Affinity Designer 2: PDF export has wrong dimensions

[FelixK]

Hi,

A few days ago, I upgraded to Affinity Designer v2. After finishing a curent project, I have trouble exporting the document as PDF. The PDF gets exported successfully, but with the wrong dimensions. The width is 1,1mm bigger than set in the project and therefore not accepted by the printing service. The issue can be easily reproduced.

How to reproduce:

1. Create a new document in Affinity Designer 2 with width=145mm and height=211mm
   
2. Export document as PDF
3. Open the PDF document in Affinity Designer 2 (or any PDF reader) and check the file size -> Result: The PDF file is 211,1mm width - which is 0,1mm too large.
   

Please find an example file attached to this thread.

When I do the same in Affinity Designer v1 then the export is perfect.

I am aware of this thread and know where the issue comes from (mm converted to inch and then rounded to (only) 2 decimal places). But there is still no solution to this topic and again: The same procedure works fine with Affinity Designer v1.

Looking forward for any ideas. Currently I am stuck: The PDF is not accepted by the printing service and the file cannot be opened by Affinity Designer v1 anymore.

Best regards,

Felix

Example Document.pdf Example Document.afdesign

Edited November 28, 2023 by FelixK

[MickRose]

Hi @FelixKThe cropped page size (using Acrobat Pro) is 145.04 x 211.08. I am surprised version 1 was better than version 2. If you still have version 1 you could always export as PDF and then import into version 1. You could even try reducing the size of your AD file to 210.94 (or similar).

 

[Hangman]

Hi @FelixK and welcome to the forums,

Testing in Affinity Designer 1.7.3, 1.10.6 and 2.2.1 the exported size is the same from all three versions on macOS 145.034 mm x 211.074 mm from all three versions. I'm slightly surprised you're seeing a different exported size between v1 and v2 on Windows.

• Acrobat Reader shows the size as 145 mm x 211 mm displayed to zero decimal points
• FoxIt PDF Reader shows the size as 145.03 mm x 211.07 mm displayed to one decimal point
• Packzview shows the size as 145.034 mm x 211.074 mm displayed to two decimal points
• Exiftool shows the size as 411.12 pt x 598.32 pt which is exactly 145.034 mm x 211.074 mm

Out of interest, which is the printing service that rejects the exported PDF size...

[FelixK]

Hi @MickRose, hi @Hangman

thanks for your help!

I have to appologize regarding the information about v1. Seems like I tested with a wrong size. And you are right, v1 produces exactly the same output.

I will try to go with 210.94mm to resolve my problem. That was an awesome idea, @MickRose.

1 hour ago, Hangman said:

Out of interest, which is the printing service that rejects the exported PDF size...

The printing service is https://www.wir-machen-druck.de/

---

Are there any plan on extending the number of decimal places? Even tools like MS Word can export with more precision.

[Dan C]

Welcome to the Affinity Forums @FelixK 

On 11/28/2023 at 9:18 AM, FelixK said:

How to reproduce:

1. Create a new document in Affinity Designer 2 with width=145mm and height=211mm
   
2. Export document as PDF
3. Open the PDF document in Affinity Designer 2 (or any PDF reader) and check the file size -> Result: The PDF file is 211,1mm width - which is 0,1mm too large.
   

I can confirm this is a known issue in Affinity when exporting to PDF - for example if the document size is 3118.1 x 2291.3 pixels, when exporting to PDF this is rounded up to a whole number of pixels, so the PDF size doesn't exactly match the document size.

I've 'bumped' this issue with our development team to bring it to their attention once again for you now.

23 hours ago, FelixK said:

Are there any plan on extending the number of decimal places? Even tools like MS Word can export with more precision.

Currently when exporting the file, the Pixel measurements will always be rounded to the nearest whole value - this is the issue currently logged with our team to be addressed in a future update. 

If you wish to change the number of decimals shown within the Affinity app UI, you can adjust this under Settings > User Interface - though the number of decimals displayed in the app will not affect the export itself.

I hope this clears things up!

[Oufti]

3 hours ago, Dan C said:

in Affinity when exporting to PDF - for example if the document size is 3118.1 x 2291.3 pixels, when exporting to PDF this is rounded up to a whole number of pixels,

 

3 hours ago, Dan C said:

when exporting the file, the Pixel measurements will always be rounded to the nearest whole value

I'm sorry to insist about details but is the pixel value always rounded up to the next greater value (e.g. 2.1 and 2.7 will both be rounded to 3 pixels) or just rounded to the nearest whole value (e.g. 2.1 → 2 and 2.7 → 3)? 

