Designer export to PNG pixelated

[_SteveC]

Hello,

When I export a vector file (text converted to outlines) from Designer to PNG, the resulting image is severely pixelated around the edges. My original file is about 3875px x 2400px (landscape). 

When I export a PNG file set up to the exact same specs in Adobe Illustrator, the result is crisp with sharp edges. There is a bit of pixelation on the Illustrator-made PNG as expected with a raster file, but it's nearly imperceptible without zooming in very close. This is not the case with the Affinity Designer-made PNG, which is basically unusable.

I should also mention that the PNG will be used for direct-to-garment printing.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

Edited December 20, 2022 by _SteveC
adding more details

[_SteveC]

EDIT: I just opened the file in Affinity Designer (3873 x 2407px) and changed the units to inches and Designer shows the file size as 6.455" x 4.012". However when I open the same sized file in Adobe Illustrator (3873 x 2400px) and change the units to inches, Illustrator lists the file dimensions as 52.7017" x 33.4306". I'm guessing this may be why the Designer file appears fuzzy when exported to PNG and the Illustrator file does not when viewed at the same screen size in Photoshop. 

Is there a reason why Affinity Designer is interpreting the pixel sizes differently from Illustrator? I'm stumped.

[Ron P.]

Welcome to the forums @_SteveC, sorry for the response delay.

Compare the DPI for each. I think that's where the difference is. Designer is 300 where PS is problem around 72dpi.

In Designer press the Document Setup button, and play with the different settings of Pixels vs Inches, using the different DPI settings. You'll see the size/resolution changes.

[lww]

Man, I'm really having trouble seeing how this product is supposed to be a competitive alternative to the Adobe Creative Suite for web designers if there is no easy way to export vector files as web-friendly PNGs without ruining the appearance of text. All of this talk of DPI and resolution shouldn't be necessary for a simple, default web export. I have been messing around with a simple .ai logo with a few words of text in Affinity Designer 2 for hours now and can't get a clean, usable PNG export. 

I'm getting better results using Affinity to open the .ai file and export as .svg and then using freakin' Inkscape to export to a .png. That's enormously disappointing!

[Komatös]

Hello @lww

Could you provide us with this .ai file here? So we can see if it might be the source file.

With the Adobe file formats there is the problem that, for example, some layer effects and other things are stored in a proprietary file area that cannot be read by third parties. Therefore, the end result may look different with Affinity Suite programs than with Adobe's programs.