pdf export problems

[Lanalang]

I am rather new to affinity, but have learned a lot already through youtube etc. But one thing I can't get to work is pdf export. When I export as a picture (jpg, png ) everything looks fine, but when I export as pdf, it is like the layers are cutting off each other. I have tried exporting as flattened, for print, without layers, etc. But nothing gets me the right result. The only thing I can do is export as png and then open the png and export that as a pdf.  

I have attached both the png version and the pdf version

 

adventskalender-gran2.pdf

[Komatös]

Hi @Lanalang

Which programme did you use to create the poster? Which PDF profile did you use for the export?
 

[MikeW]

6 minutes ago, Komatös said:

Hi @Lanalang

Which programme did you use to create the poster? Which PDF profile did you use for the export?
 

[Komatös]

Hi @MikeW

Do you have the same problem when exporting?

If so, this thread should be moved to the Bug Forum.

[Lanalang]

I used designer 2, and tried different profils. Think this one was pdf for print

[MikeW]

9 minutes ago, Komatös said:

Hi @MikeW

Do you have the same problem when exporting?

If so, this thread should be moved to the Bug Forum.

Dunno. And I don't yet have Affinity v.2 applications to try should the op upload the file.

Looks like the clipping on the elements have to do with the bounding boxes. The wholly missing text string containing a gradient and heavy stroke may be one or the other causing it. Or both in combination. Or the font. As for if it is the font, could try converting a copy of the text to curves.

That's aside the other issue of items too close to edges (at least if this is going to be printed).

[lacerto]

Did you use Warp group on the text parts? When warp is working correctly, text elements where it is applied are converted to curves when exporting to PDF. Here e.g. the top text group has lost the warp effect and has been rasterized (while clipping has been done according to the warp group). The whole document is also a mix of RGB and CMYK mode objects, so I would first try if exporting to PDF/X-1a that converts everything to CMYK and flattens transparencies could give any better results. One way to try to resolve these kinds of problems would be making a copy of the document and then using the copy and testing if converting text elements (especially Warp groups) to curves or rasterizing some elements on the canvas, would make it possible to produce an acceptable print PDF of the document.

[Lanalang]

Ok thank you. Yes I did make warp groups. As I am new to this I am not totally sure what made the warp effect dissappear and I don't know what you mean by the clipping has been done according to the warp group. But I will try to make a copy and see how some of your ideas can help. But why is this only happening with pdf export and not jpg or png? 

Lots of new stuff to grasp 

 

[Lanalang]

I tried converting the warp text groups to curves and exported as PDF/X-1a . It helped a little but not to a useful extent.

 

adventskalender-gran2.pdf

[lacerto]

The job is still in mixed color space, which is odd since if you have chosen PDF/X-1a:2003 as the export method, it is typically a pretty failsafe method to produce all CMYK flattened output.

The top text warp group is now in curves and has kept its warped shape. The middle text group is no longer clipped, but is still rasterized. Did you convert it to curves on the canvas? 

You have possibly some effects or blending modes applied on the text groups which might explain these problems. Try if applying just solid color to text elements and also moving them on top of the other elements could resolve the problem.

[Lanalang]

Thanks again for taking the time to help me.

But shouldn't it be possible to use the warp effects when creating pdfs? And why is this not a problem when exporting as png? 

Would it be helpful if I uploaded the afdesign file? 

[lacerto]

16 hours ago, Lanalang said:

But shouldn't it be possible to use the warp effects when creating pdfs? And why is this not a problem when exporting as png?

Yes, definitely, so what you are experiencing are probably bugs in a new feature when used in context of effects which in version 1 apps, too, often resulted in rasterized vector shapes or text objects when exported to PDFs. In context of warped shapes it seems there are some additional issues. It would certainly help if you can upload an .afdesign file. The PDF export has resulted in quite a complex and fragmented file that is not easy to "debug".

[kolobo]

Hi guys!
I had similar problems and fixed with 'Spliting curves" in the top menu.