I ask this because I can't figure out through tests what is exactly the formula used to calculate export sizes. The first could seem more logical (you won't exclude a part of the pixels from your image, i.e. cropping it, would you?) but what happens in reality?

Reversely, for the DIN page formats (ISO216), rounding under is the norm:  values are divided by two to obtain the smaller sizes, each time rounding the result to the next lower integer number of millimeters (floor function). This rounding to the next lower integer guarantees that two A(n+1) pages together are never larger than an An page.

All these rounding formulae are important as 1) the size of DIN formats is defined as whole millimeters, 2) PDF uses dimensions precise up to a 1/1000th of PostScript points (i.e. exactly 1/72,000 inch) and, as I understand you, 3) Affinity files in pixels… Many occasions to make a mess! 

[lepr]

6 minutes ago, Oufti said:

is the pixel value always rounded up to the next greater value (e.g. 2.1 and 2.7 will both be rounded to 3 pixels)

yes

[Dan C]

I can confirm my wording is correct, the pixel size is rounded up to the nearest whole pixel value.

15 minutes ago, Oufti said:

All these rounding formulae are important as 1) the size of DIN formats is defined as whole millimeters, 2) PDF uses dimensions precise up to a 1/1000th of PostScript points (i.e. exactly 1/72,000 inch) and, as I understand you, 3) Affinity files in pixels… Many occasions to make a mess! 

Hence, this is logged as a bug with our development team.

[FelixK]

Awesome! Thanks for clarifing!

[4dimage]

On 11/28/2023 at 1:33 PM, FelixK said:

The printing service is https://www.wir-machen-druck.de/

Hi, ich nutze noch Affinity 2.5.7.

Ich habe diese Ungenauigkeiten schon vor Jahren angemahnt. Selbst Inkscape kriegt das auf den Punkt hin: DIN A4 = 210.00 x 297.00 mm !!! Aber da passiert nix bei Affinity...

Ich rege mich nicht mehr darüber auf, da es scheinbar bei den Dienstleistern gewisse Toleranzen bei den Datenformaten gibt, die noch akzeptiert werden.

Deshalb ist es komisch, dass deine Druckdaten abgelehnt werden?! Ich lasse auch regelmäßig bei www.wir-machen-druck.de, flyeralarm.com und anderen Onlinedruckereien produzieren. Und zwar alles von Vistenkarten bis hin zu großen Schildern und Bannern in der Außenwerbung. Die von Affinity Publisher exportierten PDF/X-3:2003 gingen bis jetzt, trotz Nachkommastellen, immer problemlos bei der Bestellung/Datenupload durch die automatische Druckdatenprüfung.

Beispiele die bei Wir Machen Druck akzeptiert wurden (Acrobat Pro Seitenbereich Dialog):

 

 

Ähnlich ist es bei flyeralarm.com. Auch hier gab es trotz Nachkommastellen noch keine Ablehnung bei der automatischen Druckprüfung. Beispiel:

 

Wie wäre es mit einer telefonischen Nachfrage beim Wir Machen Druck Kundenservice?

---

Das hier bekomme ich heraus, wenn ich deine Testdatei exportiere und im Acrobat die Seitenrahmen prüfe:

 

 

[Oufti]

6 hours ago, Jees said:

I see, this bug has been reported many years ago and nothing has happened. So I assume that it will never be fixed and Affinity is not suitable application for me sadly.

Even if this is not fixed yet, it's still possible to use Affinity:

1. In Document setup, set the units to pixels 
2. Reduce the size of height and width by ≤1 pixel (round down to a whole pixels number)
3. Set back the document units to what you want

You'll then see that, for example, your document will be reduced to 144,949333 mm (@300ppi) instead of 145 mm but it won't any longer trigger overzealous automatic checkups routines.

For myself, I can live with such a dimension inexactitude (51µ = half an hair)… 

[Jees]

15 hours ago, Oufti said:

Even if this is not fixed yet, it's still possible to use Affinity:

1. In Document setup, set the units to pixels 
2. Reduce the size of height and width by ≤1 pixel (round down to a whole pixels number)
3. Set back the document units to what you want

You'll then see that, for example, your document will be reduced to 144,949333 mm (@300ppi) instead of 145 mm but it won't any longer trigger overzealous automatic checkups routines.

For myself, I can live with such a dimension inexactitude (51µ = half an hair)… 

 

Thank you Oufti

 

I will try this and ask if this is ok for the production.

 

Marko