How to export only canvas area?

[pomme27]

I created the attached .afdesign document to help clarify my question.  The document contains an object (a rectangle) that extends beyond the borders of the canvas / art board.

 

If I do File > Export > PNG, the export works fine.  The PNG file only contains the image area that is within the canvas.

 

If I go to Expert Persona, however, I get a different result.  If I create a slice that includes the rectangle, then export it, the PNG file contains portions of the rectangle that lie outside the canvas (see attached Test.png file).  How do I tell export Export Personal to only export the portion of the slice that is within the canvas?

 

FYI that I want to use Export Persona to export slices for use in an iPhone app with 16x9 aspect ratio.

 

Thank you

 

Test.afdesign

[MEB]

Hi pomme27,

The background slice, created automatically by the application (the first one in the Slices panel identified by a document icon) only exports what's inside the document canvas.

[pomme27]

Yes, but the background slice exports all items inside the canvas.  That's not what I need.  I am trying to export some objects as individual slices (e.g., the triangle in the example I provided), and then all the remaining other objects within the canvas as a slice.  Any way to do this?

[Callum]

Hi Pomme27,

 

A slice has been created from the everything else layer. This layer is the one that expands past the canvas to fix this you need to resize this slice to the same size as the canvas by dragging the corner handles. Then un-tick the background slice and export the everything else slice this should give the results you wanted.

 

C

[pomme27]

Thanks Callum.  I was hoping for a different answer, but I guess that's just the way AD works.  Our use case is as follows: We build graphics for iOS apps.  We start by building the graphics in 4x3 aspect ratio for iPads.  After we build the graphics, the sound files, the animation files and the iOS app, and test to make sure everything is working, then we come back and create the same graphics with 16x9 aspect ratio for iPhones.  To build the 16x9 graphics, we start by copying the 4x3 graphics files.  These means we have lots of objects that partially lie outside the 16x9 canvas.  We manually adjust the objects that are pertinent to the end design.  But we leave many of the objects untouched - the portions of the these objects that lie outside the canvas (e.g., background objects) do not affect what the user sees in the 16x9 image.  Manually correctly ALL objects to fit inside the 16x9 canvas is a lot of work, as we have several hundred 4x3 files to adjust.  We are trying to avoid this work by creating slices of the items that we do not need to adjust, and then only export the "in canvas" portions of these slices.

 

if you know a better workflow to accomplish this goal, pls let me know.  Thanks

[Leif Ottosson]

pomme27, I have kind of the same "problem" as you but not as time consuming as yours. I want to make a file (Photo) with a bunch of banner images as different layers and some of them are bigger than the canvas. When in the export persona I want to select a layer and click create slice and the slice should have the size of the canvas, not the whole image/layer. I don't want the extra work to resize the slice for every layer. I almost consider the current behavior as a bug.

[nwhit]

I'm new to A Photo and have the same or similar question/concern. If I try to use the Export Persona, it doesn't appear that I can just export the "file" as finished (all layers, adjusts, effects, etc.) as in most other software. From what is said above in this thread, it looks like I have to go to the Slices panel and select the Background slice. Huge problem with that is that I lose the file name, so have to come up with some type of workaround for restoring the numerous complex filenames we use for web content and other exported files. That's not as easy as it sounds when you're doing multiple sequential images with similar but different file names.

 

I also noticed the strange behavior where if you select all the layers and tell it to create a slice, everything that overlaps outside the canvas is included in the slices. Very odd behavior! 

 

I understand that if I use the simple Export function, I don't have these issues, but really wish the Persona did not default to an assumption of using slices. Just rarely ever use slices anymore for web design.

 

Am I overlooking something very simple but not in the Help or Tutorial videos? I did see a thread where it said the Export Persona was going to change in an upcoming release. Hopefully it will be a lot more straightforward and functional. Like the concept, just the current execution is quite frustrating and ruins the workflow.