Caden Posted January 25 Share Posted January 25 (edited) Using AD version 1.10.6 on Window 11 I need a specific layer name ‘print’ because I am uploading my pdf to website of a printing press, which offers automated printing program. But when I export .afdesign of .afphoto on Affinity Designer, my layer name seems to be changed. If I name the Layer ‘print’ in AD and export it as pdf, open it on Adobe Illustrator it just says Layer 1. If I open the pdf file in acrobat it is read properly as ‘print’, but the website I mentioned above keep says the file doesn’t have ‘print’ layer. Maybe the pdf file need to be compatible with Illustrator? I searched in this forums and saw a lot of topics reporting similar issues. I tried some of them, but not working. I made New Layer from the layer panel and moved all objects into the new layer. Read https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/topic/177987-pdf-exports-and-layer-names/ I checked the export settings. I toggled ‘Include Layers’, and using PDF 1.6 version. I don’t want to subscribe Adobe Illustrator just to change Layer names. Can I fix this with AD or with other Affinity programs? I attached my afdesign file and pdf files, in case it helps. New Layer.afdesign New Layer.pdf Edited January 25 by Caden image attachment not working Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GarryP Posted January 25 Share Posted January 25 Welcome to the forums @Caden I just opened your AFDESIGN document in Designer 1.10.6, exported it to a PDF 1.6 (with Include Layers set to ON) and the Layer is named correctly as far as I can see in Acrobat – see attached image. There’s a chance that the website you are uploading the PDF to isn’t working properly, or it needs certain things to be certain ways, but we can’t know that as we don’t know which website you are using. There’s also a chance that the website is rejecting PDFs that have not been created in Adobe applications, I’ve heard of that happening before. If that’s the case then you might not be able to do much about it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hangman Posted January 25 Share Posted January 25 Hi @Caden and welcome to the forums, As far as I can see you've done everything correctly, the fact that Illustrator doesn't recognise the Layer name I don't believe is the issue since, as you say, it is recognised by Acrobat... Could you provide a link to the print company's website, in particular to their artwork and PDF specs page so we can get a better understanding of how they require the file to be provided just in case they expect something specific in the PDF creation process... Quote Affinity Designer 2.5.5 | Affinity Photo 2.5.5 | Affinity Publisher 2.5.5 Affinity Designer Beta 2.6.0.2861 | Affinity Photo Beta 2.6.0.2861 | Affinity Publisher Beta 2.6.0.2861 MacBook Pro M3 Max, 36 GB Unified Memory, macOS Sonoma 14.6.1, Magic Mouse HP ENVY x360, 8 GB RAM, AMD Ryzen 5 2500U, Windows 10 Home, Logitech Mouse Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caden Posted January 27 Author Share Posted January 27 On 1/25/2024 at 6:51 PM, GarryP said: There’s also a chance that the website is rejecting PDFs that have not been created in Adobe applications, I’ve heard of that happening before. If that’s the case then you might not be able to do much about it. That’s too bad… Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caden Posted January 27 Author Share Posted January 27 On 1/25/2024 at 6:52 PM, Hangman said: Hi @Caden and welcome to the forums, As far as I can see you've done everything correctly, the fact that Illustrator doesn't recognise the Layer name I don't believe is the issue since, as you say, it is recognised by Acrobat... Could you provide a link to the print company's website, in particular to their artwork and PDF specs page so we can get a better understanding of how they require the file to be provided just in case they expect something specific in the PDF creation process... I can provide you the link of the website, but they only support Korean and you need to sign up to upload any file. I will also attach their guide file. https://www.ohprint.me/tutorial https://www.ohprint.me/store/sticker/intro/diy The tutorial page says that the pdf file must be 'vector based'. They also says if I create a pdf by document working program like MS office, it won't be uploaded. Sticker_DIY_A6_105x148.ai Sticker_DIY_A6_105x148.pdf Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hangman Posted January 27 Share Posted January 27 Hi @Caden, Many thanks for the additional information... Having read through the artwork specs there are several questions... The