Affinity Publisher - Getting blend modes recognized in exported PDF

[Kelly Bellis]

(Windows) Affinity Publisher

If a (vector PDF) layer's blend mode gets set to anything other than Normal; e.g., Multiply, Screen, etc., that layer is simply not being included in the exported PDF. Does this bug have any workaround(s)?

 

 

 

Edited September 29, 2022 by Kelly Bellis
Update title to reflect workaround

[walt.farrell]

7 minutes ago, Kelly Bellis said:

If a (vector PDF) layer's blend mode gets set to anything other than Normal; e.g., Multiply, Screen, etc., that layer is simply not being included in the exported PDF.

Works fine for me.

In Publisher:

 

In exported PDF:

So, it's going to be something about your file, and not as simple as "it just doesn't work".

Can you supply the .afpub file and PDF for us to examine?

[Kelly Bellis]

Thanks for the reply Walt!

I'm not sure if the PDF file [Mapping Sullivan RR - vector data for  Page 5.pdf] that's being overlaid onto [Mapping Sullivan RR - Page 5.pdf], both of which are generated in Global Mapper Pro v24.0, is at fault, or if there's something else going on.

The APub exported file [Blend mode test.pdf] is using Normal, while [test.pdf] was using a non-Normal blend setting for the layer [Mapping Sullivan RR - vector data for  Page 5.pdf]

Blend mode test.afpub Blend mode test.pdf test.pdf

[Kelly Bellis]

FWIW - InDesign handles blend mode in ID.pdfthis same dataset without issue.

blend mode in ID.indd Mapping Sullivan RR - vector data for Page 5.pdf Mapping Sullivan RR - Page 5.pdf

[Kelly Bellis]

I should also point out that these are multi-layered PDF files.

[Dan C]

Hi @Kelly Bellis,

Sorry to hear you're having trouble!

I can confirm that the 'digital -high quality' PDF preset that you have selected doesn't support 'Advanced Features' by default, which are required for this document setup.

If you open the Export dialog, then select the 'More...' options, in the dialog that appears, scroll to the bottom of the list and make sure that 'Allow Advanced Features' is ticked:

You should now find these layers, and the blend mode, are included when exporting

[Kelly Bellis]

Thanks @DanC - that certainly did make a difference! Much appreciated!! 👍

Is there anyway to preserve the geospatial aspects of the original PDFs in the AfPub PDF export? For example, in the files that I uploaded earlier, you can open; e.g., https://forum.affinity.serif.com/applications/core/interface/file/attachment.php?id=242091&key=18a3760a9185778eca6a5d9fe6c5bd4d in most GIS software and it will be correctly placed on the map.

[Dan C]

No problem at all, I'm happy to help!

14 minutes ago, Kelly Bellis said:

there anyway to preserve the geospatial aspects of the original PDFs in the AfPub PDF export?

I'm not personally familiar with this in regards to PDFs or GIS software, my apologies - do you know where this information is saved in the PDF file you've linked to? As I've checked this document within Acrobat Preflight and I cannot see any additional information that defines this.

For example, I've compared the Metadata of the PDF you've provided to the PDF that Affinity generates and it appears almost identical, so I'm not 100% certain where this information would be stored.

[Kelly Bellis]

Thank you @DanC for your reply. I'll try and find you the best answer to your question; and in the meantime, you can try dragging and dropping the geo-PDFs (linked above) and dropping them in Global Mapper. This method of drag & drop placement applies to tons of other spatial data including any photos taken on your device with location turned on - immediate spatial gratification   You can down load a free, fully functioning trial of Global Mapper to play with here: https://www.bluemarblegeo.com/global-mapper/

[Kelly Bellis]

Here's the skinny from the developer:

There is a Wiki page at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geospatial_PDF with some description. There are also details for the Adbove standard encoding at https://www.loc.gov/preservation/digital/formats/fdd/fdd000315.shtml, and the TerraGo GeoPDF encoding at https://portal.opengeospatial.org/files/?artifact_id=40537 .

 

For the Adobe standard, the measure dictionary is where the information is pulled from.

[Dan C]

Many thanks for providing this information for me, it's certainly helpful!

I can confirm however that the Affinity apps are unable to create or retain this information when exporting to PDF currently, as it requires an additional library that we don't include, my apologies.

However this makes for a great feature request for a future version, so I will be sure to log this as a request with our developers in our internal log now.

In the meantime, a suggested workaround has been provided here, though untested;

I hope this clears things up

[Kelly Bellis]

That's great! Thank you for any consideration toward maintaining geospatial integrity when working with geoPDFs.

Please note that I have edited the title of this thread to reflect the blend mode issue first mentioned above and the workaround for Presets not allowing it.