Jump to content
You must now use your email address to sign in [click for more info] ×

Deviation when printing from Affinity Publisher


Recommended Posts

Whenever I print from within Affinity Publisher I consistently get darker prints. I have set the printer profile to the same that I used before getting the software, but when I print it's always darker. I have even printed from the file that I exported from AP and had more accurate results. Attached is a photo of the same image (both printed on 11"x17" glossy paper), the left one printed from within AP, and the right I printed from the exported pdf in Adobe Acrobat Reader. And it's not just color images either; I printed a grayscale calendar page both from within AP and from the exported pdf, and the one printed within AP is darker.

Is there a setting somewhere that I'm missing? I used to print from InDesign exclusively, but now I'm trying to switch to AP. I can still print fine from PDFs, but I'd really like to print accurately from within AP. Thanks in advance for any help!

Printing from AP vs PDF.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I tested several different profiles while I was using InDesign and found RGB: ASUS_ GL704GM_8086_AF06409D yielded the best printed results, so I've set up all my software to use that one. I invariably get better prints using RGB over CMYK, and have for years, so I know that isn't a problem; or at least, it shouldn't be if it works well in every other software.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

There's a lot more to colour management than might first appear! If you are printing to an RGB printer then there's no reason why you cannot get good results from Affinity (CMYK is a different matter). Have a read around on the subject, Wikipedia is a good place to start. It's quite an interesting field, having a basic knowledge of it will help with your workflow a lot.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

So, I want to start by thanking you all for reading my post and commenting with advice. As for my history, I have worked both in a printing shop and in a publishing house. My query is on what I need to do in Affinity Publisher to make it print accurately from within the program; every other program that I have printed from prints just fine, and the files that I export from AP print fine in other programs, so I know that the file colors are set correctly within AP. In my workflow I save paper and ink for testing by printing thumbnail size illustrations on an 11x17 glossy photo paper. In AP I have a layout set up with a grid of image frames; I will turn off all but the newest frame and put an updated illustration in it to print on the same page. The problem is that, since I cannot print accurately from within AP I have to export each step as another PDF and print from that. This ends up taking up a lot of storage space over time, as I like to keep everything for backlog purposes. It would make everything so much simpler if I could just tell Publisher to print the page, rather than export another file.

Thank you for putting up with my comments, and I hope we can find a solution quickly.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 8/21/2020 at 5:53 PM, Ralph Hulick Art said:

 

Printing from AP vs PDF.jpg

A bit off topic, but I just wanted to commend you on the beautiful illustrations! 

 

2021 16” Macbook Pro w/ M1 Max 10c cpu /24c gpu, 32 GB RAM, 1TB SSD, Ventura 13.6

2018 11" iPad Pro w/ A12X cpu/gpu, 256 GB, iPadOS 17

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi Ralph, unless you can share the details, all anyone on here can do is stab in the dark. I tried asking for the relevant information. I'll have one more bash at it..

1. What OS?

2. What colour management? 

3. What document profile?

4. What printer profile?

5. Are you using a soft proof in Affinity or InDesign?

6. Are you sure you are using the same printer settings between the apps?

p.s. I also like the quality and style of your illustration :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Okay, I just noticed that I was asked about the OS earlier and I forgot to respond.

OS -> Windows 10

Some of the information you're asking for I'm not sure where to find, so I made some screenshots of what I could and compiled it together. It's 20.6 mb, so give it time to load; also, it's vertical scroll format. I hope this helps to figure out what I'm doing wrong.

 

And thank you @BofG!

 

EDIT: In case you find it relevant, I don't care about display appearance, only print matters.

Affinity_Publisher__Printing_Settings.png

Link to comment
Share on other sites

You seem to be in quite a muddle there...

Firstly, the reason why you are getting different results between Affinity and Adobe is because you are converting the colour profile upon printing in Affinity. The bit where it says "performed by app". As a quick "solution"* you might be able to just set that to "performed by printer" and it will be like it is from Adobe (although Adobe might be doing it's own thing behind the scenes, I'm not sure) *=this is a bad idea and not a proper solution!

