Designer export to PDF for Print issue

[KLoney]

I haven't had this issue before the upgrade to 1.10.0, and I've exported complex vector drawings from Designer to PDF several times now.  Now it is leaving out chunks of the sky in this image....  Have tried several times.  Is this from the upgrade?  Should I downgrade and try again or is there something else I should be doing?  I'm running on a Mac M1.  Any help is appreciated.  Thank you.

Export Issue.pdf

Edited August 20, 2021 by KLoney

[Gabe]

Hi @KLoney,

Welcome to the forums. 

Can you attach the project file in question? 

[KLoney]

Took me a few days....on a trip.  Here it is, and again, any help / advice is much appreciated.

Kelly

Corgi Race for PDF.afdesign

[KLoney]

I tried exporting an Affinity file with just the sky layers...with the same result.  I'm going to try re-creating the sky layers and try that, see if it fixes the issue.

[KLoney]

24 minutes ago, KLoney said:

I tried exporting an Affinity file with just the sky layers...with the same result.  I'm going to try re-creating the sky layers and try that, see if it fixes the issue.

OK, that worked.  There must have been something about the gradient in the blue sky background.  I changed the sky layer gradient from radial to linear and it exported fine.  Slightly different look, but not enough to make a huge difference.  I think it's solved, wish I'd thought of trying that earlier.  Thank you for responding!  If you have other suggestions or things I should consider please let me know.  Thanks again.

[Gabe]

What export settings/preset do you use? Mine seems to be fine with default PDF for Export. 

[Hangman]

The issue appears to be with Allow Advanced Features, when this is turned on, which it is by default in the PDF (for Print) preset, then the Radial Grad used for the sky fails to 'export/render' correctly, i.e., the Radial Grad isn't exported as a vector, instead an odd mask is created as a child to the Radial Grad rectangle. So whilst it looks as though it has attempted to render the radial grad as a vector (which is what it should do), it hasn't and so the result is that the radial grad is missing from the PDF export.

Layer Not exported correctly when Allow Advanced Features is turned on

 

Result of exporting to PDF when Allow Advanced Features is turned on - the Radial Grad fails to export/render correctly.

 

Result of exporting to PDF when Allow Advanced Features is turned off - the Radial Grad is rasterised correctly (as expected).

[KLoney]

Thank you sooooo much!  I love using gradients and this will help not on this, but future projects.  Keeping it in my notes for future reference.  Thank you again!

[Gabe]

This is actually caused by a different issue. If you apply a Radial gradient to a shape, and then resize that shape, the gradient still goes out as radial and not elliptical. The best workaround would be to use Elliptical gradients instead, and it will keep the correct shape when allowing advanced features.  

[Hangman]

@Gabe By design or is this a bug? I noticed that even though it exports as a Radial Grad, when the PDF is opened in AD it is set as an Elliptical Grad in the context menu, even though it clearly isn't...

[Gabe]

it's a bug. Technically, radial gradients should be radial. If it's stretched, it should really become an elliptical. 

[Hangman]

That makes sense, I guess it's on the 'to be fixed' list somewhere... AD seems to think it is an elliptical grad, as in that's what it says it is once the PDf is opened and the grad selected, but as you say, it's actually a radial... thanks for confirming.