examples they use for specifying PDF creation focus on Illustrator and Photoshop, specifically ensuring that the following three options are enabled if using Illustrator (and likewise the equivalent options for Photoshop): Preserve Illustrator Editing Capabilities Embed Page Thumbnails Create Acrobat Layers from Top-Level Layers But can you clarify a couple of things... Is the sample 'glasses' file in your first post the actual file you're using to create a sticker from or was that just an example to demonstrate the PDF Layer naming issue you mentioned? If it is the actual file, based on the specs you provided, is the plan to create a sheet of A6 stickers from the 'glasses' artwork? Are you using their DIY option where cut lines are created automatically or are you creating your own sticker cut lines? If the latter, before attempting to upload your PDF file to the printer's website, have you added the required cut layer to your artwork a) ensuring the cut layer doesn't exceed the permitted number of nodes and b) ensuring in your Affinity Designer file the cut line layer appears above your print layer? Note: This is because when exported to PDF the Layer order is reversed... Are you able to upload your completed Affinity Designer artwork file if the 'glasses' file in your first post isn't it? If the 'glasses' file is your actual artwork, why are you using a PDF file when the artwork isn't in a vector format instead of a PNG? At this stage (though I could be wrong), I don't believe the PDF Layer name is the actual issue because as far as I can tell, despite the examples shown on the Printer's website focussing on Adobe software there should be absolutely no need to open your file in Illustrator, I think that is a red herring. The file exported directly from Affinity Designer includes the named 'print' Layer but for stickers, you will also require a 'cut' layer and without seeing whether your finished artwork meets all the other criteria specified in the Printer's specs it's not possible to know if all these are met so we would ideally need to see your finished Affinity Designer and exported PDF files, though if the 'glasses' artwork is the file you intend to use for your stickers then you may be better off uploading a 300 dpi PNG with transparent background and using their automated 'Oh Print.Me' option which will add the respective margins and cut lines for you. I'm making a lot of assumptions here but if you are able to clarify the above questions it will help us greatly in being able to figure out where any problems may lie, but I'm reasonably convinced (for the moment at least) that you can avoid Illustrator completely... Quote Affinity Designer 2.5.5 | Affinity Photo 2.5.5 | Affinity Publisher 2.5.5 Affinity Designer Beta 2.6.0.2861 | Affinity Photo Beta 2.6.0.2861 | Affinity Publisher Beta 2.6.0.2861 MacBook Pro M3 Max, 36 GB Unified Memory, macOS Sonoma 14.6.1, Magic Mouse HP ENVY x360, 8 GB RAM, AMD Ryzen 5 2500U, Windows 10 Home, Logitech Mouse Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caden Posted January 29 Author Share Posted January 29 On 1/28/2024 at 12:55 AM, Hangman said: Hi @Caden, Many thanks for the additional information... Having read through the artwork specs there are several questions... The examples they use for specifying PDF creation focus on Illustrator and Photoshop, specifically ensuring that the following three options are enabled if using Illustrator (and likewise the equivalent options for Photoshop): Preserve Illustrator Editing Capabilities Embed Page Thumbnails Create Acrobat Layers from Top-Level Layers But can you clarify a couple of things... Is the sample 'glasses' file in your first post the actual file you're using to create a sticker from or was that just an example to demonstrate the PDF Layer naming issue you mentioned? If it is the actual file, based on the specs you provided, is the plan to create a sheet of A6 stickers from the 'glasses' artwork? Are you using their DIY option where cut lines are created automatically or are you creating your own sticker cut lines? If the latter, before attempting to upload your PDF file to the printer's website, have you added the required cut layer to your artwork a) ensuring the cut layer doesn't exceed the permitted number of nodes and b) ensuring in your Affinity Designer file the cut line layer appears above your print layer? Note: This is because when exported to PDF the Layer order is reversed... Are you able to upload your completed Affinity Designer artwork file if the 'glasses' file in your first post isn't it? If the 'glasses' file is your actual artwork, why are you using a PDF file when the