Your soft proof is set to the same as the document, so is in effect doing nothing (apart from possibly applying a different rendering intent). This should be set to your printer profile for the type of paper you are printing on. Usually the printer or paper manufacturer will have profiles available to download. This layer has to be at the very top of the layer stack. Turn this off before printing!

Your document profile is puzzling, given it has Asus in the name I'm assuming that's a display profile you've picked up from somewhere (as in a profile for a particular monitor). You should really convert the document to something standard like sRGB.

The one unknown is what your print driver is set to do in terms of colour management. If you are going to use Affinity to manage the colour (and apply your printer/paper profile) then you need to turn off any automatic colour handling in the driver.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

As for Soft Proofing, nothing I set it to changes anything of the appearance in app. I put it on the top of the layers list, change the settings, nothing. I do my illustrations within printing gamut, so I wouldn't expect to have this much trouble getting the software to cooperate. The color profile is the one I settled on a while back after testing several profiles; it's the one that came with my laptop (a Republic of Gamers laptop). All that testing was done from InDesign and holds up to current, though only when I export.


I've attached a photo of a series of prints that I've done with minor changes between them; each change is directly after printing the previous. Nothing that I've changed has gotten me any better prints within the software.

Printing_from_Affinity__02.png

Link to comment
Share on other sites

37 minutes ago, Ralph Hulick Art said:

As for Soft Proofing, nothing I set it to changes anything of the appearance in app. I put it on the top of the layers list, change the settings, nothing.

Can you upload a sample .afpub document with an image and a Soft Proofing adjustment set up on top of the layer stack, as you've tried?

-- Walt
Designer, Photo, and Publisher V1 and V2 at latest retail and beta releases
PC:
    Desktop:  Windows 11 Pro, version 23H2, 64GB memory, AMD Ryzen 9 5900 12-Core @ 3.00 GHz, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 

    Laptop:  Windows 11 Pro, version 23H2, 32GB memory, Intel Core i7-10750H @ 2.60GHz, Intel UHD Graphics Comet Lake GT2 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Laptop GPU.
iPad:  iPad Pro M1, 12.9": iPadOS 17.4.1, Apple Pencil 2, Magic Keyboard 
Mac:  2023 M2 MacBook Air 15", 16GB memory, macOS Sonoma 14.4.1

Link to comment
Share on other sites

34 minutes ago, walt.farrell said:

Can you upload a sample .afpub document with an image and a Soft Proofing adjustment set up on top of the layer stack, as you've tried?

I made a new document and have included it and the image. Put them in the same location and it should read fine. Hopefully we can get to the bottom of this.

Relaxed_Coffee__Watermarked__150.png

Ralph Hulick Art_ Soft Proof Test.afpub

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks.

First, I'll note that your sample .afpub file has this color information:

image.png.420c771276bd0e8b56301e117a65782a.png

I am more used to seeing RGB/16 or RGB/8 for printing.

However, even with RGB/32 and the Linear color profile, I see changes in the image when I select different ICC profiles in the Soft Proof adjustment, or when I change the rendering intent. So I can't explain why you don't see anything change. Sorry.

-- Walt
Designer, Photo, and Publisher V1 and V2 at latest retail and beta releases
PC:
    Desktop:  Windows 11 Pro, version 23H2, 64GB memory, AMD Ryzen 9 5900 12-Core @ 3.00 GHz, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 

    Laptop:  Windows 11 Pro, version 23H2, 32GB memory, Intel Core i7-10750H @ 2.60GHz, Intel UHD Graphics Comet Lake GT2 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Laptop GPU.
iPad:  iPad Pro M1, 12.9": iPadOS 17.4.1, Apple Pencil 2, Magic Keyboard 
Mac:  2023 M2 MacBook Air 15", 16GB memory, macOS Sonoma 14.4.1

Link to comment
Share on other sites

9 hours ago, Ralph Hulick Art said:

I'm sorry, I should have been more specific. When I changed it around the ones above and below the ASUS option I saw no changes; when I change it to some others there are changes, like the Greyscale D50 it shows it grey, and others have some minor changes. But all the ones around the sRGB look the same.

