Problems with PDF Passthrough

[IR_HL]

Hi all

Running Publisher 1.10.5.1342 on Windows 10. Can someone please help me understand why I can’t get a PDF file to passthrough without getting rasterised in my output PDF? I’ve done a lot of searching on the forum but no suggestions I have seen, or anything I have tried, have worked.

I have preflight warning that the “Placed PDF Version (PDF-1.4) is not compatible with the PDF export version”. My export settings are set to PDF/X-1a:2003 (which makes a PDF 1.4 file), so I don’t understand the preflight warning. I have tried the following things to the placed PDF file; creating outlines of the text, flattening any transparency, saving to PDF 1.3. None have had any success. 

NB I definitely want these files to passthrough and not be interpreted. Passthrough is selected in the toolbar.

Many thanks,

Iain

 

[lacerto]

I think that you cannot get non-PDF/X-based files passed through in Affinity apps using PDF/X-based export methods, even if they were non-PDF/X-based PDF 1.3 files (version which Affinity apps cannot produce). The only way to have them passed through is exporting using non-PDF/X-based export method that has version number later or same as the placed PDF files.

Using "PDF (for press)" with default PDF 1.7, not embedding the profile, and forcing conversion of image color spaces, would be the most compatible choice. That gives you much the same as PDF/X-1a:2003 which is now your target: a device CMYK file that has colors resolved and is not ICC based, and supports passing through all kinds of placed PDFs, not rasterizing them. But it will not flatten transparencies, like PDF/X-1 (or PDF/X-3) would, so if you need that, I guess there is no way to handle the job with Affinity apps without having to rasterize part of the work.

[IR_HL]

Thank you, that is very helpful. I just made a non-PDF/X 1.4 file and sure enough my PDF passed through okay. At least now we have a way to make it work even if it means changing our settings.

Thanks, Iain

[tudor]

19 hours ago, IR_HL said:

I have preflight warning that the “Placed PDF Version (PDF-1.4) is not compatible with the PDF export version”. My export settings are set to PDF/X-1a:2003 (which makes a PDF 1.4 file), so I don’t understand the preflight warning.

PDF-X standards and PDF versions are two different things. While the PDF version 1.4 does support transparency, the PDF/X-1a:2003 and PDF/X-3:2003 standards require all transparencies to be flattened (even though Affinity exports them as PDF 1.4 files).

The rule is quite simple. If you need a PDF/X file with live transparency, use the PDF/X-4 export option.

[IR_HL]

Thanks. I appreciate the difference between PDF-X standards and PDF versions. I was trying to say the preflight warning made it sound like it was a problem with PDF versions ("Placed PDF Version (PDF-1.4) is not compatible with the PDF export version") which it wasn't. The warning seems a bit misleading, to me.

We want flattened transparency so PDF/X-1a:2003 is perfect for us. 

[tudor]

16 minutes ago, IR_HL said:

I was trying to say the preflight warning made it sound like it was a problem with PDF versions ("Placed PDF Version (PDF-1.4) is not compatible with the PDF export version") which it wasn't. The warning seems a bit misleading, to me.

You can customize the preflight profile to suit your needs, including the PDF Passthrough settings. Just pick your desired compatibility options, versions or standards.

[IR_HL]

That's interesting - I didn't know that. Thank you, I will have a play with the settings.

[lacerto]

8 hours ago, IR_HL said:

We want flattened transparency so PDF/X-1a:2003 is perfect for us. 

It is precisely this requirement that may prove to be impossible to achieve when using Affinity apps. The reason is that Affinity apps do not support PDF 1.3 (like e.g. Adobe InDesign, QuarkXpress, CorelDRAW and Xara do), that allows creating flattened transparencies without needing to create PDF/X-based output. There is nothing wrong with PDF/X but Affinity apps just cannot combine it with non-PDF/X so if you have have non-PDF/X based content placed, it will be rasterized if you output to PDF/X (no matter which version). 

I tried to help you by showing a way that allows creating PDF content that will not rasterize your output no matter what versions are placed in the document, but as all Affinity non-PDF/X-based PDF exports are post PDF 1.3, none of them supports transparency flattening (only PDF/X-1a and PDF/X-3 do, even if nominally producing PDF 1.4). So unless your placed PDFs are already transparency flattened, there does not seem to be a way to achieve the desired output without rasterization within Affinity apps.

Note also that whenever Affinity apps flatten transparencies, they do it by rasterizing (unlike Adobe apps and QuarkXPress, that apply Boolean operations to flatten color values in isolated / Boolean separated shapes without needing to resort to rasterized output).

[IR_HL]

Thanks lacerto. We could flatten the transparency of any placed PDFs outside of Affinity if required, which is fine for one or two but would be a problem if there were lots. Thanks for illuminating these issues. 

[Ldina]

Great thread and very helpful. Thanks!