PDF Passthrough

[peterfri]

I tested pdf passthrough with simple pdfs. One thing is interesting: when I place a document in a Publisher file it is passed through, when I put directly from the finder it is not passed through. The fonts are wrongly replaced. 

When I change to interprete:

I cannot interpret both pdfs, the right looses the right font, but also cannot be interpreted.

Creating PDFs

When I directly export as PDF all is ok, both pdfs are right

when at first I make a PostscriptFile and then distill it to pdf it is not right.

And one suggestion: Could you please make possible to export as Postscript. Sometimes it is a good job to distill via Distiller. The standard printing dialog is not that ok.

[PeterB.]

I have tested it and can confirm this behavior. A PDF dragged directly from the Finder into the document seems to behave differently than when it is inserted via File > place.

[peterfri]

jut the same with beta 1.9.0.857

[Jeremy Bohn]

On 12/1/2020 at 2:45 AM, peterfri said:

when at first I make a PostscriptFile and then distill it to pdf it is not right.

And one suggestion: Could you please make possible to export as Postscript. Sometimes it is a good job to distill via Distiller. The standard printing dialog is not that ok.

Are you saying that you tried making a Postscript file via the Print Dialog and it wasn't good?

[peterfri]

8 hours ago, Jeremy Bohn said:

Are you saying that you tried making a Postscript file via the Print Dialog and it wasn't good?

The postscriptfile via distiller  produces a pdf exactly like shown in my picture. The direct pdf export of publisher  produces both pictures as passthrough. 
the printdialog to PostScript is weak for example when you do not use  standard file size. 
 

[PeterB.]

2 hours ago, peterfri said:

postscriptfile via distiller

Is Postscript still being actively developed? I remember that we used this in prepress, but that was a very long time ago ... The direct export as PDF now works very well. The only thing where Affinity still has some catching up to do, in my opinion, is the transparency-flattening, which sometimes creates strange constellations.

Saving as postscript in the print dialog is not a good idea, I think. If so, I would do it via an AdobePS printer with the appropriate Acrobat Distiller PPD. But I don't know if this printer driver still exists, at least I haven't found anything.

[Jon P]

Thanks for the report, I've logged how dragging from finder seems to prevent passthrough

[ScottFromWyoming]

Is there a way to *force* the "pass-through" function? Because I need to place PDFs from many different sources and not only do I not want to do any manipulation to them, I cannot: if I edit a file in any way and it then prints poorly, we don't get paid. Requiring any workarounds just won't work... the Publisher document has to simply be a container for multiple PDFs placed on one page.

Dragging from the finder is no help:

 

[walt.farrell]

15 minutes ago, ScottFromWyoming said:

Is there a way to *force* the "pass-through" function?

If you're using the beta then PassThrough is the default (at least on Windows). On Mac it sounds like right now you might need to use File > Place to get it to default that way, or change the setting after you drag a file onto the page. But either way, it's in your control.

(If you're not using the beta the function is not available, but will be when 1.9 is released.)

[ScottFromWyoming]

16 minutes ago, walt.farrell said:

If you're using the beta then PassThrough is the default (at least on Windows). On Mac it sounds like right now you might need to use File > Place to get it to default that way, or change the setting after you drag a file onto the page. But either way, it's in your control.

(If you're not using the beta the function is not available, but will be when 1.9 is released.)

Ah. Yep I'm using the 1.8.6 version. My company asked me to put the app thru its paces and it stumbled out of the gate. Will check back when 1.9 comes out. Thanks! 

[walt.farrell]

You're welcome, Scott.

[peterfri]

On 12/3/2020 at 12:32 PM, PeterB. said:

Is Postscript still being actively developed? I remember that we used this in prepress, but that was a very long time ago ... The direct export as PDF now works very well. The only thing where Affinity still has some catching up to do, in my opinion, is the transparency-flattening, which sometimes creates strange constellations.

Saving as postscript in the print dialog is not a good idea, I think. If so, I would do it via an AdobePS printer with the appropriate Acrobat Distiller PPD. But I don't know if this printer driver still exists, at least I haven't found anything.

sometimes I prefer to distill a postscriptfile. InIndesign the printing dialog is very nice. You have total control on how you create your ps-file with very good results. After creating a ps-file in Distiller I create whatever I want. x3 pdfs e.g. 

With Affinity publisher x3 pdfs never are totally compatible to the standard x3. I have to check it in Acrobat and resolve mostly little problems of conformity. Also the pdfs out of Publisher are often much bigger in size and fonts can be rasterized. 

[Jeremy Bohn]

1 hour ago, peterfri said:

With Affinity publisher x3 pdfs never are totally compatible to the standard x3. I have to check it in Acrobat and resolve mostly little problems of conformity. Also the pdfs out of Publisher are often much bigger in size and fonts can be rasterized. 

If you're creating the Postscript file via the Mac's standard print dialog, then that's actually macOS creating the Postscript file.

[peterfri]

I Know. That is the reason why I suggest a postscript export from Affinity. 

