Designer 2.x artboards get cropped when placed in any Affinity app

[SpotColour]

Recently I noticed that Designer 2.x files with artboards get clipped when placed in another document. The placed image has a correctly sized frame, but its contents are not fully drawn. The clipping occurs on the top and left side of the frame. It doesn’t matter how many artboards you have or in which Affinity app you place your graphic.

This problem is most noticeable when the artboard fits tightly around its contents. It is not a display issue, as the exported PDF shows the clipping too.

This issue only occurs in Affinity versions 2.0 and 2.1. Version 1.10.6 works as expected. Moreover, a Designer 1.10.6 image placed in a version 2.1 document renders as it should. That’s why I think this is a bug.

Note that this isn’t about outside strokes that get clipped off because they overflow the frame.

I’m using macOS 12.6.5 and the latest Affinity Publisher (2.1).

Workaround:
Resize the document to the desired size instead of creating an artboard, as the clipping only occurs with artboards.

Steps to reproduce:

1. Create a new document in Designer 2.0 or 2.1.
2. Draw a circle, say 50 mm diameter.
3. Give it a fill. The colour doesn’t matter.
4. Don’t give it a stroke.
5. Select the artboard tool.
6. Choose Selection in the context toolbar and click on Insert Artboard. The artboard size is now 50 x 50mm.
7. Save your document.
8. Open any of the three Affinity apps (version 2.0 or 2.1).
9. Create a new document large enough to fit the circle.
10. Import the circle (File > place…)
11. The circle is clipped on two sides, but the frame itself has the correct size of 50 x 50mm.

It would be great if the Affinity team could look into this!

[Hangman]

Hi @SpotColour,

So far, following the steps you outlined, I'm not seeing this issue in any of the apps, i.e., the placed artboard is displaying correctly...

Out of interest, do you have hardware acceleration enabled or disabled in the performance preferences? If enabled could you perhaps try with it disabled which will require you to reboot the app your using. I've tried it with both and I'm still not seeing an issue...

If this doesn't change what you are seeing could you perhaps upload one of the artboard files you've created so we can test further?

[Circulus]

Take a look at the document settings for the initial artboard document.
Is bleed set?
If so set it to zero and save it again.
If placed it will not show that bad clipping.

[Hangman]

@Return, good catch...

If you likewise change the Artboard setting to Document in the Context toolbar your placed artboard will now display correctly...

 

[NathanC]

Hey @SpotColour,

I've just checked and confirmed this one has been logged previously so i've now bumped the existing issue. Many thanks for the additional info @Hangman @Return 🙂

[SpotColour]

That’s indeed a great catch, @Return. Thank you! I can verify that the document’s bleed settings caused this issue. Affinity Designer retains these settings from a previous document. I wasn’t aware of that. That’s why Designer 1 files had a different outcome—they already had the bleed set to zero.

Although this solves the problem, I still think a bug is involved for the following reasons:

• The circle fits entirely within the artboard’s bounds. It was not overlapping with the bleed area. So it shouldn’t have been cropped.
• The bleed area appears to have shifted into the document area. If this is the case, it explains why the placed artboard only clips on two sides instead of a more logical four.
• A 50 x 50mm document with a 3mm bleed (not an artboard) does not get clipped when placed. In my opinion, this is the correct behaviour, but it is not consistent with the artboard-based behaviour.

Do these describe the issue you mentioned, @NathanC, or is this a different issue? 

Thank you for your feedback, everyone!

[Circulus]

Thanks, I think the bleed settings with artboards are a headache case for development because it is broken in numerous ways.

[Hangman]

It seems to be offsetting the Trimbox positively by the bleed amount in the X and Y coordinates... If you leave Artboard set to Arboard1 in the context toolbar but instead change Page Box to Bleedbox, again the placed image displays correctly...

Having said that, in an exported pdf all the media boxes are shown correctly...

 

[NathanC]

20 minutes ago, SpotColour said:

Although this solves the problem, I still think a bug is involved for the following reasons:

• The circle fits entirely within the artboard’s bounds. It was not overlapping with the bleed area. So it shouldn’t have been cropped.
• The bleed area appears to have shifted into the document area. If this is the case, it explains why the placed artboard only clips on two sides instead of a more logical four.
• A 50 x 50mm document with a 3mm bleed (not an artboard) does not get clipped when placed. In my opinion, this is the correct behaviour, but it is not consistent with the artboard-based behaviour.

Do these describe the issue you mentioned, @NathanC, or is this a different issue? 

This isn't expected functionality and you're correct that this is the bug that's logged with the developers, i've tagged the thread with the issue so once a fix is available in a later version the thread will be updated.

[SpotColour]

This problem was starting to give me headaches, but that all changed now I know what caused it and that Affinity will look into this.

It will save me tons of work, so I’m over the moon with all your feedback! Thanks again, @Hangman, @Return, and @NathanC!

[Affinity Info Bot]

The issue "Multi Page PDFs with Bleed fail to display correctly when placed." (REF: AFD-6559) has been fixed by the developers in internal build "2.2.0.1870".
This fix should soon be available as a customer beta and is planned for inclusion in the next customer release.
Customer beta builds are announced here and you can participate by following these instructions.
If you still experience this problem once you are using that build version (or later) please reply to this thread including @Serif Info Bot to notify us.