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Hello, I am attempting to design a presentation, and I'm seeing boxes that are not supposed to be there. There's one around the logo and there's one around the shadow I created at the bottom.

This happens when I export to PDF for print and for web, and even when I designed it in a new document.

Any thoughts as to why? Solutions?

Thank you!

Box in exported file.png

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Workaround: Try to rasterize these layers before export or try flattening on export.

If this doesn't help, what layer types are the related objects? Can you show them in your Layers panel with their type (gray in brackets)?

macOS 10.14.6 | MacBookPro Retina 15" | Eizo 27" | Affinity V1

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Hi @RenWaller

In the Export Window, select PDF then 'More' and you will see the setting 'Rasterise', it should be set to rasterise unsupported properties by default. Can you change this to 'Nothing' and see if this resolves your issue.   

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@EmT, rasterizing nothing made it worse. @thomaso, rasterizing everything did help, but the layers themselves were 1) a simple vector (the logo) and 2) an ellipse with the gaussian blur effect. (But it also happens when I hide that shape and it's just the vector cubes.) Pretty standard, non-special layers.

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18 minutes ago, RenWaller said:

Pretty standard, non-special layers.

How is "special" layer defined? ;•)  … Again, what layer types? literally, not visually. Is embedded document or linked document involved?

Again, how about a screenshot? Or even the Affinity document?

macOS 10.14.6 | MacBookPro Retina 15" | Eizo 27" | Affinity V1

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Hey @thomaso, The logo was linked/embedded, but then I just copied the vector paths straight from the logo file as a workaround. It didn't help. The "Shapes" group is just a bunch of polygons grouped together. So generally, the layers are just curves and shapes...which is one reason it doesn't make sense. Does that help?

Some of the layers have blending modes, some of them don't, but the random boxes are indiscriminately "applied."

Also, I noticed wherever I try and use the "shadow" ellipse elsewhere in the document, if it's not on a white background, there is a box.

Title page.png

YPT Presentation Title Page.afpub

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The logo has some layers with blend mode erase. After deleting them, export is ok in that area.

the shadow ellipse gets rasterized because of layer fx. You may try to replace it with a simple gradient.

 

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Special interest into procedural texture filter, edit alpha channel, RGB/16 and RGB/32 color formats, stacking, finding root causes for misbehaving files, finding creative solutions for unsolvable tasks, finding bugs in Apps.

 

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I think that the problem with the design is that the elements with transparencies (blend modes) that get rasterized at export time, are flattened in mixed color modes with most PDF export methods (so that the calculation of blend effect in flattened parts results in wrong color values, showing as "boxes"). What is causing part of the objects to get rasterized "prematurely" (separately from the rest of the design that stays in vector format with unresolved transparencies) in the first place is the Erase blend mode which always rasterizes all elements involved in the effect, and Gaussian Blur FX, which does the same thing.

If rasterizing is not a problem (and text parts can be rasterized, too), the easiest method to fix the export problem is to export in RGB mode using e.g. "PDF (digital - high quality)" preset and choosing "Everything" as the option of the Rasterize drop-down list under the "More" options. Or choose PDF/X-1a:2003, which flattens transparencies, but converts everything to CMYK (not probably wanted, and the flattening does not look the same as when done in RGB mode, unless the color definitions are unified first, see below for details). See the attached PDFs for results. 

If more qualitative fix is wanted, I would use Subtract (or non-destructive Subtract resulting in compound groups, as in the screenshot below) instead of Erase to cut the letter shapes. And instead of Gaussian Blur FX, I would borrow the same effect from Photo Live Filter library (available if you have Affinity Photo installed) and restrict it to the ellipse only.

In addition, to avoid rasterization of the hexagon shapes with the decreased opacity layer value (which for some odd reason is causing rasterization), they should be merged first, after which the layer transparency (Opacity 41%) no longer causes rasterization.

In addition, the text elements, the white ellipse and the blurred shadow element used CMYK definitions, which I changed to RGB. I do not think that mixing RGB and CMYK definitions causes the box effect in this case but it might produce miscellaneous artifacts when exporting elements containing transparencies. To avoid surprises [when producing for print], it is often a good idea to resolve everything already at export time and flatten the transparencies and force conversion of all colors to CMYK, in practice by using PDF/X-1a export method. In such scenario, there is point in seeing that there are no mixed color spaces with transparencies, since as can be seen from the PDF below, exported using the PDF/X-1a preset, the flattened transparencies get different (intended) color values when there are no mixed color spaces involved. Unfortunately Affinity apps always flatten transparencies by using rasterization, which may result in inconsistent results (jagged edges side by side with parts that stay in vector format) so there might be need to use higher DPI at export time. 

