How to work with Grayscale?

[Sundiale]

A Noob needs help please.

I was using Inkscape for about 12 months and then switched to AD for designs of watch faces.

I’m using 1.8.5.703. on Windows 7.

While AD’s Artboards are handy the main reason was that Inkscape would not produce a press ready CMYK and I had to pass it through Scribus.

For about six months AD did the job fine but now it appears there is something I have done which has upset the apple cart.

The art work is very simple with elements usually having a Stroke of 100% black and a fill of say 95% black.

PROBLEM 1: My printer tells me that the files are no longer pure black or 95% black and he is seeing lots of other grays in the files. This did not happen before.

PROBLEM2: I don't have acrobat so it is difficult for me to analyse the pdf output, but if i use AD to EXPORT to pdf and then re import the same file, I don;t get the same shades of black that I exported.

I don’t know what I have done so I thought I’d go back to basics to attempt to understand the correct workflow.

I have been using the following parameters

Document colour mode Gray scale /16

For 100% and 95% black I have been using the swatches.

The problem is that if I EXPORT to pdf as Grey 16 or CMYK I get the same result.

That is, that the 100% blacks are not 100% and the 95% i also changed.

Also when I export a file to pdf and then read it back in to AD, the shades of black are different to the ones when exported. (I've tried this because I don't have Acrobat Reader that can do preflights on the pdf.

The difference is around 5-10% which is significant in what I do.

My question relates to what workflow I should use to achieve stable export/import conditions.

Should I set up the document colour space as Grey/16 or will CMYK suffice?

Can I use swatches to define the shades of black or do I need to change the colour sliders to Gray on the Left Hand Side? (Previously swatches worked correctly)

Do I also need to change the colour space on the RHS to Gray as well?

What colour space should I use to Export the PDF?

I’m sure I have missed information that you might need but please let me know and I will provide.

Edited January 30, 2021 by Sundiale

[Dan C]

Hi @Sundiale,

Welcome to the forums and I'm sorry to hear you're having trouble!

You've mentioned that you're producing CMYK files when exporting, but working in Greyscale. As you're working in a different colour format from your export format, the colours will be converted upon export and this may change the colour values

Is there any specific reason that you're working in the Greyscale colour format? Or is this perhaps a 'follow on' from using Inkscape?

Can you please confirm for me, what are your colour settings within Affinity? These can be found under Edit > Preferences > Colour. Can you please provide a screenshot of this dialog for me?

When exporting the document, what Colour Space / ICC Profile are you using?

It would help for me to see a copy of your .afdesign document, so that I can look into this further for you and offer some specific advice.

Could you please upload your document to the below link for me, then once uploaded please reply here to let me know -

https://www.dropbox.com/request/19VRJzYBQLvT7YVxs7yT

Once uploaded, can you please also provide a screenshot here of your export settings, including the 'More...' dialog?

Many thanks in advance