[ScottFromWyoming]

On 12/4/2020 at 1:34 PM, walt.farrell said:

If you're using the beta then PassThrough is the default (at least on Windows). On Mac it sounds like right now you might need to use File > Place to get it to default that way, or change the setting after you drag a file onto the page. But either way, it's in your control.

(If you're not using the beta the function is not available, but will be when 1.9 is released.)

So I have the latest Beta 1.9 going now and it does seem to solve the problem. Interestingly, even on "interpret" it doesn't explode and give me font missing warnings etc... I can't find a way to edit it at all. I was sort of looking forward to that option (in Acrobat Pro, I often delete elements from provided PDFS, such as "YOUR BUSINESS NAME HERE"). 

More important, the PDF preview does change, but in neither case does it give me font errors, etc. It changes appearance somewhat but I can't tell what it's showing me... transparency? 

At any rate, we're past the first hurdle; PDFs seem to place without a hitch. Leaving it on Passthrough forever won't be a problem... can't miss what you've never had, right?

[peterfri]

yes the problem is solved with the last beta, thanx a lot from Munich, Germany and I can edit these pdfs with interpret. But then the fonts are wrong. Yes and there is no information about missing fonts. But when you have all fonts it is great.

[walt.farrell]

1 hour ago, ScottFromWyoming said:

I can't find a way to edit it at all. I was sort of looking forward to that option (in Acrobat Pro, I often delete elements from provided PDFS, such as "YOUR BUSINESS NAME HERE"). 

If it is Linked then you can't Edit it. If it is Embedded you can.

[ScottFromWyoming]

2 hours ago, peterfri said:

yes the problem is solved with the last beta, thanx a lot from Munich, Germany and I can edit these pdfs with interpret. But then the fonts are wrong. Yes and there is no information about missing fonts. But when you have all fonts it is great.

Look in the Preflight panel; lower left of the window there's a little green light icon or a red light. Click that to open the preflight panel to see all the missing fonts.

I still haven't found how to embed or unembed individual objects. Not a real problem; the situation will be rare when I need to edit a PDF and I also have all the fonts. So I'll stick with using Acrobat Pro to make that sort of edit.

[peterfri]

On 12/1/2020 at 11:45 AM, peterfri said:

I tested pdf passthrough with simple pdfs. One thing is interesting: when I place a document in a Publisher file it is passed through, when I put directly from the finder it is not passed through. The fonts are wrongly replaced. 

When I change to interprete:

I cannot interpret both pdfs, the right looses the right font, but also cannot be interpreted.

Creating PDFs

When I directly export as PDF all is ok, both pdfs are right

when at first I make a PostscriptFile and then distill it to pdf it is not right.

And one suggestion: Could you please make possible to export as Postscript. Sometimes it is a good job to distill via Distiller. The standard printing dialog is not that ok.

Now I found another problem with pdf passthrough:

when I place or drag a pdf with mode transfer the colours are wrong. I have to change to interpret, than the colours are right. But this no solution because when you don‘t have the fonts you have the other problem of before-1.9-versions of afpub. I think this a problem with colourmanagement with transfered  pdfs. The problem occurs also with included colorprofile. I think this is a serious bug. In Indesign everything is ok every color is identic to the original when I place a pdf.

[ScottFromWyoming]

6 hours ago, peterfri said:

Now I found another problem with pdf passthrough:

when I place or drag a pdf with mode transfer the colours are wrong. I have to change to interpret, than the colours are right. But this no solution because when you don‘t have the fonts you have the other problem of before-1.9-versions of afpub. I think this a problem with colourmanagement with transfered  pdfs. The problem occurs also with included colorprofile. I think this is a serious bug. In Indesign everything is ok every color is identic to the original when I place a pdf.

Just out of curiosity, I think it would be interesting to know if you're on Windows or Mac; there are apparently some differences in how they behave.

As to the colors, I am guessing but in "passthrough" mode, it's passing EVERYTHING through, including the color settings saved with the PDF. So it's not attempting to interpret them or convert them to your Publisher working space. In the end I think this is fine; if not, then open the PDF itself and convert to the profile/color settings required (assuming you have Acrobat Pro or some other tool for making that edit). 

If not, if you're saving the PDF with known CMYK values but the output of the PDF when placed in Publisher is different, then yeah that sounds like it's not good.

[peterfri]

Yes I am working on a mac. In afpub as CMYK I use Isocoated V2. The pdf I produced uses the same Colorprofile. In Acrobat and Indesign the colors are ok in afpub not, only when I use Interpret mode. Then the colors are also ok, because everywhere I use Isocoated V2 as my standard-profile. In my opinion afpub uses another standard profile for passthrough, probably a RGB-profile.

When I print or reexport to PDF from afpub it stays bad.

[peterfri]

Something I noticed right now to the solved problem with pdf passthrough:

afpub beta version 1.9.0.887 and also the one before:

The problem with dragging is not totally solved: 

When I drag from finder into a page it is transfer, when I drag to the background outside the page it is interpreted AND opens a new file. Is this a feature or a bug?