Colour difference when printing from Publisher 2 with transparent image

[Jmes]

Hi,

I am creating a document in Affinity Publisher 2 that I will be printing on an office laser printer.

The colour format of the document is CMYK/8 and the colour profile is Coated FOGRA39.

I have a rectangle in Publisher with a fill colour set from the CMYK sliders and am placing a vector image from Affinity Designer on top. The file is a white logo with a transparent background. The vector file from Designer has the same colour format and profile as the document.

When I print the page on the laser printer the transparent area on the vector image has a different colour instead of being transparent.

I've checked all the colour settings I can think of but the issue persists. Please see attached from a new blank document and a new 'logo' .afdesign file.

I'm printing directly from Designer 2 to a Xerox C315 laser printer. I also tried exporting to different PDF options which looked perfect on screen but has the same issue when printed from Preview on Mac.

Please could anyone advise where I might be going wrong?

Many thanks in advance.

[Hangman]

Hi @Jmes and welcome to the forums...

Would you be able to upload the files shown in your screenshots above, the .afdesign and .afpub files as it will me much easier and quicker to diagnose where the problem may lie...

[Jmes]

Hi @Hangman, thanks for the welcome.

Sorry, of course. Please find the files attached. Thank you.

Testing Logo Designer.afdesign Testing Publisher 2.afpub

[Hangman]

Hi @Jmes, I can't see anything immediately wrong with your files and they print correctly for me so I'm wondering whether it could be a print driver related issue, though that seems unlikely...

Could you try printing the attached Publisher doc and see whether you have the same issue, as in, do both 'logo's' still print incorrectly for you?

The Publisher file attached has both your original .afdesign file plus a new one called 'Testing Logo Designer CMYK.afdesign' both linked. Could you also try printing the attached pdf as well which is simply an export from the attached Publisher file...

Testing Publisher 2 v2.afpubTesting Logo Designer.afdesignTesting Logo Designer CMYK.afdesignTesting Publisher 2.pdf

[Jmes]

Hi @Hangman, thank you so much for looking at the files and printing them.

I've downloaded the attachments and will try printing them and let you know.

Thanks again.

[Hangman]

Hi @Jmes, thanks for the update... My gut feeling is that both versions of the 'logo' may print as before on your Xerox C315 laser printer but I'm certainly curious to know if that is the case...

As mentioned above, your original file prints correctly on both my printers which is the only reason I'm erring on the side of the Xerox print driver as there is nothing fundamentally wrong with your file...

[laurent32]

I remember I sometimes had this problem (in the past) with some postscript printer…

[Hangman]

8 minutes ago, laurent32 said:

I remember I sometimes had this problem (in the past) with some postscript printer…

Well, of course postscript doesn't support transparency so that could 'possibly' be the issue, print driver wise... if that is the the case then instead of creating your logo on a transparent background in Designer and placing it on the purple backround in Publisher simply add the purple background to the logo directly in Designer and then place that into your Publisher document (i.e., add the purple background to your Designer logo in Designer, ensuring your Designer document uses the same colour profile as your Publisher document) then there is no transparency involved...

Then print that version to see if it overcomes the issue you are experiencing...

Let us know how you get on...

[Jmes]

Thank you for trying it on your printers @Hangman - I really appreciate it. I have printed the documents off now.

Testing Publisher 2 v2.afpub is on the left and Testing Publisher 2.pdf (using Preview on Mac) is on the right...

I've installed the latest Xerox driver from the website but the results were the same.

Please can I ask if you are using a preset in File Settings when exporting to PDF and I could see if it makes a difference with the document I'm working on?

I'll try setting up the logo with the background in Designer before adding to Publisher too.

Many thanks.

[Hangman]

Hi @Jmes,

9 minutes ago, Jmes said:

Please can I ask if you are using a preset in File Settings when exporting to PDF and I could see if it makes a difference with the document I'm working on?

I'm just using the built in pdf presets, in this instance PDF (press ready) but either PDF (for export) or PDF (for print) should be fine as well... Out of interest, have you tried PDF (flatten), that will flatten any transparency in the file and also rasterise it so it would perhaps be helpful to know whether that removes the issue you're seeing...

[lacerto]

Obsolete.