artwork isn't in a vector format instead of a PNG? At this stage (though I could be wrong), I don't believe the PDF Layer name is the actual issue because as far as I can tell, despite the examples shown on the Printer's website focussing on Adobe software there should be absolutely no need to open your file in Illustrator, I think that is a red herring. The file exported directly from Affinity Designer includes the named 'print' Layer but for stickers, you will also require a 'cut' layer and without seeing whether your finished artwork meets all the other criteria specified in the Printer's specs it's not possible to know if all these are met so we would ideally need to see your finished Affinity Designer and exported PDF files, though if the 'glasses' artwork is the file you intend to use for your stickers then you may be better off uploading a 300 dpi PNG with transparent background and using their automated 'Oh Print.Me' option which will add the respective margins and cut lines for you. I'm making a lot of assumptions here but if you are able to clarify the above questions it will help us greatly in being able to figure out where any problems may lie, but I'm reasonably convinced (for the moment at least) that you can avoid Illustrator completely... In the actual file I add a picture in a curve and put it in the print Layer. But I think I can just rasterize the curve. To upload it to this forum I deleted the curve so I wouldn’t violate someone’s copyright or something…The actual file is something like I attached in this reply. Yes. I plan to print a sheet of A6 sticker. I don’t need any cut lines. I just print them in one and cut it myself. Once I tried some special printing fx. They needed a layer with the fx area marked with M100 so I made it, and I got my layers reversed…I got a sticker with all M100. I never uploaded files with multiple layers again. Maybe this was off-topic. No. I had no problem uploading AD artwork file until last year but this year they changed something. I tried uploading a file that I uploaded with no problem at September 2023 and they are not accepting it. You mean If I’m not creating any cut lines, I don’t have any vector image so I don’t need to upload my artwork in pdf format? Until now I used pdf files because it is easier to adjust the actual size. Their automatic editor is so clumsy and inconvenient that I feel like editing on a mobile phone app. It is much better to adjust size on AD. Also I was worried that the image quality might deteriorate if I used PNG. Actually I don’t know much about printing, I just taught it myself. Somethig like actual file.afdesign Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hangman Posted January 29 Share Posted January 29 Hi @Caden, Thanks for clarifying the points raised, that's very helpful... Based on your reply we can forget about any cut lines... Looking at the file you uploaded in your last post, with your images in place (those you've not included in the file you've uploaded) any FX will need to be rasterised and you will need to flatten everything so you have a single print layer, though I'm assuming that is what you are doing already... technically it shouldn't matter if you upload the file as a PDF or PNG though PDF makes sense... If this is what you're already doing what actually happens when you try to upload your PDF file, do you get a specific error message? I've translated the print specs into English and attached them for anyone else viewing this thread... Sticker_DIY_A6_105x148_EN.pdf Quote Affinity Designer 2.5.5 | Affinity Photo 2.5.5 | Affinity Publisher 2.5.5 Affinity Designer Beta 2.6.0.2861 | Affinity Photo Beta 2.6.0.2861 | Affinity Publisher Beta 2.6.0.2861 MacBook Pro M3 Max, 36 GB Unified Memory, macOS Sonoma 14.6.1, Magic Mouse HP ENVY x360, 8 GB RAM, AMD Ryzen 5 2500U, Windows 10 Home, Logitech Mouse Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan C Posted January 29 Share Posted January 29 Hi @Caden, Welcome to the Affinity Forums & sorry to hear you're having trouble! On 1/25/2024 at 6:48 AM, Caden said: If I name the Layer ‘print’ in AD and export it as pdf, open it on Adobe Illustrator it just says Layer 1. If I open the pdf file in acrobat it is read properly as ‘print’, but the website I mentioned above keep says the file doesn’t have ‘print’ layer. Maybe the pdf file need to be compatible with Illustrator? I can confirm that the reason for this is due to Adobe Illustrator not supporting/reading 'Option Content Groups' information when importing a PDF file, which is used for the Layer names. Essentially PDF readers (inc Acrobat) can read the OCG info, but Illustrator does