PeterB. Posted July 28, 2020 Share Posted July 28, 2020 Hi, I applied some outer shadows to some circles. The shadow settings for each are the same as I applied the FX via copy and paste FX. In the exported PDF all shadows are ok except for one. I checked the settings but they are correct (darken). This single circle seems to wrongly subtract the color of the circle under it. Even if I draw a new circle and apply the settings manually again, the exported pdf looks the same. Can someone confirm/reproduce this? Shadow Flattening.afpub Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Bruce Posted July 28, 2020 Share Posted July 28, 2020 I think I see what you are talking about. I exported one using a factory preset (Press Ready) and the weird colouring difference I am seeing on the bottommost white circle's shadow is not present with that preset. So it may be down to something about the differences between the two sets of settings. SPaceBar 1 Mac Pro (Late 2013) Mac OS 12.7.4 Affinity Designer 2.4.1 | Affinity Photo 2.4.1 | Affinity Publisher 2.4.1 | Beta versions as they appear. I have never mastered color management, period, so I cannot help with that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A_B_C Posted July 28, 2020 Share Posted July 28, 2020 No matter how many identical circles with the outer shadow effect you add, the topmost in the group will always show that strange color aberration. Even when you ungroup them, the topmost in the layer stack fails. Interesting. 😳 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A_B_C Posted July 28, 2020 Share Posted July 28, 2020 It doesn’t even seem to depend on the color profile selected. That shouldn’t matter anyway. But still … 😳 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Move Along People Posted July 28, 2020 Share Posted July 28, 2020 - A_B_C and PeterB. 2 Move Along people,nothing to see here Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A_B_C Posted July 29, 2020 Share Posted July 29, 2020 Interesting. As far as the group issue goes, is there an explanation for it? Why is just the topmost layer affected? 😀 But besides, why does it happen also when the layers are *not* grouped? 😳 Shadow Flattening Ungrouped.pdf Shadow Flattening Ungrouped.afpub Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterB. Posted July 29, 2020 Author Share Posted July 29, 2020 11 hours ago, haakoo said: Set blend mode for the group to normal instead of passthrough @haakoo very good hint! The exported file is correct now. Thank you!!! SPaceBar and Move Along People 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Move Along People Posted July 29, 2020 Share Posted July 29, 2020 - Move Along people,nothing to see here Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterB. Posted July 29, 2020 Author Share Posted July 29, 2020 Is there any explanation what exactly "passthrough" is doing? And why I should have this as default for grouping elements? I would expect that after exporting a pdf-file the content looks like what it does in publisher. As far as I tested, the standard blend mode when grouping objetcs is passthrough. But I'm really concerned now that I will have similar problems... Can I change the default somewhere? It's probably just me but I don't think this behavior is expected... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterB. Posted July 29, 2020 Author Share Posted July 29, 2020 (edited) @A_B_C Interesting... I tried exporting your ungrouped file with my print settings just to have the exact same conditions. The top circle shadow is still wrongly exported even if there is no group. Maybe an affinity team member can enlighten us here. edit: i just tried what happens if I place the circles on colored background using @haakoos method and now it gets really weird. In publisher the group with blend mode set to normal looks wrong (see right group in attached screenshot). but in the exported pdf this group is correct. @haakoo @A_B_C can you confirm this? Shadow Flattening with background.afpub Shadow Flattening with background.pdf Edited July 29, 2020 by PeterB. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Move Along People Posted July 29, 2020 Share Posted July 29, 2020 - Move Along people,nothing to see here Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A_B_C Posted July 29, 2020 Share Posted July 29, 2020 Hmm … yes, that looks weird. I hope one of the developers will take a look at this. For it’s not an overly uncommon situation to arrange layers like this, and it would be great if the flattening results were a bit more predictable. 😉 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SPaceBar Posted July 29, 2020 Share Posted July 29, 2020 Hi @PeterB. Thanks for the files and the screenshots, I'm glad you managed to export it correctly in the end. I wasn't able to recreate your issue using your file so perhaps I am missing something. Can you confirm what version of the Beta you are using? As @Old Bruce said - I exported your file using the print profiles and it was correct: PDF (for print) PDF (press ready) Which profile were you using? Using both of the profiles above my group was still set to Passthrough and looked ok. In the help files it explains the Passthrough blend mode as: For a layer group, the default is 'Passthrough' (i.e. the group itself has no special blend properties of its own). