Why do these images look distorted after export? (Publisher)

[AntiqueFlaneur]

When I export pdfs from publisher, the images in them consistently appear to have visual distortions. You can see this in Figs 1, 3, in the attached Screenshots. Fig 8 is not distorted, but appears to be washed out compared to how it looks in Publisher. There are many more like this in my manuscript. 

I'm attaching a section of my manuscript as an afpub file. 

Anyone know why this is happening? 

Thanks!

 

PhotoDiscoloration.afpub

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[AntiqueFlaneur]

Here is the PDF.

Also attached are screenshots of what figs 1 and 3 looks like inside Publisher. 

 

 

PhotoDiscoloration.pdf

[AntiqueFlaneur]

11 hours ago, Lagarto said:

As for washed out outlook (and possibly also distortion), it may be related to your having the Publisher document in Gray/16 color mode. I would change that to Gray/8. It may also be related to export settings since Grayscale images in a grayscale document will easily be converted to RGB/CMYK images when exporting. If you intend to print, you'd need to use these kinds of export settings to keep the output in grayscale:

I produced a PDF using the settings above and the results are attached. The images are a bit washed out, but they look similar as in the Publisher document, and as mentioned, without actual image sources it is not possible to examine this closer. Does the attached PDF look similar as you get (distorted and washed out)?

PhotoDiscoloration.pdf 4.75 MB · 1 download

I've tried changing the document to Gray/8, with no difference at export. I used the export settings you specify. 

[AntiqueFlaneur]

I'm hoping someone else will see this post and be able to help me. Still stuck with these distorted photos on export. 

[markw]

As you are using linked aphoto files could you upload the Fig 1 file you are using so it can be tested with your already provided aPub file?

The cause maybe something to do with how aPub is handling the Affinity Photo files during export.
To see if this may be the case, have you tried using standard image format files, .tiff, .jpeg, etc… in your aPub file instead of the affinity photo files?

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[walt.farrell]

27 minutes ago, Lagarto said:

What is odd in your post is that you mention that images, e.g. this one (Figure 1) is distorted in export.

In the original post, the screenshots for the Fig. 1 and Fig. 3 images show a color distortion; a rectangle in each image is darker than the rest of the image. I think that's the distortion that @AntiqueFlaneur means.

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[walt.farrell]

17 minutes ago, Lagarto said:

I am not sure what you mean

If you look at the screenshots I posted, I have highlighted with a red line the location of the dividing line on each of the Fig. 1 and Fig. 3 images, where one part of the image (after export) is lighter (or darker) than the other part. I don't see that in the OP's screenshots of Publisher; only in the exported version.

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[markw]

To echo Lagarto, based on the PDF you provided, the problem images seem to be made up of a lot of superfluous Groups, Curves and one Image layer, which is the cause of the darkened area at the top of your Fig 1 image, highlighted blue here in this screenshot. Turning this layer Off fixes the problem of the dark areas.
All you actually need is the image of the group of farmers at the bottom without all the nested stuff above it.
It might be interesting to see how the original .afphoto file is constructed and looks in AP,  against how it looks once inside  APub before exporting.

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[AntiqueFlaneur]

Thanks for your replies @Lagarto, @markw, and @walt.farrell. 

I'm attaching the image files below. I'm also attaching Fig 2, since it does not appear to have any distortions when exported. 

I have been using images in .afphoto format throughout the manuscript. I did this to allow for easier editing. Does it make more sense to export .jpgs and add those to Publisher instead?

 

 

FG1.afphoto Fig3.afphoto Fig8.afphoto Fig2.afphoto

[AntiqueFlaneur]

20 hours ago, walt.farrell said:

In the original post, the screenshots for the Fig. 1 and Fig. 3 images show a color distortion; a rectangle in each image is darker than the rest of the image. I think that's the distortion that @AntiqueFlaneur means.

Yes, this is what I meant. The pdfs from publisher seem to export like this. 

[AntiqueFlaneur]

1 hour ago, markw said:

To echo Lagarto, based on the PDF you provided, the problem images seem to be made up of a lot of superfluous Groups, Curves and one Image layer, which is the cause of the darkened area at the top of your Fig 1 image, highlighted blue here in this screenshot. Turning this layer Off fixes the problem of the dark areas.
All you actually need is the image of the group of farmers at the bottom without all the nested stuff above it.
It might be interesting to see how the original .afphoto file is constructed and looks in AP,  against how it looks once inside  APub before exporting.

If I turn off or remove the curve layer, will this not remove the visual changes the curve layer created?

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[thomaso]

52 minutes ago, AntiqueFlaneur said:

If I turn off or remove the curve layer, will this not remove the visual changes the curve layer created?

Instead using the Vector Crop Tool (or any custom rectangular shape/curve) you could crop/clip the image by deleting this curve layer + converting the image to a picture frame (right-click > ... ).

Unfortunately the Vector Crop Tool still has a reported and logged issue which e.g. can cause unexpected opacity:

 

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[markw]

The linked .afphoto files as viewed in Publisher still look correct. But exported incorrectly.
Tried replacing the linked .afphoto files with linked .tiff versions of them and all exported out of Publisher correctly, again with basic PDF print settings.
I think this dose seem to be an issue being caused by how Publisher is interpreting the .afphoto files at time of export.

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[AntiqueFlaneur]

Thanks for your help, guys. 

I replaced all the images with.jpgs and that seemed to fix the problem. 

[markw]

Glad you’ve got a workaround to this😎
It might be worth you posting a link to this thread though in the Publisher Bugs section of these forums as something is not working correctly.