paul. I will do that, however, that does not explain why when I've been doing this process for over four years, why it's not working now. But, I will try tomorrow. I'm in the southern hemisphere, so it is sleep time now. I will post tomorrow my findings of your suggestion. Thank you.

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Good morning Pauls. I did that and it did not work. Then I decided to create a brand new document in Designer. I took a JPG file of a photo I'd taken, erased so there was only one flower bud, saved that file in JPG, PNG, TIFF and then using 'place' tool, placed each file into the new Designer document. I then saved that and exported it as a PDF. I printed that PDF and it did not work. There is black where the white would normally be, instead of clear space. I attach all of my files for your review.  flower trial .afdesign Thank you.

Image 5.jpeg

IMG_6690.afphoto

IMG_6690.jpg

IMG_6690.png

IMG_6690.tiff

Untitled.pdf

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I see in your flower PNG, TIF, .afdesign and PDF transparency on screen for PNG and TIF.
Also your "Untitled.pdf" prints both images to me with not black but transparent background and shows the light grey.

Possibly your black print result is a printer software issue. Are you aware whether your printer supports postscript transparency?
How does the background appear on print if you export as PDF/X-1 (it prevents postscript transparency but flattens)?

macOS 10.14.6 | MacBookPro Retina 15" | Eizo 27" | Affinity V1

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I just put a colour behind the image so the white behind the flower in the JPG would show up when printed.

I did the export PDF-X1 and it shows up with white background, same the the normal print to PDF does. 

Considering this printer has been printing these documents for several years, I have to assume it supports postscript transparency. I am talking four years this has been printing every document I've created out of Affinity Designer, and then Publisher. 

Did you open what I sent you and re-create the test sample I did? What were your results please?

Thank you.

  Additionally, HP re-downloaded the printer drivers, performed their normal test results and the printer printed perfectly, except for this issue.

IMG_6690 pdfx1.pdf

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2 hours ago, REL said:

it shows up with white background, same the the normal print to PDF does. 

Ok, it shows up white – on screen only or when printed, too? If on print then everything is fine, isn't it?

I'd say if you do see transparency in various apps on screen (as I do with both your pdfs and the other files as mentioned) then the black on a print would be related to and generated during the printing process and by all involved software, including the app which is used to send the print task.

p.s.: to test transparency a white background is less useful than your previous gray because in some apps + printed on paper the white can be the default color which also occurs with no content at all. With a white image background a non-transparent JPG looks the same as a TIF with transparency.

Maybe Pauls (from Serif) will come back with more detailed or even different results.

macOS 10.14.6 | MacBookPro Retina 15" | Eizo 27" | Affinity V1

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  • 1 month later...

Hi, I have a simple suggestion, perhaps it can help. First of all, I read this thread because I'm having the same trouble, the .png background turned to black.

In my case, the problem is from the picture I edited to become .png format. Have you tried to use another picture from another source (i.e. from a webpage) and print it? 

I'm using Affinity Designer in my MacBook and edited the .png picture with the Preview app.

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@KrisnaAdhi Hi, I have taken different JPG's from different sources, turned them into PNG's, placed them into Affinity Designer. They appear on screen perfectly, but once printed all I get is the black behind them. It is so frustrating. I'm using an iMac and only using Affinity programs so there can be no chance of software problems. Ha. This is so frustrating. @Pauls did you get a chance to use the images I provided and try this for yourself please? Thank you.

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Hi I'm not sure if this will help anyone but I had the same, or a similar, issue where some of my images were appearing in print with random black squares in and around them when printed, (and not on screen) they were, from memory, all images I had created or modified in affinity design. I had been copying and pasting between the two programs and when I swapped to using export persona in affinity design to export images into a file and then insert from the file into affinity publisher, the problem was resolved. Took a bit of re - doing at the time. Funny thing was it didn't happen to all the images, though I replaced them all anyway to prevent further potential  problems. Hope this might help somehow it sure wasn't a printer problem though. (I have two printers and it did the same on both lol)

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  • 4 weeks later...

