Artboards & Large Format Banner

[JevoUK]

 

Affinity Designer

Is there a way to export a large format banner say 16000mm x 2000mm into 16 panels 1000mm width using artboards without copying the image into each artboard?

I've tried but keep getting blank artboards.

Thanks

Edited October 5, 2023 by JevoUK

[DWright]

Which format are you trying to export to, if this is for a printer to create a banner and you document is vector based you could export in a vector format such as SVG, EPS or PDF with smaller dimensions and the printer will then be able to increase the banners size when printing without any loss of quality.

[pruus]

Every artboard must have all information on it when printing. So if you don’t copy the image. The print will be unfilled. Would it be nice or handy to have an artboard with grouped art-boards inside it? Yes is would be. 

[JevoUK]

We use PDFs for export our files contain vector & raster images, the banners are for a major supermarket. At the moment we are using illustrator where we can use multiple art boards without copying the image multiple times, the pdfs are then imported into another file that has the cutter and camera dots for the cutting machine, they are then saved as a PDF for the printer.

it’s probably not the most efficient way of doing things but it’s they way I’ve been shown. 🙂

[thomaso]

2 hours ago, JevoUK said:

We use PDFs for export our files contain vector & raster images,

Even with raster images the workflow mentioned by @DWright should not be a problem for your printing service.

I got used to create exhibition/fair wall layouts or large format banners in scale 1:10 with a document resolution in scale, too. For instance, an image that should be printed with 200 dpi gets placed with an effective resolution of 2000 dpi. Then the print will happen in scale at 1000 % (instead of 100) and thus achieve the wanted result and quality.

So it is up to the printing service to split a one-page PDF into their required sub-formats and thus output each single sheet or banner including a desired bleed setting without loss. (Compare the print option "Tiled" in various apps even for prints on a rather simple office printer hardware). This "splitting" is a procedure that a print software for large-format printer hardware should be able to handle easily, similar to the common pre-press imposition options for book or brochure printing for example.

Though I understand your approach to circumvent this workflow requirements for output by creating a layout on multiple "pages" it appears this option does not work in Affinity and even the option to create + export separate slices appears not to work (or I just did not find the right setup yet in the Export Persona?, @DWright). Thus it requires your mentioned workaround (-> multiple copies of the layout, each of them clipped accordingly for every page) or, more reasonable, the mentioned output workflow. – If wanted, you also could manually place several vertical cutting marks in the bleed area of you 1-page layout to ensure that the wanted final sub-formats are visually indicated within the delivered PDF.

[JevoUK]

I've done some more testing and instead of creating multiple artboards I just created 1 that contained the artwork, then in the export persona I created slices and exported them as PDFs, that worked BUT when creating slices they only work in pixels and not any other measurement That is no good for me, I need to work in a specific measurement. now I did try putting guides in the document at the spacing I needed but once in the export persona you can't snap to them. We are getting there though.

It would be nice if we could create Slices in any measurement & be able to snap to guides.

@DWright

 

 

7 hours ago, thomaso said:

Even with raster images the workflow mentioned by @DWright should not be a problem for your printing service.

I got used to create exhibition/fair wall layouts or large format banners in scale 1:10 with a document resolution in scale, too. For instance, an image that should be printed with 200 dpi gets placed with an effective resolution of 2000 dpi. Then the print will happen in scale at 1000 % (instead of 100) and thus achieve the wanted result and quality.

So it is up to the printing service to split a one-page PDF into their required sub-formats and thus output each single sheet or banner including a desired bleed setting without loss. (Compare the print option "Tiled" in various apps even for prints on a rather simple office printer hardware). This "splitting" is a procedure that a print software for large-format printer hardware should be able to handle easily, similar to the common pre-press imposition options for book or brochure printing for example.

Though I understand your approach to circumvent this workflow requirements for output by creating a layout on multiple "pages" it appears this option does not work in Affinity and even the option to create + export separate slices appears not to work (or I just did not find the right setup yet in the Export Persona?, @DWright). Thus it requires your mentioned workaround (-> multiple copies of the layout, each of them clipped accordingly for every page) or, more reasonable, the mentioned output workflow. – If wanted, you also could manually place several vertical cutting marks in the bleed area of you 1-page layout to ensure that the wanted final sub-formats are visually indicated within the delivered PDF.

 

[thomaso]

1 hour ago, JevoUK said:

then in the export persona I created slices (…)
(…)
It would be nice if we could create Slices in any measurement & be able to snap to guides.

Good catch, yesterday I failed with slices because I didn't have the Transform Panel open and only saw the grayed out option "Create Slice" ("… from currently selected object") in the bottom button or to drag-create a slice with vague drag-control of its size + position.

Like you I get only the unit "pixels" displayed in the Transform Panel of the Export Persona – but we can enter the wanted slice dimensions + position in a desired unit by typing the unit behind the value. For instance for slice width of 100 mm:

[JevoUK]

On 10/7/2023 at 12:03 AM, thomaso said:

Good catch, yesterday I failed with slices because I didn't have the Transform Panel open and only saw the grayed out option "Create Slice" ("… from currently selected object") in the bottom button or to drag-create a slice with vague drag-control of its size + position.

