How to export in PDF with all curves intact?

[albertkinng]

I need to export a logo made in Designer in PDF (to change the extension to .ai), so the print shop can have the Adobe document to cut the sticker design accordingly. The think is that some parts are converted into images, and it needs to be curved as the designer document. How can I set the export to PDF, so the document keeps the curves as intended? Thanks in advance.

So, I guess my question is... How can I export a PDF with all curves intact and nothing converted in images?

[GarryP]

If you have applied an Adjustment, or Layer Effect, or Live Filter to a layer – or a parent layer of that layer (etc.) – then that layer will be rasterised. There’s no way to stop this happening.

The only thing you can do about this, upon exporting, is to set the Rasterise option to Nothing but that will simply omit any rasterised layers from the export.

If you haven’t done any of those things above, if you can share the document then we can have a look at it to see if there’s anything else you can do with it.

Edit: Also, I think (and someone can correct me otherwise) that some PDF formats (you don’t say which one you’re exporting to) can’t handle transparency and so layers with transparency – or child layers of layers with transparency – will also be rasterised. If you are using transparency to create lighter colours then you should be using lighter colours instead; that’s just good practice in general as it helps to ‘fix’ other problems before they occur.

Edited March 6, 2023 by GarryP
Added more details.

[albertkinng]

Here's the file, if anyone can find a solution it will be great. Download file here: https://d.pr/f/BiiEea

[prophet]

Looks like you've got some gradients that might be causing rasterization.

[albertkinng]

Do you think if I try to eliminate the gradient of that logo I will be able to have it in all curves?

[prophet]

Further inspection seems to point to how you are masking the individual pieces.

It appears you group elements together and then use a curve and "Mask to Below" to mask the group. I switched to just nesting the groups within the curve instead and that seems to have cleared up the rasterization (I also removed the gradients)

Not sure I can adequately explain why, but it seems to work.

[Dazmondo77]

As prophet said it's that you're using vector curves as masks thats causing the rasterising you just need to drag the masks on top of each group with gives you a blue vector shape then drag the group onto the right side of the vector shape to clip, that should sort it - it shouldn't effect the gradients, they should remain vector on output

Masking will always rasterise - Clipping remains vector

[albertkinng]

1 hour ago, prophet said:

I switched to just nesting the groups within the curve instead and that seems to have cleared up the rasterization

Can you share that file, so I can learn from it? Thanks

[albertkinng]

46 minutes ago, Dazmondo77 said:

Masking will always rasterise - Clipping remains vector

Thanks for the video! Do I need to do this in Publisher? 

[lepr]

6 hours ago, albertkinng said:

Thanks for the video! Do I need to do this in Publisher? 

 

No, you do not need to switch the masking to clipping unless you actually want a thin black line (of various weights) to suddenly appear around most of the groups.

The only problem with your vector masks is most of them have a very thin black stroke, and it is the stroke which will lead to rasterisation or a poor approximation. Simply set the stroke of each mask to 'No line style'.

Then you will get a good export to PDF with Rasterise option set to 'Nothing'.

Note that there are three small raster images in your Affinity document, so they will remain as images in any export.

[albertkinng]

7 hours ago, ,,, said:

most of them have a very thin black stroke

Well that stroke is the one they use to lead the cutter. (If you’re talking about the one by itself.) Can I just add a millimeter? If you’re referring to strokes on figures, then yes, I need to get rid of all of them.

7 hours ago, ,,, said:

there are three small raster images

Where? Please let me know those about those images. It supposed to be all curves. Maybe that’s what’s going on!

[lepr]

3 hours ago, albertkinng said:

Well that stroke is the one they use to lead the cutter. (If you’re talking about the one by itself.) Can I just add a millimeter? If you’re referring to strokes on figures, then yes, I need to get rid of all of them.

I was talking about the strokes on the vector shapes that you have acting as a mask on each top level group in your document. Strokes on vector masks are never going to be exported as cutting paths. You must talk to the printer and get precise specifications for the cutting paths they require and then someone here at this forum will be able to tell you how to implement that in your document.

[lepr]

9 hours ago, albertkinng said:

Where? Please let me know those about those images. It supposed to be all curves. Maybe that’s what’s going on!

Sorry for forgetting to answer earlier. The Resource Manager will help you locate the raster images.

Menu command:  Window > Resource Manager

That's not the only reason there will be raster elements in an export from your document, though. A vector mask with a stroke will result in rasterisation of at least the mask, even if not the masked object. You can prevent that rasterisation by removing the strokes from the vector masks. However, if you need cutting paths in your export then clipping instead of masking, as recommended by others in this thread, probably is the way to go, but you'll need to know exactly what stroke should be on the clipping shapes. 

[albertkinng]

I would like to express my gratitude to all of you for taking the time and being patient in assisting me with this task. I am pleased to share the final results of the client printout for their business. Without your help, I would not have been able to continue with this project since the company has been using Adobe for a long time, and my proposal to use Affinity was not well-received. However, I remained positive that I could achieve this with Affinity, and your assistance made it possible. Thank you all from the bottom of my heart.

I successfully exported the file entirely in vector format, without any raster images, and with a cut line layer. This achievement with Affinity disproves their doubts.