Select your object done, with the node tool, split and works for me. Also had a problem expanding strokes, if put 0,3 size expand fine but when add more size 0,4 the stroke expand not work properly, only after use the split, the problem goes.

Hope works for you too.

Cheers!

[Lanalang]

On 11/21/2022 at 2:13 PM, lacerto said:

Yes, definitely, so what you are experiencing are probably bugs in a new feature when used in context of effects which in version 1 apps, too, often resulted in rasterized vector shapes or text objects when exported to PDFs. In context of warped shapes it seems there are some additional issues. It would certainly help if you can upload an .afdesign file. The PDF export has resulted in quite a complex and fragmented file that is not easy to "debug".

Okay i have uploaded the file

adventskalender-gran.afdesign

[Lanalang]

54 minutes ago, kolobo said:

Hi guys!
I had similar problems and fixed with 'Spliting curves" in the top menu.

Select your object done, with the node tool, split and works for me. Also had a problem expanding strokes, if put 0,3 size expand fine but when add more size 0,4 the stroke expand not work properly, only after use the split, the problem goes.

Hope works for you too.

Cheers!

Thank you for that. Unfortunately, the "Split curves" action remains ghosted. 

[kolobo]

1 hour ago, Lanalang said:

Thank you for that. Unfortunately, the "Split curves" action remains ghosted. 

Is off, when nothing selected. Select the object with the bug with the node tool

If it does not work, i will download the file to check.

[kolobo]

1 hour ago, Lanalang said:

Thank you for that. Unfortunately, the "Split curves" action remains ghosted. 

Ok i downloaded the file.
-You must rasterize some layers.
-The text with the distorsion must convert to curves. Don´t group the curves and add effect, add the effect to a 'curve' not a lot curves grouped.

[lacerto]

Here is a simplified version that would allow exporting the warp groups as non-distorted curves. The output size will be big because the raster images are pretty large and they are not compressed much with the default 98% quality setting, so there might be point in optimizing them in Photo. A PDF optimizer can easily drop the size of the export file to somewhere around 10MB, as in the attached PDF where the original size before optimization was around 50MB.

As for text warp groups, I converted them to curves, then merged the separate curve objects to one curves object and only after that clipped in the image fills into them. I additionally placed the middle text on top so that the top text group does not cause clipping to it.

You had some effects (FX), like 3D, inner glow, gaussian blur etc. applied to some text warp groups. These will cause rasterization of these groups so I removed them. They might well also have been the cause for warp groups failing to export properly. If such effects are wanted to be applied on warp groups, it is probably just best to export to flattened (rasterized) PDF at high enough resolution., or export directly to an image format. The resulting file size would not necessarily be any larger.

All in all, when creating these kinds of designs where large image textures are used as fills or as background, it might be a good idea to just export to high-resolution image format so that warp groups can be kept as native and editable objects (rather than converted to curves). I chose to convert them to curves simply to see what it takes to keep them non-rasterized. Note that exporting to PDF also needs to be done in format that retains transparencies, since otherwise some of the text warp groups will be rasterized when exporting. 

adventskalender-gran_simplified.afdesign

adventskalender-gran_simplified_optimized.pdf

[Lanalang]

Thank you so much for this explanation. There are some concepts I need to familiarize myself with, but you have provided such a thorough explanation, that I might succeed 😊. As I said initially I am pretty new to all this, and there are a lot of new stuff to understand. So thanks again for this. 

I will try what you suggest.

It might not be the last time I need help 🙈

 

[Lanalang]

6 hours ago, kolobo said:

Ok i downloaded the file.
-You must rasterize some layers.
-The text with the distorsion must convert to curves. Don´t group the curves and add effect, add the effect to a 'curve' not a lot curves grouped.

Thank you so much. I will try to remember this

Best regards

[kolobo]

15 hours ago, Lanalang said:

Ok, i'm glad to know that you are in the learn curve and understanding it. Is more easy, i think if, you don't have idea of this kind of softwares.
Best regards