Like you I get only the unit "pixels" displayed in the Transform Panel of the Export Persona – but we can enter the wanted slice dimensions + position in a desired unit by typing the unit behind the value. For instance for slice width of 100 mm:

Oh I missed that, now if only the transform panel was a bit more intuitive.

I also got the guides working too by enabling snapping in the export persona.

At least I now know what I wanted to do can be done.

It would be helpful if the measurement could be set to what we want and also being able to duplicate slices.

[thomaso]

2 hours ago, JevoUK said:

Oh I missed that, now if only the transform panel was a bit more intuitive.
(…)
It would be helpful if the measurement could be set to what we want and also being able to duplicate slices.

Value fields in Affinity accept various entries, not digits only and not only in the Transform panel. (you can use them for calculations, too: https://affinity.help/publisher2/English.lproj/pages/Workspace/expressions.html )

I agree, the limitation in the Transform Panel of the Export Persona to the unit "pixel" is not intuitive, especially for vector formats like PDF. To me it feels like a bug "by design". – Interestingly it appears to have been different some years ago, as the permanent unit "mm" in the screencast in this short thread shows:

[JevoUK]

I know it's 10 months later but I have just found this video showing how to break up an image in Affinity Designer.

It's a bit of a strange way but it does work from the testing I've done.

 

 

[thomaso]

2 hours ago, JevoUK said:

It's a bit of a strange way but it does work from the testing I've done.

The Bitmap Fill does generally work (and was mentioned a few times in the forum) – but what about your topic and its goal?

On 10/5/2023 at 9:42 PM, JevoUK said:

a large format banner say 16000mm x 2000mm into 16 panels 1000mm width

The Bitmap Fill is quite different from the Image layer and has relevant limitations, for instance…

• no numerical sizing or positioning,
• no "replace image" option,
• no control or display of effective DPI

This makes it, imho, hardly usable in particular for your goal of a large format banner.

It can be nice for a private project like a greeting card but might be less interesting for a commercial job that may require more precision and control over the layout items. Preflight notices the image layer only, while the bunch of varying bitmap fill resolutions are not seen by Preflight.

[JevoUK]

I must admit we never preflight anything! what software are you using in the image above? It looks like AD but the Preflight?

I've done a bit more testing and found there is a workaround but it is a bit of a pain to do.

I created some artwork at 3000x1000mm containing vector, Text & bitmap images.

I then exported that as JPG Best Quality the JPG appears to be saved at 300dpi

Then on top of the artwork I created I made 3 squares all 1000x1000 adjacent to each other

I selected all the squares

selected the Gradient fill tool found the centre of the left hand side of the squares clicked and shift dragged to the centre of the artwork

I then selected the fill option to Bitmap and selected the image I saved earlier

I then clicked and dragged the point at the left until it was at the centre of the artwork, the 3 squares are now filled with different parts of the image.

Then in the Export persona you click on Layers panel then click the squares and create slices

In the slices panel you will have 4 slices deselect the full image at the bottom.

Chose your export format and then click Export Slices.

3 Slices will be exported at 1000x1000mm.

I then import these Slices into another file that has the cutting path and camera dots for the cutting machine and save the file as a PDF for our RIP.

 

In illustrator I would simply create my artwork 3000x1000mm create 3 art boards at 1000x1000 and export for screens as a PDF. Then import them into the file with the cutting path & dots then save as PDF.

 

Come on Serif make it easier.

I've attached a 2 files for you to check out, Don't worry about the design its just for testing purposes  

FVD_3000x1000_01.afdesign Slices_Test_File.afdesign

[thomaso]

I can't open V2 documents. Yes, of course you can use Bitmap Fills and achieve a correct result. What bothers me, is that you have no real control over the DPI once the prepared image has been used as a fill. Also, you can't check in the fill which image file was actually used (if, for example, you simply forgot which of the several possible files you inserted or if a colleague should go ahead and create the print data).

However, there is a different method for layout + export of such a design with layout objects spread over multiple output pages: It doesn't use slices nor the Export Persona but works with nested artboards:

1. Create all required artboards in their according sizes and positions.
2. Create an additional artboard in a size that covers all previous artboards.
3. Move the smaller artboard layers into the large artboard layer.
4. Place your layout items on the large artboard and above the smaller artboard layers.
5. Export 'normally' (no export persona slices) with Area: "Whole Document".

You will receive a PDF with all the artboards: 1 large and each smaller one, with bleed and crop marks if selected.
Let's say A1, A2 and A3 are three banners, they should contain different graphics, some of which will run across multiple artboards.

v1105 artboards nested in artboard.afdesign     artboards nested in artboard.pdf

P.S. the small artboards overlap in this example document, actually just for experimental reasons. The artboards are exported at their size + bleed, so that the overlapping areas practically enlarge the bleed area. Normally you don't want to do that and you don't do that, but arrange the artboards next to each other without any spacing or overlap.

[JevoUK]

That's a whole lot easier Thank You.

I didn't realise you could nest artboards, this worked perfectly and did exactly what I wanted.

I am now one step closer to recommending Affinity to the company I work for.

Thanks again for your help.