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterB. Posted July 29, 2020 Author Share Posted July 29, 2020 Hi @SPaceBar I'm using Publisher Beta 1.8.4.687. Im sorry but for real production use I actually can not use the prebuilt profiles as both of them use PDF 1.7, meaning that there are still transparencys left in the exported PDF file. The printing companies I'm working with (online and local ones) have specifications that do not allow tranparencys in pdf files. They require them to be flattened because otherwise there is a high risk that something goes wrong with their RIPs. For that reason and some quality improvements (e.g. resolution 450 DPI for modern imagesetters/CTP, 100% JPG quality...) I had to create my own export preset. I've attached the settings to my first post. Please use these and try exporting the file. You should get the same result. 18 minutes ago, SPaceBar said: no special blend properties of its own so shouldn't the circles all look the same then? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterB. Posted July 29, 2020 Author Share Posted July 29, 2020 as @A_B_C mentioned, only the top layer is affected. I just cloned the top circle so now i have four circles. the third one then is exported correctly. the cloned one not, even if it's not part of the group. And if I use the preset PDF (press ready) all circles are exported equal. The problem here is that the red circle, which should be 100% Magenta and 100% yellow is wrong in the area of the drop shadow (have a look at the seperations). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterB. Posted July 29, 2020 Author Share Posted July 29, 2020 52 minutes ago, SPaceBar said: I'm glad you managed to export it correctly in the end @SPaceBar what I finally did to get a correct export was to make a group out of every single circle and apply the effect to the group not to the circle itself. The export then is correct even though the whole circles are rasterized to a picture. It worked, I was able to deliver the data but I don't think this is a permanent solution... Solution.pdf Solution.afpub Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SPaceBar Posted July 29, 2020 Share Posted July 29, 2020 @PeterB. No need to apologise, I am just trying to get steps on how to get to where you are. My German is confined to greetings unfortunately, so I have had to google some the words in your screenshots. Are you exporting to PDF through your print to PDF option? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterB. Posted July 29, 2020 Author Share Posted July 29, 2020 @SPaceBar 32 minutes ago, SPaceBar said: Are you exporting to PDF through your print to PDF option? Did you mean how I create my PDFs? I'm using the built in export in publisher (File -> Export -> PDF). Not File -> Print -> PDF -> Save as PDF. edit: i switched my acrobat to english. sorry... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SPaceBar Posted July 29, 2020 Share Posted July 29, 2020 Which setting do you have for this option in the red box...... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterB. Posted July 29, 2020 Author Share Posted July 29, 2020 I do have my own "Druck PDF 450 /100" with attached settings. edit: the document cmyk profile ist PSO Coated v3 which you can download from the european color initiative: http://www.eci.org/_media/downloads/icc_profiles_from_eci/pso-coated_v3.zip if this matters Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A_B_C Posted July 29, 2020 Share Posted July 29, 2020 Basically, the issue can be reproduced even with the default PDF/X-1a:2003 preset, not only in the Beta, but also in version 1.8.3 of Publisher. SPaceBar 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thomaso Posted July 29, 2020 Share Posted July 29, 2020 Might it be the blend mode "Darken" (used for the OP's shadow) does not work correctly in Affinity? I'd expect this mode not to cause a blended result but to show the darker color only, means for the shadow either red or gray. In Affinity "Darken" appears to cause the same result as "Multiply" in my experience. – Since the Affinity help seems to have text about 5 of 30 modes only, here from a different source: Quote Darken – Looks at the color information in each channel and selects the base or blend color—whichever is darker—as the result color. Pixels lighter than the blend color are replaced, and pixels darker than the blend color do not change.https://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop/using/blending-modes.html macOS 10.14.6 | MacBookPro Retina 15" | Eizo 27" | Affinity V1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterB. Posted July 29, 2020 Author Share Posted July 29, 2020 8 minutes ago, thomaso said: Might it be the blend mode "Darken" @thomaso just tried multiply to make sure it's not the blend mode but unfortunately darken vs. multiply makes no difference in the exported pdf. what's really really weird is what @A_B_C found out. No matter how many circles i draw, the problem only occurs on the top one. I now tried it with 9 circles. Shadow_Flattening_9_circles.pdf SPaceBar and A_B_C 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SPaceBar Posted July 29, 2020 Share Posted July 29, 2020 Thanks @A_B_C I have managed to recreate the issue now. 🙌 I will get this issue logged and pass the information on to the development team @PeterB. 👍 PeterB. and A_B_C 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thomaso Posted July 29, 2020 Share Posted July 29, 2020 7 hours ago, PeterB. said: just tried multiply to make sure it's not the blend mode but unfortunately darken vs. multiply makes no difference in the exported pdf. Thank's for confirming. @SPaceBar, that's why assume an issue with the "Darken" blend mode in Affinity. – Additional to the PDF/X version issue above. macOS 10.14.6 | MacBookPro Retina 15" | Eizo 27" | Affinity V1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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