not - even for an Adobe created PDF (when exporting from AI without Preserve Illustrator Editing Capabilities enabled). More info here: To test this, I did the following: Exported your file to PDF in both V1 & V2 Affinity Designer. Import both PDF files into Ai - here the Layer names are not imported. Rename Layer in Ai Save As > PDF from Ai - creating 2 different PDFs, one with 'Preserve Illustrator Editing Capabilities' enabled, the other disabled Import both saved PDFs back into Ai The result of this showed that only the 'Preserve Illustrator Editing Capabilities' saved PDF file has layer names present in Ai - this is because the PDF has an embedded .Ai doc which Illustrator is actually reading for the layer names. Therefore it sounds like the printer you're using is requiring a PDF file with the embedded Ai present and does not read the OCG information which Affinity writes within the PDF file. Unfortunately Affinity can't create this type of PDF at this time, as we don't support exporting the Ai format, our apologies. 4 hours ago, Caden said: Once I tried some special printing fx. They needed a layer with the fx area marked with M100 so I made it, and I got my layers reversed…I got a sticker with all M100. I never uploaded files with multiple layers again. Maybe this was off-topic. As Hangman mentions above, this is likely due to Affinity exporting PDF layers from the bottom of the stack upwards - whereas Adobe apps create the PDF layers from the top of the stack downwards. I've raised this behaviour with our developers to see if it can be changed in a future update, as I can certainly understand how this causes issues when producing PDF files in Affinity for Cutting / Sublimation printing. 4 hours ago, Caden said: No. I had no problem uploading AD artwork file until last year but this year they changed something. I tried uploading a file that I uploaded with no problem at September 2023 and they are not accepting it. This sounds like something has changed outside of the Affinity app with your printing company - if they accepted this file in 2023, but the exact same file now fails, that could indicate a difference on their end. Have you checked with the printers to see what may have changed between this time in regards to uploading PDF files? Unfortunately as above, if the requirement has changed to provide a PDF with Illustrator Editing Capabilities embedded, then Affinity will be unable to produce these files, our apologies. I hope this clears things up! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caden Posted January 30 Author Share Posted January 30 13 hours ago, Hangman said: Hi @Caden, Thanks for clarifying the points raised, that's very helpful... Based on your reply we can forget about any cut lines... Looking at the file you uploaded in your last post, with your images in place (those you've not included in the file you've uploaded) any FX will need to be rasterised and you will need to flatten everything so you have a single print layer, though I'm assuming that is what you are doing already... technically it shouldn't matter if you upload the file as a PDF or PNG though PDF makes sense... If this is what you're already doing what actually happens when you try to upload your PDF file, do you get a specific error message? I've translated the print specs into English and attached them for anyone else viewing this thread... Sticker_DIY_A6_105x148_EN.pdf 687.17 kB · 2 downloads This Is the error message I'm getting. It says "Print layer does not exist. Please create a Print layer." I assume their printing program recognize which layer to print by their names. I'm 99% sure that this is not about rasterizing fx layer. Once I forgot to outline the text and they said I need to rasterize texts or any fx. Somethig like actual file.pdf Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caden Posted January 30 Author Share Posted January 30 12 hours ago, Dan C said: Hi @Caden, Welcome to the Affinity Forums & sorry to hear you're having trouble! I can confirm that the reason for this is due to Adobe Illustrator not supporting/reading 'Option Content Groups' information when importing a PDF file, which is used for the Layer names. Essentially PDF readers (inc Acrobat) can read the OCG info, but Illustrator does not - even for an Adobe created PDF (when exporting from AI without Preserve Illustrator Editing Capabilities enabled). More info here: To test this, I did the following: Exported your file to PDF in both V1 & V2 Affinity Designer. Import both PDF files into Ai - here the Layer names are not imported. Rename Layer in Ai Save As > PDF from Ai - creating 2 different PDFs, one