Incorrect PDF Output - Vivid Light Blend

[idyguy]

To Whom,

I'm designing a small book and on the cover page I have placed a small calligraphy element (see attached). In my layout I have chosen to use the Vivid Light blending mode on this layer. As you can see, the calligraphy is a shade of brown in the design. The calligraphy graphic has been saved as a grayscale transparent PSD file. The PDF output does not include the blend mode set in Publisher and produces a black (original color) calligraphy mark.

I have not tried saving the calligraphy graphic as a TIF, JPEG or PNG. Since PSD files are supported in Publisher, then there should be no need for an alternative graphic format.

Thanks for your attention to this matter,

Chris Martin (Idyguy)

[thomaso]

I suspect your PDF settings as culprit. Note that not every supports transparency, like most blend modes are.
I assume it's not a matter of your PSD file and is no bug.
If the issue resists to continue even with according PDF settings could you upload your .afpub with the PSD as additional file or embedded?

[idyguy]

I'm uploading the .afpub file, a sample PDF, the calligraphy graphic, a screen shot of my PDF setting and a down-sampled version of the background texture. I hope this helps.

Thanks,

Chris

Page1a.pdf

Fancy Scroll 1-gray.psd

Screen Shot 2020-03-31 at 8.22.32 PM.pdf

Page1-Only.afpub

[thomaso]

As assumed your export result is related to your export setting, in particular to different color spaces: Whereas your APub document is set to CMYK, your export setting is RGB. Especially blend modes can appear quite different in these different color spaces; note that a grayscale file has in CMYK one channel (K only) whereas in RGB it has three. So, to achieve for RGB output a similar appearance you would choose a different layer setting, e.g. reducing its opacity, select another blend mode or achieve the colorised look with another setting than a blend mode.

If you want RGB exports mainly I recommend to select RGB as document color space, too. – For more info about the complex matter of color spaces, formats and modes you find threads in the Affinity How-To forums (https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/forum/5-affinity-on-desktop-questions-mac-and-windows/  and  https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/forum/65-feedback-for-affinity-publisher-on-desktop/ ) or at specified websites.

[idyguy]

Hi Thomaso

I greatly appreciate your attention to my issue and thanks so much for figuring out what was going on. You were absolutely correct. To be perfectly honest, I'm not sure how I feel about the outcome—I'm a bit conflicted. It looks as though if I were creating a book for print, I would work in the CMYK color space. But if I also wanted to repurpose the book for digital use, I would have to change the color space of the book to sRGB or RGB—which changes the look of any effects I've used in my design. Hmmmm...

Please don't misunderstand me... I so very much want Publisher to be a success, however, these types of issues give me pause.

Thanks again for your help.

Best wishes,

Chris

[thomaso]

To avoid the problem of conflicting color spaces, you can rasterise the corresponding layers in APub before exporting.

This way you carry out the so-called "flatten transparency", a term commonly used in PDF format, a subject similar complex like color spaces. Since this is the forum for application bugs and your issues subjects may cause a lot of questions I recommend you to get more familiar with the involved principles via the Affinity Help, the Affinity How-To forums, according websites or books.