Please add PDF/X-3:2003 support for RGB color space with flattened files

[nawkboy]

LuLu.com, Amazon KDP, and other on-demand book publishing platforms sometimes prefer RGB rather than CMYK color space PDFs. Apparently the thinking is it is best to allow the outsourced printing house to apply whichever CMYK conversion is most appropriate to the particular press that happens to run the job in question.

The LuLu guidelines put a lot of emphasis on ensuring the press-ready PDF is "flattened" with no transparencies. I experimented with a large number of Affinity Publisher PDF export options, examining the output of each with the transparency pre-flight checks in Adobe Acrobat DC. I also examined many of these PDFs using the pre-flight checks LuLu.com performs on them when uploaded. Prior to export from Affinity Publisher I would also run Affinity Publisher's default pre-flight checks.

I was unable to create a single PDF in the RGB color space which didn't generate transparency warnings within both Adobe Acrobat and Lulu.com. Ultimately, I ended up using a PDF/X-1a:2003 based export (plus bleed) to produce a PDF in the CMYK color space. This fixed the transparency warnings, but strictly speaking it isn't what LuLu.com prefers.

Based on some of the Affinity forums, it seems Affinity Publisher could best solve this by supporting an RGB color space option when using a PDF/X-3:2003 compatible export. Apparently the PDF/X-3:2003 standard provides the necessary support for RGB, but Affinity Publisher does not currently support an RGB color space option for PDF/X-3:2003.

It would also be very nice if the Affinity Publisher pre-flight checks could help identify any potential problem areas related to transparency flattening.

I am quite out of my depth in completely understanding all the problems I encountered. What is very clear to me is producing press-ready PDFs for POD book printing companies who prefer RGB based PDFs should be trivial to do and not consume a day or two of work to try and figure out. I also think it would be great if there were well tested tutorials or FAQs regarding the proper Affinity Publisher export settings for LuLu, Amazon KDP, and IngramSpark.

Relevant Links:

https://assets.lulu.com/media/guides/en/lulu-book-creation-guide.pdf

https://blog.lulu.com/dont-cry-over-spilled-ink/

 

 

[nawkboy]

Here are the relevant Document Setup configurations and PDF Export configurations I ultimately ended up using to produce a CYMK PDF/X-1:2003 file for LuLu.com. I am yet to receive my proof book copy to fully validate the result.

[Wosven]

Hi @nawkboy,

It's interesting, but it would be more if you could provide page samples with the transparency problems. Was there complexe illustrations in your book?

Wasthere a pattern for the pages with transparency?

[nawkboy]

Here is a subset of my course pack document. I have been careful to include each variation of content found in the full version.

As you will see this document is a hodgepodge of the following:

* Slide handout PDF created in PowerPoint.

* Properly hand typeset text and images.

* Various PDFs copied into the document.

The typefaces are all over the place. The vast majority are available from Adobe Creative Cloud. I maintain a license of InCopy (cheapest possible choice) just to maintain access to the Adobe typefaces.

I seemed to get transparency warnings all over the place.

ExampleHandouts.afpub

[nawkboy]

Here are PDFs of my relevant LuLu.com support tickets.

312486_What_color_profiles.pdf 314224_Please_Validate_Export_Settings.pdf

[nawkboy]

Here are some of the export settings I tried. The one with the LuLu_T11 preset is what I eventually used for the proof copy I ordered after giving up on creating an RGB version.

[Wosven]

Did you tried PDF/X-3 that support RVB? I don't see transparency problem with this in Acrobat  (but I've got missing linked files, it can be the reason).

[nawkboy]

The RGB color space is not an available option to me with PDD/X-3:2003.

I should mention I am running on a new MacBook Pro M1. Perhaps support varies by platform. The M1 has the new apple CPU not an Intel based CPU, so that may also be a factor.

Please advise.

[nawkboy]

As to missing linked files, I have confirmed all my resources are embedded not linked.

[Wosven]

1 minute ago, nawkboy said:

As to missing linked files

Oup! My bad, you're right. Since usually I use 300 PPI minimum, I just assumed without checking — it was simply a test —that the problem was from broken linked files, not that some documents are low resolution.

 

Test the paramaters in my screen shot from the post above. There's RGB for PDF/X-3:2003

3 hours ago, Wosven said:

 

[nawkboy]

Here is a zipped directory I created by using "Save as Package". I presume this helps to make the document a bit more transportable. 

ExampleDocument.zip

[Wosven]

I did the test in the Bêta version, but you use the regular one, isn't it? I opened it and it wasn't available either.

[nawkboy]

As you can see only CMYK and Gray are available options for me with PDF/X-3:2003.

My Macbook Pro: Mac OS Monterey Version 12.1, MacBook Pro (16-inch, 2021), Apple M1 Max, 64 GB

Affinity Publisher Version: 1.10.4

[Wosven]

You should be able to export PDF/X-3 RGB with this beta version:

 

[nawkboy]

Still not an option with the beta build for me.

[Wosven]

Is it a Windows only feature? We need another Mac user to confirm it, and if needed, fill a bug report

[Wosven]

Hi @thomaso, can you confirm there's no RGB option for PDF/X-3 on the Mac apps?

[nawkboy]

You should also test on an older Intel Mac.

[nawkboy]

And to be really certain any resulting PDF should be checked for transparencies. Better yet consider an upload to Lulu, Amazon KDP and other popular choices and see if they produce any pre-press check errors.

[Wosven]

There's only 3 different versions for OSX/Windows/iPad.

And beta versions for testing.

 

So, if the bug is on OS X, it's for all, since it's the same OS, and theorically the same code in AD, AP and APub.

[thomaso]

24 minutes ago, Wosven said:

Hi @thomaso, can you confirm there's no RGB option for PDF/X-3 on the Mac apps?

In APub v1104 I do get RGB as an option, in both RGB or CMYK documents. (macOS 10.14.6 / intel)

[nawkboy]

The same OSX build could in theory perform differently based on hardware. The application could easily look for this or that required library or OS feature and change behavior based on the result. The CPU change is pretty major and could easily result in various subtle differences.

I would never be comfortable without both Intel and M1 macs running in a continuous integration test infrastructure if developing a desktop OSX application.

[Wosven]

I don't have it either on the work's PC where there's only regular version 1.10.4 and win10, but it's possible on win7.

 

[nawkboy]

Try this on another M1 based Mac and you will likely be able to reproduce my issue.

[nawkboy]

I should also mention I only have Affinity Publisher without any of the other Affinity applications. It is always possible the installers for one of the other Affinity applications installs a critical library the Affinity Publisher installer failed to install. This is the sort of thing that can easily get overlooked in testing.