Here is a screenshot of fixes that I made, and below that, the fixed Publisher document attached:

fixed_elements.thumb.jpg.3667e18624f23c04009e3052db31a2f8.jpg

 

YPT Presentation Title Page_fixed.afpub

Direct PDF export to RGB, without making any changes to the original, using "PDF (digital - high quality)" and "Everything" as Rasterize option:

YPT Presentation Title Page_rgb_allrasterized.pdf

Direct PDF export to CMYK, without making any changes to the original, using "PDF-X1a:2003" (notice the difference in flattened transparencies):

YPT Presentation Title Page_cmyk_pdfx1a.pdf

The same as above, but after unifying the color definitions to RGB of all overlapping elements with transparencies (box effect still happening in the shadow):

YPT Presentation Title Page_pdfx1a_cmyk_afterunified_rgb.pdf

RGB export using "PDF (digital - high quality)" from the fixed version: no boxes, no rasterized parts:

YPT Presentation Title Page_fixed.pdf

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Wow, thank you @lacerto! That's immensely helpful!

How did you you accomplish the restricted Gaussian blur? Is that from the Photo live filter library? (If so how does that work? I have several other pages that have shadows, and I would like to know how to recreate that; other than copy+paste.)

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4 hours ago, RenWaller said:

How did you you accomplish the restricted Gaussian blur? Is that from the Photo live filter library?

Yes, to be accessed by clicking the Live Filter icon at the bottom of the Layers panel of Photo while visiting Photo Persona (and similarly available naturally within Photo app itself) -- the live filters are so useful that they should definitely be available from within the Layers panel of both Publisher and Designer (as long as Photo is purchased, so I have no problem paying a bit more for the functionality that Photo offers). It is not a big deal to access live filters from Publisher as it has Photo Persona, but they are not available from within  Pixel Persona of Designer, but perfectly useable (including accessing the filters for adjustment) once copied via Clipboard.

The following clip shows how the filters can be restricted and adjusted object-wise and how they stay as objects (live antialiased images) and will not cause rasterization of other objects when exported to PDF. 

The live effects typically also behave well when exported for print, e.g. here exported to PDF/X-4 which keeps the transparencies unflattened.

livefilters_print_pdfx4.pdf

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On 6/9/2022 at 8:20 PM, lacerto said:

The live effects typically also behave well when exported for print, e.g. here exported to PDF/X-4 which keeps the transparencies unflattened.

Good to know, thanks! – Whereas it appears to be in particular the blend mode Multiply which causes rasterization for objects behind an object with layer fx.

   v1105 layer_fx & liveFilter_X4.pdf

Since "Multiply" belongs to the Adobe PDF specifications for PDF transparency I assume this to be a bug of APub, regardless of the possible live filter workaround (which of course requires APh and doesn't work in APub alone. – Agree? Do you know if this was logged / tagged as bug before?

933900097_layereffectlivefilterPDF_X-4.thumb.jpg.c78e324f3825690bc4083b77aef30abc.jpg

Edited by thomaso
(precised "behind" an object…)

macOS 10.14.6 | MacBookPro Retina 15" | Eizo 27" | Affinity V1

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14 hours ago, thomaso said:

Good to know, thanks! – Whereas it appears to be in particular the blend mode Multiply which causes rasterization behind a layer fx.

I see. I had a brief look on this and it seems that an fx (at least Gaussian Blur) combined with any blend mode results in flattening of transparencies (including when exporting to PDF/X-4), which is done by rasterization in Affinity apps. In OP's file the ellipse had an Overlay blend mode along with Gaussian Blur which caused rasterization (and box effect), not the fx alone. The live effect tolerates blend modes. Oddly enough, in OP's fixed version exporting to PDF/X-4 practically eliminates the blur effect, but when exporting without PDF/X standard (using PDF 1.6 or later), the effect works fine.

It is hard to say if this actually a bug; the fx might be a bit differently implemented. On the other hand, the Gaussian Blur fx is the only fx (if 3D is not counted) that misses support for its own blend mode (while live filter version does not), so this might simply be an oversight. Anyway, that might well explain why a blend mode causes this behavior with Gaussian Blur -- they do not seem to cause it with other fx. EDIT: No, I was wrong, blend modes cause rasterization (transparency flattening) also with other fx, e.g. with Outer Shadow.

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