Export help!

[mahboud]

Hi. I need to send a vector format file to my printers. They asked for an AI file, but I don't have Illustrator, and don't want to have it (it took me a lot of work to remove all Adobe crap-ware from all over my computer and I don't want to reinstall any Adobe products).

I think my best bet seems to be to send a PDF file. I think SVG format impacts some of the images in my document that are not vectors, and EPS didn't work for them. The problem though, is that when I do a PDF export, I lose the embossing effect that I added to the layer via Layer FX: 

Can someone help me figure this out? What format would preserve my vectors/fonts, handle my images and also allow me to add an emboss to them all?

Thank you!

[GarryP]

As soon as you add an Effect to a layer, everything in that layer (including its child layers) will be rasterised upon export to any file type*.

There’s no way to stop this from happening other than to redesign the document so that an Effect is not used.

Someone may be able to help you with that but they will need to have much more information about the construction of the document, e.g. the document itself and a good description of your requirements. (The Emboss Effect may be very difficult to replicate without an Effect.)

* You can stop this from happening by selecting “Rasterise : Nothing” upon export (if available) but that will cause the Effect to be lost.

[mahboud]

Very good explanation. Thank you. I will see if I can provide them with something that preserves the font, the vectors, and the images, in those formats without rasterizing the font and vectors, and then ask them to add an emboss effect at their end, before printing. What format do you recommend for that? PDF?

[Pšenda]

14 hours ago, mahboud said:

I need to send a vector format file to my printers.

Just out of curiosity - why? If it is a classic printer, not a laser cutter or a plotter, then the document will still be rasterized before printing. So isn't it better to do the conversion to the relevant DPI yourself? Or is the problem the file size, which is obviously lower with vector?

[GarryP]

1 hour ago, mahboud said:

What format do you recommend for that?

You will get the best answer to that question from your print shop as they will know what they need.

[mahboud]

10 hours ago, GarryP said:

You will get the best answer to that question from your print shop as they will know what they need.

They keep telling me that they need AI format, which Affinity Designer doesn't output. I've been sending them PDF, EPS, SVG... and i get complaints that the fonts aren't there or the images are pixelating, etc. I was hoping that there was some known format that gets close to AI format to prevent them from losing any needed resolution or have any other issue.

[mahboud]

10 hours ago, Pšenda said:

Just out of curiosity - why? If it is a classic printer, not a laser cutter or a plotter, then the document will still be rasterized before printing. So isn't it better to do the conversion to the relevant DPI yourself? Or is the problem the file size, which is obviously lower with vector?

Sorry, my fault as I was not very clear. I am sending this to a company that will be printing onto boxes and packaging. They don't have Affinity Designer. (I'm tempted to buy it for them, but they're in China and I don't know if they'll want to use a new tool).

[v_kyr]

5 minutes ago, mahboud said:

They don't have Affinity Designer. (I'm tempted to buy it for them, but they're in China and I don't know if they'll want to use a new tool).

So if they are using AI and you do send them an by ADe generated PDF with embedded fonts, or text in your doc converted to curves, they should usually be able to handle that PDF with AI.

[MikeW]

You will probably need to subscribe to Adobe Creative Cloud for a month, transfer your design into it, fix the problems, add your needed embellishments, then send them the .ai file. 

That will be the least painful process for both of you. 

[Pšenda]

1 hour ago, mahboud said:

They don't have Affinity Designer.

It was not about the need for ADesigner, it was about the need to preserve "vectors".

[GarryP]

11 hours ago, mahboud said:

They keep telling me that they need AI format

If the print shop is insisting that you can only supply an Adobe file format document then there’s probably not much you can do about that, other than using Adobe software or changing to another print shop.

Each print shop which has this ‘limitation’ will have their own reasons for it – procedures/costs/experience/etc. – and most customers will have no control over that.

(I’ve even heard of some print shops refusing to print from PDFs which were not produced via the Adobe software – sometimes they check the PDF Producer” attribute of the PDF and simply reject anything that doesn’t have “Adobe” in it.)

11 hours ago, mahboud said:

I was hoping that there was some known format that gets close to AI format to prevent them from losing any needed resolution or have any other issue.

If you absolutely have to send them an Adobe file format document then that’s what you will need to send them, and it will probably need to be produced by an Adobe application – anything “close” may not be “close” enough.

[Old Bruce]

My memory (from yonks back, so this may no longer be true) is saying that Adobe Illustrator can open PDFs where the file extension .pdf is changed to .ai . Have you tried to trick them using that?

[MikeW]

22 minutes ago, Old Bruce said:

My memory (from yonks back, so this may no longer be true) is saying that Adobe Illustrator can open PDFs where the file extension .pdf is changed to .ai . Have you tried to trick them using that?

AI cannot do any better opening a pdf with the .ai extension. The extension doesn't matter as it is still a pdf and a PDF is generally filled with masks on many/most objects that all need released and deleted to do much. AI has never done well opening pdfs. Many printers of packaging have plug-ins requiring the use of AI. They generally need to work on the native files for their processes.

[Old Bruce]

3 minutes ago, MikeW said:

AI cannot do any better opening a pdf with the .ai extension. The extension doesn't matter as it is still a pdf and a PDF is generally filled with masks on many/most objects that all need released and deleted to do much. AI has never done well opening pdfs. Many printers of packaging have plug-ins requiring the use of AI. They generally need to work on the native files for their processes.

I realize all of that, my suggestion was simply to try and trick the overseas printing company into thinking they have received a valid Adobe Illustrator file, and not a simple PDF.