Some Stock vectors just wont load

[THart]

The stock works perfectly most of the time.

But some images/vectors will just not load into my document when dragging them onto it.

It looks like this happens for some specific authors.

Could anyone quickly check the following:

1. use the "stock", select "Pixabay", check the "Vectors" checkbox
2. in the search box type: "user:AnnaliseArt" and hit enter
3. as a search result many vector graphics appear
4. try to drag and drop some of them into your document

I can load NONE of those results into my document. I drag a graphic from the results onto my document, release the mouse button, but then no graphic appears in my document, it is just not there (but the popup box with the author's info does appear). In the pic below you can see this (even the layers tab does not show anything).

 

Are there some file types Affinity can't load via the stock function?

 

[GarryP]

I can replicate this in Designer 1.8.3.641 – Publisher doesn’t have Vector modifier in the Stock Panel – on Windows 10.
No layer is created.

[THart]

Thanks @GarryP, now I know this is not a problem on my side.

So I investigated more:

Looking at the user AnnaliseArt on pixabay I found that almost all her vectors are offered in AI file format.

Conclusion: In Affinity one cannot use .ai files from the stock. (obviously because .ai is a (propriety) Adobe file format, right?!)

 

 

[GarryP]

The Affinity applications can use AI files – they are listed in the file types when we place an image – but I don’t know how much of those kind of files can be used. Maybe AnnaliseArt’s files use some functionality that can’t be replicated within the Affinity engine.
I would have thought that the application would complain about a file it can’t use rather than just ignoring it, as seems to happen at the moment.
I don’t have any AI files of my own so I can’t really investigate further in any kind of reasonable way.
Maybe someone else with more experience in this area can comment.

[G13RL]

On my side, Windows 10 too, I don't even get the thumbnails (in any of the three applications) .

[R C-R]

The Affinity apps can only open AI files that contain a PDF stream. I suspect that AnnaliseArt’s AI files do not include one because the Illustrator "Create PDF Compatible File" option was not used when the file was saved. (See https://helpx.adobe.com/illustrator/using/saving-artwork.html for more about that.)

[R C-R]

7 hours ago, THart said:

use the "stock", select "Pixabay", check the "Vectors" checkbox

FWIW, in my Mac Affinity apps, only Designer has the "Vectors" checkbox, & only for Pixabay. Neither Publisher (in any of its personas) nor Photo has that checkbox.

Entering "user:AnnaliseArt" into the search box in either Publisher or Photo only finds two files by her, & both are only available in the PNG format. I get just the same two files in Designer if the "Vectors" box is not ticked, so it would seem that the issue is that Designer's 'vectors only' filter (if that is what it is) does not check for PDF streams in AI files.

From what I understand about it, all three of the stock source options rely on API's provided by those three sources to populate the panel, so there may be nothing Serif can do about it.

[Andy05]

1 hour ago, R C-R said:

The Affinity apps can only open AI files that contain a PDF stream. I suspect that AnnaliseArt’s AI files do not include one because the Illustrator "Create PDF Compatible File" option was not used when the file was saved. (See https://helpx.adobe.com/illustrator/using/saving-artwork.html for more about that.)

But when you download the AI files from the website directly, they open perfectly in all three Affinity apps. Hence I am not sure if your assumption about the missing PDF stream is correct as I doubt Pixabay adds those streams when downloading AI-files.

It doesn't seem to be a matter of the files themselves rather than with the API.

[R C-R]

14 minutes ago, Andy05 said:

But when you download the AI files from the website directly, they open perfectly in all three Affinity apps. Hence I am not sure if your assumption about the missing PDF stream is correct as I doubt Pixabay adds those streams when downloading AI-files.

You are almost certainly right that my assumption is wrong. 😩

However, at least on my Mac, when I download any of her AI files directly from Pixabay, they download as having a *.ai.ps extension -- IOW, the actual extension becomes .ps, the postscript file extension. If I then try to open the file in the Mac default app for .ps files (Apple's Preview app) I get errors like this:

27 minutes ago, Andy05 said:

It doesn't seem to be a matter of the files themselves rather than with the API.

And possibly some differences in the Mac & Windows versions of the API, if the above means anything? 🤔

[Andy05]

9 hours ago, R C-R said:

You are almost certainly right that my assumption is wrong. 😩

However, at least on my Mac, when I download any of her AI files directly from Pixabay, they download as having a *.ai.ps extension -- IOW, the actual extension becomes .ps, the postscript file extension. If I then try to open the file in the Mac default app for .ps files (Apple's Preview app) I get errors like this:

And possibly some differences in the Mac & Windows versions of the API, if the above means anything? 🤔

Hm. That's weird, I (on a Windows 10 system) get the original .ai file (see attached file) when downloading it via browser (Chrome), which opens just fine with Adobe Illustrator, the Affinity Apps as well as with Adobe Acrobat (XI) - latter without error when converting it into a PDF (see second file attached). That said, I also can not open the files directly in the Affinity apps. So that's not an issue with Mac based systems.

But you might have found the reason for the problems already: Maybe the conversion of the original .ai into .ai.ps could be the problem? As the API might do the same conversions in the background - not only for Mac systems but also for Windows-based system.

That could be something a developer, namely Serif in this case, could report to the developers of Pixabay. As that's something only latter could solve.

scandia-5049165.ai scandia-5049165.ai.pdf

[sfriedberg]

When files get new name extensions when downloaded from the Web, it is sometimes a sign that the web server is associating the wrong MIME types with the files.  If the behavior is different with different client browsers or operating systems, there may also be some dependency on the client's "open this sort of file with that application" settings.

[lacerto]

(...)

[Andy05]

But there are countless of vector graphics from other authors, which work fine. I. e. try searching for "author:Clker-Free-Vector-Images".

There seems to be some kind of (sub)format which either the API or Affinity doesn't support for importing via API.

[lacerto]

(...)

[Andy05]

Good observation! That seems to be the trick! I tried multiple .ai files with no luck whereas SVG work just fine. 

Hopefully, this narrows down the options for a bug hunt.

[Dan C]

Hi THart and all others here

Thanks for your report! I can confirm I've replicated this issue - I'm not 100% certain for the cause of this currently, however it appears Affinity is trying to import the image version of the stock, rather than the vector version, which fails as you have the vector box checked.

As others have alluded to, Affinity has no issue opening .AI files with a PDF stream enabled and this file is no different. I suspect we're being given the PNG version because the API doesn't see the user as 'logged in' as their website requires, or our default option is pulling the incorrect file (PNG not AI), then removing it as soon as it's imported.

Either way I will be logging this as a bug with out developers so we can investigate this further to see if it's an issue at our end, or with the Pixabay API. I hope this helps!

[R C-R]

2 hours ago, Dan C said:

I suspect we're being given the PNG version because the API doesn't see the user as 'logged in' as their website requires...

FWIW, it does not matter if I am logged into my account there or not, including if I do that by clicking on the Pixabay link in the AP Stock panel & logging in from there.