Affinity Designer v1.10.5 Artefacts when exporting to PDF

[MartinMHC]

I have an image file that I have worked on in Affinity Designer and I export it to a PDF using raster DPI = 300 and none of the checkboxes ticked.

The PDF export always has dark marks on it that do not exist on the original image / designer file,

following my previous similar query about JPEG artefacts on Affinity Photo

And the advice here to turn off Hardware Acceleration support, which I have now done on Affinity Designer but I can't stop these artefacts being generated on PDF. There are no elements on the image layers that these artefacts seem to correlate with.

How can I improve the export to remove unwanted artefacts?

IN DESIGNER:

 

IN PDF VIEWER (Adobe) but also tried other viewers as well. 

 

[Callum]

Hi Martin,

Please could you export the file toggling off each layer one by one to see which layer might be the cause of this? Once you know which layer would you mind copy and pasting into a new document and then sending it to me?

Thanks
C

[MartinMHC]

@Callum

I have exported, and I have noted that the type of PDF makes a difference.

All PDF exports are 300 dpi and area = whole document.
Issue occures on: PDF (for print) / PDF (press ready) / PDF (digital - both) / PDF (for export) / PDF/X (all)
Issue does NOT occur on PDF (flattened).

After checking each layer the issue is caused by the Green "Artistic" text layer. All other text is "Framed". 

I will find out how to send you the file on the forum...

[MartinMHC]

Further to last please find the isolated layer on it's own file. This file's PDF export still causes the same artefacts.

prin.pdf print_pdf_glitch.afdesign

[MartinMHC]

This issue is also occuring on other files using Artistic Text. Please see attached a seperate but identical incident. 

four.pdf print_pdf_glitch2.afdesign

[joe_l]

23 minutes ago, MartinMHC said:

This issue is also occuring on other files using Artistic Text. Please see attached a seperate but identical incident. 

four.pdf 117.05 kB · 1 download print_pdf_glitch2.afdesign 81.32 kB · 0 downloads

I guess the font is fucxed up (Type 1). Even the ttf-version of this font looks broken. Maybe @LibreTraining as a first class font expert (no irony) can tell more?

[MartinMHC]

@joe_l I can't disagree. The font has been supplied by the client and appears to be their own font. However, the font installs and works correctly on my system and the issue _appears_ to be the font being used as/in an Artistic text rather than a Framed text . I don't know enough about fonts to judge this fonts usability but even so, it appears absolutely fine on saves and raw images / afdesign files but has issues outputting to PDF. 

[MartinMHC]

Yes, @joe_l I have tested this by changing the font on the layer and I can't recreate the issue. It does seem specific to this font. Exampled; 2b is the Fucxed latin  and 2c is the Franklin Gothic Medium font. 

print_pdf_glitch2b.pdf print_pdf_glitch2c.pdf

[joe_l]

Just now, MartinMHC said:

It does seem specific to this font.

If you can live with only the font fucxedcapslatin.otf, you can search the web for it. Seems to be a working version.

[MartinMHC]

4 minutes ago, joe_l said:

If you can live with only the font fucxedcapslatin.otf, you can search the web for it. Seems to be a working version.

And bingo. Got it.

The client had given me a source otf font face that was ~63Kb . Searching online I found the same font with a ~101Kb face which appears to be an updated version. Using this seems to resolve the artefact issue. Thanks for the pointers.
 

[kenmcd]

4 hours ago, MartinMHC said:

The client had given me a source otf font face that was ~63Kb . Searching online I found the same font with a ~101Kb face which appears to be an updated version. Using this seems to resolve the artefact issue.

The fonts are kind of a mess.
Lots of outline issues which appear to have been improved with newer versions.
I found 3 versions - v1.004, v1.050, and v1.500.
v1.004 says it was made with Fontself Maker - which explains the mess.
Lots of messy outlines, odd character sizes, bad spacing, etc.
v1.050 did improve the outlines, and fixed some oddities.
But v1.050 did show some small artifacts when I tested with your first test doc.
v1.500 was clearly improved by someone who has some experience.
Letter spacing was improved, character sizes harmonized, kerning improved, the outlines were simplified and cleaned-up some more.

These artifacts seem to appear when text is given a stroke/outline - and the font is either really messy/broken outlines, or it is just a bit unusual with really tightly spaced nodes.

But, glad you got it working.