Thanks for the clarification.

For reference, here's how your SoftProof Adjustment is set when I open your file:

image.png.2e002dd0d0e8bd40948976aff9f71342.png

I think that's the ASUS profile you mentioned.

My guess: You're soft-proofing using an ICC profile that is intended for display, not one that is intended for printing. All the sRGB-based display profiles are probably too close to each other for you to see the changes on the screen. And, generally in my experience, one would use display profiles for displaying and print profiles for printing :)

-- Walt
Designer, Photo, and Publisher V1 and V2 at latest retail and beta releases
PC:
    Desktop:  Windows 11 Pro, version 23H2, 64GB memory, AMD Ryzen 9 5900 12-Core @ 3.00 GHz, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 

    Laptop:  Windows 11 Pro, version 23H2, 32GB memory, Intel Core i7-10750H @ 2.60GHz, Intel UHD Graphics Comet Lake GT2 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Laptop GPU.
iPad:  iPad Pro M1, 12.9": iPadOS 17.4.1, Apple Pencil 2, Magic Keyboard 
Mac:  2023 M2 MacBook Air 15", 16GB memory, macOS Sonoma 14.4.1

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi @Ralph Hulick Art, I've taken the file you uploaded, I converted the document to RGB/8 - sRGB IEC61966-2.1 and then converted the linked image to the same. Printing from Designer (I don't have Publisher) with colour handling "Performed by App" and the printer profile as the same sRGB profile produced a printout that is correct.

Do the same to your files and see if that works for you - convert BOTH the containing afpub file and the linked image.

You need to stop using that Asus profile - it's ONLY function is to map from a profile connection space to the colour capabilities of your laptop monitor. As I said before, your soft proof should only be a profile specific to your printer/paper combination.

One further thing you need to check is that you don't have Windows colour management set to something wacky - hit Windows+R, then in the box type "colorcpl.exe" (without the quotes). In the dialogue that pops up, select your printer from the list and see what profile is associated with it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Eureka! Okay, I want to thank all of you for putting up with me as we figured this out. Attached are the last two pages of printing edits. With everything that we went through, I discovered that the culprit was having the document set to RGB/32 (HDR). I changed it to RGB/8 as @BofG and @walt.farrell suggested and it worked. Just to make clear my testing I also tested it at RGB/16, RGB/16 exported and printed from Adobe, and RGB/16 with the original ASUS document setup. The colors printed just fine under both RGB/8 and RGB/16.

Also, something that we did through the process cleared up the slight green tinge and fixed the values, so, still not sure what did that, but thank you all so much! Now I can print directly from within Affinity Publisher!

Printing from AP tests continued 1.jpg

Printing from AP tests continued 2.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

@Ralph Hulick Art glad that it worked out for you. You are still doing things in slightly the wrong way, which might come to cause you problems in the future if for example you use a print shop, or even if you change your own printer.

Your file, because of having a linked image, has added complexity when the colour space/profile doesn't match the containing document. I'd suggest keeping things simple and ensuring a match. It's the easiest way to ensure consistency in your colours.

*one second while I step on my soap box*

That Asus profile really needs to be shown the door! Do things the right way, use the proper profiles, make the adjustments at the image level if you want to match that same look. It will benefit you in the long run. Doing things badly just because you've done it that way for years isn't the best approach. That profile is messing with the colour gamut in ways that make no sense for a document, it's limiting your colour choice, skewing the gamut and generally messing with what you as an artist should be protecting - your colours are your tools! Take control of them!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

Terms of Use | Privacy Policy | Guidelines | We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.