I have been having this same problem. I have created a pdf file using images that were jpegs, converted to png with backgrounds transparent.

For me, the pdf prints correctly.

However, I have had complaints from 4 people that the pdf prints with black backgrounds. One of them sent me a screenshot and photo, which I have attached.

The fact that I can print the pdf and some others can't implies that this is a printer issue. However, I create these pdf for members of my membership website and if I can't guarantee that everyone can print them correctly, I have a big problem!

As I can't recreate the problem myself, I don't know where to start to troubleshoot it. 

If anyone can help I would be most grateful.

Lindsay

I have attached the original file, the pdf, and the screenshot and photo provided by one of the members who emailed in with the problem.

20200214_172827.jpg

20200214_172842.jpg

world_thinking_day_colouring_page.afpub world_thinking_day_colouring_page.pdf

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Just to report that flattening the pdf as suggested by @haakoo worked. 

However ... I have since had another complaint about these black backgrounds on another pdf file.

After investigating I find that only Mac users are having this problem. The pdf files print fine on Windows. None of my members have complained before about this so I wonder if there has been a Mac update recently that is responsible.

I have over 35,000 pdf files on my website built up over the last 15 years and created with either Page Plus or Affinity Publisher, so this is going to be a big issue for me. I can't possibly recreate them all.

Another website like mine is having a similar problem. I don't know what software they are using but they have put a message out for their members saying that

"(the printing problem) seems to be related to the compression software that we have used in the past. This software shrinks the PDFs so that they are quicker for you to download. However, it appears to have caused these errors with some of the PDFs.

I realise that there is almost certainly nothing to be done about my existing pdf files and only post this here for information, really, in case it helps.

 

 

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@smallp For years both my husband and I have been using Acorn to turn our images into PNG files (then changed to Affinity Photo when it came out), then using that file in Affinity Designer to create a flyer having text, JPG's and PNG's, shapes. It is only since mid last year that we have gotten this problem with black printing in the PNG area of the file when they are in a PDF. I agree, it is something that Affinity has done. We are both Mac users. My client for whom I do this specific work for is a Windows operator and has not reported any problem in printing the PDF's, and he would have as they are created for him to print and provide hard copies to his clients. 

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  • 1 month later...

Hello all

I just want to add something to discussion.
I had similar issue like @smallp. My pdf files look great (exported to digital-high quality files). However, when printing from my Mac all photos and pictures have black background. I followed @haakoo advice and it worked great with now BUT. The pdf file is much bigger (I know I can decrease DPI to have smaller size but I did not want to do that). 

What I checked was to print the very same files from different machine. So I sent them to my Windows PC and printed from it. To my surprise they were just fine - no black background. 

For pdfs I use Preview on Mac and standard Adobe Reader on Windows.

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Hi Witek,

Welcome to the Affinity Forums!

and thank you for your input in this tricky subject. Unfortunately Pauls from Serif wasn't able to recreate the issue (Jan 28) and also for me the test file of REL did print on my printer with transparent background (Dec 7) what made me suspect the printing software and/or printer driver as culprit. I was printing in macOS with Acrobat Pro X.

With your info I now wonder:
– Did you print in Windows to the same printer hardware as in macOS?
– What result do you get if you print in macOS with Acrobat Reader, instead of Preview.app?
– Can you upload an affected PNG or PDF (without flattening)?

The issue appears hard to narrow because it obviously happens occasionally only, is reported for many years and by users of various creator software, e.g. InDesign, Word, Powerpoint, Gimp, on both macOS and Windows, as an internet search for "png transparency pdf black" shows. So any info about the workflow/settings in Affinity apps and other involved software might help to detect a solution without the need of flattening on PDF export.

macOS 10.14.6 | MacBookPro Retina 15" | Eizo 27" | Affinity V1

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