Color separation for flexography with Affinity Designer for Mac

[albertkinng]

Maybe is right in my face, but any help will be appreciated it. I've been doing Graphic Design since 1992 and since I let go Adobe software and went full Affinity Suite I'm learning how to do stuff faster than never in my life! For example, when a client wants an EPS or illustrator file for color separation for t-shirt printing I usually select the paths by color convert them in one curve element and when all the colors were separated by layers I exported them individually with press ready settings and their printing marks accordingly. Now with the export persona feature it seems I can do that with one click, and I'm getting the same mistake on every try. I need to have all colors with the same page size so when they are stacked together they will get the final print that they're looking for. Is there a way to have the export files in the same page size? If there isn't, I can do it the old school with no problem. Thanks in advance.

[albertkinng]

I managed to find a way but it needs to named the files and export them manually... I'm pretty sure a better way to this all at once is available.

[lacerto]

I am not sure if this is appropriate considering the printing method but you can separate the colors also by using OCG (Acrobat) layers or defining the colors as spot colors.

[Old Bruce]

My very slow work around uses a Rectangle the size of the output or the canvas in this case as a clipping mask for each of the items.

test.afdesign

[albertkinng]

34 minutes ago, Old Bruce said:

My very slow work around uses a Rectangle the size of the output or the canvas in this case as a clipping mask for each of the items.

test.afdesign

But you need to name each color individually right? Or all of them name themselves automatically at output?

[Old Bruce]

39 minutes ago, albertkinng said:

But you need to name each color individually right? Or all of them name themselves automatically at output?

I named them as I made them in the Designer persona so as to have their names obvious. No names will give you Slice1, Slice2 etc. automatically when you go to the Export persona.

[albertkinng]

I ask because (if you watch the video attached) it doesn’t let me have all the slices individually. If I do that the export persona treats each slice as an independent file. I need all of them same size. Again, I managed to do that manually but I was expecting do a bulk in one click.

[Old Bruce]

I used the clipping paths that I made in the Designer persona to create the proper same sized areas. Then I went to the Export Persona and just made Slices from Layers and export at one go. 

The trick is to make a rectangle in the Designer persona of the proper size, then duplicate it x times and use those copies to clip each item. Look at how I have the document made in the Designer persona.

[albertkinng]

Oh…. I see. I will try that. Thanks

[thomaso]

On 12/2/2021 at 7:59 PM, albertkinng said:

I need to have all colors with the same page size so when they are stacked together they will get the final print that they're looking for. Is there a way to have the export files in the same page size?

It could work if you place each item/colour on a separate artboard while the artboards have all identical size and are placed on top of each other.

On 12/2/2021 at 8:20 PM, albertkinng said:

I managed to find a way but it needs to named the files and export them manually... I'm pretty sure a better way to this all at once is available.

All at once with PDF. I could not find a way to export as EPS with print marks included. How did you get them in your examples?

    artboards separation 1-4.pdf