Jump to content
You must now use your email address to sign in [click for more info] ×

When exporting to PDF, sometimes the images appear differently in publisher


bluetux

Recommended Posts

When working on the screen and exporting to PNG, everything looks fine. However, when exporting to PDF, the output appears differently.
I have uploaded the relevant files.
Personally, to resolve this issue, I found that grouping the images inside resolved the problem when exporting to PDF. However, it should ideally display correctly even without grouping. Unfortunately, that is not the case.

Preview-pdf-export-bug.pdf2023-10-28at9_21_03PM.thumb.png.561f5e5f5be8eb71cea3e9bb4160880e.png

pdf-export-bug.afpub pdf-export-bug.pdf

pdf-export-bug.png

Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 hours ago, bluetux said:

When working on the screen and exporting to PNG, everything looks fine.

PNG is a lossless compression format. 

4 hours ago, bluetux said:

when exporting to PDF, the output appears differently

With default settings, PDF export converts all bitmap images to JPEG with lossy compression. That will inevitably introduce artifacts and some blurriness. To avoid this, disable the "Downsample Images" and "Allow JPEG Compression" options.

Also, the major difference is that PNG export always resamples the whole canvas whereas PDF export embeds the images you've used in their original resolution (unless it's set to "scale down"). They won't ever look exactly the same.

MacBookAir 15": MacOS Ventura > Affinity v1, v2, v2 beta // MacBookPro 15" mid-2012: MacOS El Capitan > Affinity v1 / MacOS Catalina > Affinity v1, v2, v2 beta // iPad 8th: iPadOS 16 > Affinity v2

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 10/28/2023 at 1:18 PM, bluetux said:

However, it should ideally display correctly even without grouping. Unfortunately, that is not the case.

Unfortunately, a permabug. At least, it is on macOS. I don't know what happens on iPadOS or Windows.

In the case of your ungrouped placed transparent PNG with reduced opacity, the RGBA TIFF inside the exported PDF has correct alpha values taken from the placed RGBA PNG, but its RGB values wrongly are as if the placed PNG was being blended with white.

If you substitute a TIFF equivalent of the PNG, the RGBA TIFF inside the exported PDF will have correct alpha values taken from the placed RGBA TIFF, but its RGB values will wrongly be as if the placed TIFF was being blended with black.

Warning: Affinity apps have numerous ancient bugs involving transparency, which I assume to be permanent.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 10/30/2023 at 3:11 PM, DWright said:

If you select the Rasterise option of Nothing in the PDF export then the shadows will be exported to the PDF file.

That makes the result look washed out all over when the export ppi is left at 300 and no image resampling occurs. It was the rasterised part of the OP's export that looked ok.

Your workaround only works because images are being downsampled (to 72 ppi in your case), which is a form of rasterisation.

A bug needs to be logged.

Edited by lepr
Link to comment
Share on other sites

44 minutes ago, lepr said:

broken PDF export

Interesting!
It seems to affect only RGB export.
CMYK export converts all samples equally.

MacBookAir 15": MacOS Ventura > Affinity v1, v2, v2 beta // MacBookPro 15" mid-2012: MacOS El Capitan > Affinity v1 / MacOS Catalina > Affinity v1, v2, v2 beta // iPad 8th: iPadOS 16 > Affinity v2

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 minutes ago, lepr said:

it has been in the apps for years

Yeah, I just rebuilt your example in v1 and it's the same.

MacBookAir 15": MacOS Ventura > Affinity v1, v2, v2 beta // MacBookPro 15" mid-2012: MacOS El Capitan > Affinity v1 / MacOS Catalina > Affinity v1, v2, v2 beta // iPad 8th: iPadOS 16 > Affinity v2

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 months later...
3 hours ago, lepr said:

Could a Serif person acknowledge and log the bug, please?

@DWright has not only contributed to this topic but is currently following it.

Alfred spacer.png
Affinity Designer/Photo/Publisher 2 for Windows • Windows 10 Home/Pro
Affinity Designer/Photo/Publisher 2 for iPad • iPadOS 17.4.1 (iPad 7th gen)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 minute ago, lepr said:

DWright is the problem!

DWright initially misdiagnosed the OP's problem and then chose to ignore my clear and simple example.

That’s as maybe, but the fact remains that you already asked him to log this issue as a bug.

Alfred spacer.png
Affinity Designer/Photo/Publisher 2 for Windows • Windows 10 Home/Pro
Affinity Designer/Photo/Publisher 2 for iPad • iPadOS 17.4.1 (iPad 7th gen)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just now, Alfred said:

That’s as maybe, but the fact remains that you already asked him to log this issue as a bug.

Yes, and he ignored me, so now I want another Serif person with a more robust ego to deal with this topic.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 minute ago, lepr said:

Yes, and he ignored me, so now I want another Serif person with a more robust ego to deal with this topic.

👍

Alfred spacer.png
Affinity Designer/Photo/Publisher 2 for Windows • Windows 10 Home/Pro
Affinity Designer/Photo/Publisher 2 for iPad • iPadOS 17.4.1 (iPad 7th gen)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

Terms of Use | Privacy Policy | Guidelines | We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.