with 'Preserve Illustrator Editing Capabilities' enabled, the other disabled Import both saved PDFs back into Ai The result of this showed that only the 'Preserve Illustrator Editing Capabilities' saved PDF file has layer names present in Ai - this is because the PDF has an embedded .Ai doc which Illustrator is actually reading for the layer names. Therefore it sounds like the printer you're using is requiring a PDF file with the embedded Ai present and does not read the OCG information which Affinity writes within the PDF file. Unfortunately Affinity can't create this type of PDF at this time, as we don't support exporting the Ai format, our apologies. As Hangman mentions above, this is likely due to Affinity exporting PDF layers from the bottom of the stack upwards - whereas Adobe apps create the PDF layers from the top of the stack downwards. I've raised this behaviour with our developers to see if it can be changed in a future update, as I can certainly understand how this causes issues when producing PDF files in Affinity for Cutting / Sublimation printing. This sounds like something has changed outside of the Affinity app with your printing company - if they accepted this file in 2023, but the exact same file now fails, that could indicate a difference on their end. Have you checked with the printers to see what may have changed between this time in regards to uploading PDF files? Unfortunately as above, if the requirement has changed to provide a PDF with Illustrator Editing Capabilities embedded, then Affinity will be unable to produce these files, our apologies. I hope this clears things up! Thanks for the detailed information. The problem has become much more clear. I contacted the printer's customer service center but they just said I need to follow their guide files. No detailed information. Below is the conversation between me and the customer service center. I also attached the screenshot but it's all in Korean. Q. I am getting "Print layer does not exist" error message when uploading my pdf file to the DIY sticker editor. When I try to upload the file that was uploaded with no problem in September 2023, it does not upload now. Have the editor changed in the meantime? How can I upload my pdf? A. Previously, if it did not conform to the guide content, it should not have been uploaded, but it was uploaded, resulting in continuous production errors. Currently, uploads will not be made if they do not conform to the guide contents. Please follow the error message and upload the PDF file to the editor after completing editing in Illustrator using the provided guide file. https://www.ohprint.me/tutorial If you go to the link, you can check the guide files for each product and size. If you scroll down to the bottom, we will also provide guides for each product. Please check and edit. On 1/27/2024 at 10:51 PM, Caden said: I can provide you the link of the website, but they only support Korean and you need to sign up to upload any file. I will also attach their guide file. https://www.ohprint.me/tutorial https://www.ohprint.me/store/sticker/intro/diy The tutorial page says that the pdf file must be 'vector based'. They also says if I create a pdf by document working program like MS office, it won't be uploaded. (You can just see my reply to Hangman.) The color mode of the PDF file must be CMYK. (PNG and JPG files must be processed in RGB.) Please note that when saving as PDF, you must select the 'Illustrator Default' option for production without any trouble. Our products are all automated, So we produce it exactly as you uploaded it. Therefore, if the file has been edited differently from the information provided, Even if you are dissatisfied with the product you received in the future, we will not be able to provide any assistance. Please be sure to edit according to the work guide. Maybe they are using Adobe Illustrator in their automated system? I thought naming the layer to match their guide will solve the problem but at this point I feel like I must use Adobe Illustrator to upload in pdf file. I tried Adobe Photoshop and they did not accept the pdf file because Photoshop does not has "Illustrator layer", my assumption. