Export crash on large PDF file

[jjonker]

Hi! I am having a problem exporting a PDF document. I believe the preview can not be generated somehow causing Publisher to crash.

I created a completely empty document of 200 x 100 cm. This one also crashed when trying to export to PDF. The 'Creating preview' freezes right away. Not spinning what so ever.

But when I reduced the image size to 190 x 100 cm the preview was created and I could export a PDF. So this seems to be a size issue?

The export of the 200 x 100 cm document works fine for jpg, png. But also not fo webp or jpg XL.

I tried disabling hardware acceleration but that did not help.

I will attach the test file (200 x 100 cm) so maybe others can verify this issue. Or not...

Tips or workarounds are welcome.

test.afpub

[jjonker]

The same thing happens on a Affinity Designer document of the same size. Also a crash / freeze on PDF export.

test.afdesign

[Hangman]

I tried exporting on macOS and had no issues exporting to pdf, png, jpg or webp but exporting to jxl simply hangs Designer and Publisher, the apps don't crash they just hang requiring a force quit.

As a result no .jxl files are created...

[jjonker]

I am on window 11. And when exporting the PDF it 'hangs' or 'freezes' (it looks  like the preview can not be created) but the application does not crash. The application needs to be forced to quit. Same as you described Hangman. Only for me it's on windows 11 and PDF export (Both Designer and Publisher).

[PMan]

downloaded your test file and it exported to PDF from both Publisher and Designer with no problem even when I placed a picture to almost fill it [resultant file 2156kb in size].  Exporting to jxl produced a file of 2845kb so I don't know what's causing your problem [jjonker and Hangman]

 

Asus Vivobook 15  Intel I7 processor,  Intel Iris X graphics, Windows 10 Home Version 20H2 (64 bit),  32GB RAM.  
Affinity Designer 10.5.1342, Photo 1.10.5.1342, Publisher 1.10.5.1342 
Affinity Designer Beta 1.10.5.1342, Photo Beta  1.10.5.1342, Publisher  Beta  1.10.5.1342
Affinity Designer2 2.0.4, Photo2 2.0.4,  Publisher2 2.0.4
 

  

[Komatös]

Publisher (2.1.0.1742) hangs on me when calculating the export size.

[Hangman]

Seemingly very mixed results, I can only assume this is based on different system specs... curious to see if anyone else on macOS has issues with exporting to .jxl as I did...

[rusty-quantumweb]

I have the same issue. Publisher just hangs trying to export the PDF. It was working OK earlier. Made minimal changes to the file. The file is all simple vector elements and text, so the PDF should be pretty small. I've tried the beta but still just crashes. Hope the devs can sort this one out quick. I have to get something to print like now!! The same issue is also happening in designer with the same file. 

EDIT: It seems it is to do with the size of the document. I was designing a 1500mm x 2000mm banner, changing to 150mm x 200mm works just fine and the PDF exports without issue. Again this is a simple design with simple vector elements and text, no rasterized elements or images, so the final file size, even at full document size, should only be a few kilobytes

Edited April 9, 2023 by rusty-quantumweb

[jjonker]

@rusty-quantumweb: Yes I tink it has to do with the size. As I mentioned in my first post 200 x 100 cm PDF export is not working. But 190 x 100 cm is working fine.

[rusty-quantumweb]

I guess 1999mm is the max limit publisher can handle then. Should be a fairly simple fix for the devs

[Hangman]

38 minutes ago, rusty-quantumweb said:

I guess 1999mm is the max limit publisher can handle then. Should be a fairly simple fix for the devs

The maximum size depends on the document dpi, e.g., for the default dpi settings these are:

• 72 dpi - 9,031 cm x 9,031 cm
• 96 dpi - 6,773 cm x 6,773 cm
• 144 dpi - 4,516 cm x 4,516 cm
• 192 dpi - 3,387 cm x 3,387 cm
• 300 dpi - 2,167 cm x 2,167 cm
• 400 dpi - 1,626 cm x 1,626 cm

[rusty-quantumweb]

I was working at 2000mm (200cm) at 300 dpi and that's what made it crash, I was nowhere near 21,670mm! There was no rasterization anyway, only vector elements. So it definitely can't handle a 20 meter square at 300 dpi

However I did just try dropping DPI to 240 and after struggling for a bit it did load the preview and allow me to export

Anyway, surely the app shouldn't just hang and crash out at that point, it's not the best UX having it do that with no validation or warnings

[NathanC]

Hi @jjonker,

I've tried exporting your attached documents to PDF over a few different Windows and MacOS devices to PDF with no issue, the export preview did fail to generate on the majority of them however, which is a separately logged issue.

Although I was able to consistently re-produce the app hang and crash with your document when exporting to JPEGXL on a lower spec W10 machine with 16GB of RAM, therefore i'll be getting this logged with the developers and reference your issue with exporting the file with the same dimensions to PDF.

[rusty-quantumweb]

@NathanC

My spec is W11 on a Ryzen 9 5950x, 32gb DDR4, RTX 2070 Super, Samsung EVO nVME SSD etc. I wouldn't say that's particularly "lower spec"

I have managed to export my files to PDF by dropping the DPI down to 240 and hitting the export button as quick as poss and not waiting for the preview. It then struggles for a little while and most of the time eventually outputs the file, crashes maybe 1 in 5

If you wait for the preview it invariably crashes

Are you saying my PC is too low spec to handle a file of 2000mm at 300DPI?

[NathanC]

21 hours ago, rusty-quantumweb said:

My spec is W11 on a Ryzen 9 5950x, 32gb DDR4, RTX 2070 Super, Samsung EVO nVME SSD etc. I wouldn't say that's particularly "lower spec"

I would certainly agree

21 hours ago, rusty-quantumweb said:

I have managed to export my files to PDF by dropping the DPI down to 240 and hitting the export button as quick as poss and not waiting for the preview. It then struggles for a little while and most of the time eventually outputs the file, crashes maybe 1 in 5

If you wait for the preview it invariably crashes

Are you saying my PC is too low spec to handle a file of 2000mm at 300DPI?

Not at all, from my testing I only found that one device was consistently crashing during export whilst the others were hanging for prolonged periods during export indicating the problem is inconsistent between devices and app sessions at larger canvas sizes, and the apps should certainly not be crashing as a result of this independent of Hardware.

[jjonker]

I believe this issue has been fixed on V 2.1. Excellent!

[Patrick Connor]

13 minutes ago, jjonker said:

I believe this issue has been fixed on V 2.1. Excellent!

thanks we will retest to confirm if this was fixed in the wash, as the issue was still showing as open

[Chris B]

On 5/19/2023 at 9:21 AM, jjonker said:

I believe this issue has been fixed on V 2.1. Excellent!

I am still seeing a hang with the file in your first post.

[jjonker]

You're right Chris... Sorry about that. I tested the export on a smaller size I had issues with before (A0) and that worked OK. But the large test file (200 cm x 100cm) still hangs when the export windows is trying to generate a preview.

[Chris B]

Thanks for confirming I'll re-open the report and see if we can get it looked at.

[jjonker]

Just to let you know: This issue has not been fixed in V2.1.1

[lake.fx]

I am not sure I put this in the AFDesignerBETA channel

[walt.farrell]

8 hours ago, lake.fx said:

I am not sure I put this in the AFDesignerBETA channel

You didn't. That's in the normal Bugs on Windows forum (as you can see from the forum name at the top of the topic), just like this one. A moderator can move it for you, or you can click on the ... icon at the top of that post, Hide it, and repost it in the right place yourself.