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hangman Posted January 30 Share Posted January 30 Hi Caden, Based on the additional feedback and @Dan C's testing it sounds as though it may well be the case that you have to follow an Illustrator workflow, though to test the theory I've prepared two PDF and two PNG files for you to try... The only difference between the two versions of each file is one includes a white border for the glasses, the other doesn't. Could you let us know whether any of the four attached files upload to the printing service without error or if you see the same error as before... If you do see the same error then I think it is safe to assume an Illustrator workflow is required but let us know how you get on... Maybe @Dan C can upload the test file he exported from Illustrator for you to test as well then at least we will know one way or the other whether this is the issue or if there is something else we're missing with the file setup. Test PDF and PNG Files Glasses.zip Quote Affinity Designer 2.5.5 | Affinity Photo 2.5.5 | Affinity Publisher 2.5.5 Affinity Designer Beta 2.6.0.2861 | Affinity Photo Beta 2.6.0.2861 | Affinity Publisher Beta 2.6.0.2861 MacBook Pro M3 Max, 36 GB Unified Memory, macOS Sonoma 14.6.1, Magic Mouse HP ENVY x360, 8 GB RAM, AMD Ryzen 5 2500U, Windows 10 Home, Logitech Mouse Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan C Posted January 30 Share Posted January 30 1 hour ago, Hangman said: Maybe @Dan C can upload the test file he exported from Illustrator for you to test as well then at least we will know one way or the other whether this is the issue or if there is something else we're missing with the file setup. My test files from Illustrator were specifically in regards to testing the Layer Names being retained with OCG in the PDF files - unfortunately I don't have any Illustrator documents following the printers guidelines. As your printers have confirmed, if their systems require a PDF with the 'Preserve AI Editing Capabilities' enabled, then at this time the only way I'm aware to create such a file is using Illustrator, our apologies. Hangman and Caden 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caden Posted January 30 Author Share Posted January 30 3 hours ago, Hangman said: Hi Caden, Based on the additional feedback and @Dan C's testing it sounds as though it may well be the case that you have to follow an Illustrator workflow, though to test the theory I've prepared two PDF and two PNG files for you to try... The only difference between the two versions of each file is one includes a white border for the glasses, the other doesn't. Could you let us know whether any of the four attached files upload to the printing service without error or if you see the same error as before... If you do see the same error then I think it is safe to assume an Illustrator workflow is required but let us know how you get on... Maybe @Dan C can upload the test file he exported from Illustrator for you to test as well then at least we will know one way or the other whether this is the issue or if there is something else we're missing with the file setup. Test PDF and PNG Files Glasses.zip 1.8 MB · 0 downloads For anyone else viewing this thread, the printer has 3 uploading options: Use template, Design your own, Upload your design. With the two PDF file I see the same error as before. Now I'm sure they require an Illustrator workflow... With the two PNG file I cannot use the 3rd option because it only accepts PDF file. So I used the second option. I just embedded(?) the PNG file on their online editor(the clumsy one) and enlarged its size to fit the page. Both file were uploaded with no problem. On 1/28/2024 at 12:55 AM, Hangman said: then you may be better off uploading a 300 dpi PNG with transparent background and using their automated 'Oh Print.Me' option which will add the respective margins and cut lines for you. I read tutorial of 'Design your own' option and they said 300 dpi PNG with transparent background is fine. From now on I'll just use this method. Thanks everyone for your help! I really like Affinity software and I'm happy to continue using it. Also I'm glad that my old question about PDF order and name preserving has become very clear. Dan C and Hangman 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hangman Posted January 30 Share Posted January 30 Hi @Caden, Thanks for confirming... The joys of an automated print service which appears to give you little flexibility... I'm glad you at least have a solution and have been able to confirm @Dan C's logic and reasoning for the issue with PDF files needing to follow an Illustrator workflow... Quote Affinity Designer 2.5.5 | Affinity Photo 2.5.5 | Affinity Publisher 2.5.5 Affinity Designer Beta 2.6.0.2861 | Affinity Photo Beta 2.6.0.2861 | Affinity Publisher Beta 2.6.0.2861 MacBook Pro M3 Max, 36 GB Unified Memory, macOS Sonoma 14.6.1, Magic Mouse HP ENVY x360, 8 GB RAM, AMD Ryzen 5 2500U, Windows 10 Home, Logitech Mouse Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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