eebee Posted April 26, 2016 Share Posted April 26, 2016 The print service has requested CMYK exported as "High Quality PDF". The design has 2 photos, lots of text (converted to curves) and a few vector elements. When I use the "PDF (for print)" export option, the resulting PDF has the strange result you see attached. When I use the "PDF/X-1a" option, the resulting PDF appears to be as expected. I'm going to send this version to the print service. I am, however, curious about what is causing this issue with the "PDF (for print)" option. Id it possible that this is a problem only with the display, and that it would still print correctly? At any rate I did not want to test that theory on 1000 CD sleeves. This is not an emergency unless the manufacturers says they have an issue with the PDF version I am sending. Thanks in advance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Staff MEB Posted April 26, 2016 Staff Share Posted April 26, 2016 Hi eebee, Welcome to Affinity Forums :) Can you post a link to the .afphoto file (or PM me if you don't want to post it publicly) so we can take a look please? Thanks. Quote A Guide to Learning Affinity Software | Affinity Quick Reference Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eebee Posted April 26, 2016 Author Share Posted April 26, 2016 Thanks for the quick response. I guess I shouldn't post the original publicly as I don't own the rights to the photographs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yasir Posted April 27, 2016 Share Posted April 27, 2016 I was wondering if merging visibles or flattening the layers before creating a PDF would resolve issues in printing. I had a similar situation with a menu with photos printed on front and back, when I looked at the proofs from FedexKinko printers they looked fine, but later when the job was processed the results of the photos were slightly lighter and the details have diminished slightly, one of the images was clipped,, it was explained to me that I should have flattened the files or merge visibles before creating the PDF. When printing from Acrobat front and back on the same paper they have to combine both sides to send to digital printer and that caused an issue in printing, I did not like the results. I have had another printing service not being able to print the PDF created from Affinity Designer, so they ant it to the digital printer with an advanced window "print an images". I think there is a related issue with PDF and layering, I have had another issue printing a PDF created in AD, the border of a box was pontine don top of the image, it was displayed correctly on the screen. I resubmitted the file after moving the layer of the. Border to the bottom of the images; original I choose the option of Arrange the order of layer by selecting bring to Front, which caused border to print on top of image. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Staff MEB Posted April 27, 2016 Staff Share Posted April 27, 2016 Hi eebee, Thanks for the files. Rasterising the Art layer as @Yasir is suggesting does solve the image problem, however this shouldn't be necessary. I've logged the issue and passed it to the dev team to be looked at. Quote A Guide to Learning Affinity Software | Affinity Quick Reference Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
evtonic3 Posted April 27, 2016 Share Posted April 27, 2016 I always flatten my docs before exporting to pdf. Which I use PDF flatten, I found is the best option for CMYK printing. The flattening before pdf process is something I learned years ago, so it was automatic for me. eebee 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SymbionProject Posted April 29, 2016 Share Posted April 29, 2016 I'm having the exact same issue. I'm working on 5 files to be used for CD artwork. All 5 files use the same base 300dpi templates (psd's or pdf's - i've tried both) with a photo and some text. All are getting exported out using PDF/X-4 also at 300dpi. 4 of the files export with no issues. 1 file exports and the photo is washed out. I tried flattening the file which solves the washed out problem but the rasterising of my font makes it look really bad. All the font/text is way less crisp and looks similar to having low quality jpeg compression. So flattening is not an option, and like MEB says above, you shouldn't have to do this. I've got to submit these art files for a client by Sunday so I'm stumped on how to move forward and fix this issue. Any help would be amazing! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SymbionProject Posted April 29, 2016 Share Posted April 29, 2016 I'm having the exact same issue. I'm working on 5 files to be used for CD artwork. All 5 files use the same base 300dpi templates (psd's or pdf's - i've tried both) with a photo and some text. All are getting exported out using PDF/X-4 also at 300dpi. 4 of the files export with no issues. 1 file exports and the photo is washed out. I tried flattening the file which solves the washed out problem but the rasterising of my font makes it look really bad. All the font/text is way less crisp and looks similar to having low quality jpeg compression. So flattening is not an option, and like MEB says above, you shouldn't have to do this. I've got to submit these art files for a client by Sunday so I'm stumped on how to move forward and fix this issue. Any help would be amazing! So it really looks like it has something do with the adjustment layer I've got on the photo itself. It's just a simple Brightness/Contrast adjustment. Opacity on that layer is 100%, opacity on the photo layer is 100%. When I uncheck the bright/contrast layer and export as PDF/X-4 the photo looks fine. When I turn that layer back on and export, the photo looks like it has an opacity setting of 50%. As a test, I tried to export as PDF/X-3 and the export failed with a basic "Could not save" error message. But X-4 works, except for this one issue... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Staff MEB Posted April 29, 2016 Staff Share Posted April 29, 2016 Hi SymbionProject, You can rasterise just the image layer with the adjustment nested (right-click on it in the Layers panel and select Rasterise...) and leave the text intact as vector. Quote A Guide to Learning Affinity Software | Affinity Quick Reference Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SymbionProject Posted April 29, 2016 Share Posted April 29, 2016 So when I rasterise just the photo with the embedded adjustment layers and then export as PDF/X-4 the image disappears completely. Just white space where the photo should be. All the text is intact but no photo at all :( Any other work around's? I fear with my time deadline I'm going to have to get the file over to my old version of CS4 and rebuild/export in photoshop. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eebee Posted April 29, 2016 Author Share Posted April 29, 2016 When I sent my PDF, created with the PDF/X-1a option, to the print service, they sent it back (after they re-served it as a PDF again, as part of their proofing process), and it once again showed the washed out look with the one photo. So I used the Export Persona and then used the PDF flattened option and sent it agin. That time the proof came back looking as it should so we placed the print order. I'll post again if there are any further problems. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Staff MEB Posted April 29, 2016 Staff Share Posted April 29, 2016 Seems there's some issue with the PDF exporter. @SymbionProject Can you also upload your file to be inspected please? Thanks. Quote A Guide to Learning Affinity Software | Affinity Quick Reference Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
evtonic3 Posted April 29, 2016 Share Posted April 29, 2016 When I sent my PDF to the print service, they sent it back (after they reserved it as a PDF again.. must part of their proofing process), and it once again showed the washed out look with the one photo. So I used the Export Persona and then used the PDF flattened option and sent it agin. That time the proof came back looking as it should so we placed the print order. I'll post again if there are any further problems. Glad you got it to print. PDF flatten is all I ever use and frankly I don't see a reason to change. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bogarguz Posted May 3, 2016 Share Posted May 3, 2016 I have the same issue in Affinity Designer. But I don't want to rasterize the vector logo, since it will lose quality in the printing or when resizing it. I notice that the setting in the CMYK were change by themselves. I wanted a totally black background, but then after exporting the file to PDF, I checked the CMYK setting and they were moved to have a grey. I have to erase the rectangle background and redo it, then after selecting the rectangle layer, I moved the settings CMYK in Fill to 100% all of them. Nevertheless the Stroke setting were different, and I was not using Stroke, so I moved the to 100% too. After a few tries changing these setting and exporting to PDF, I finally could keep the setting in totally black. Thank you, Bogar Motor Voter Flyer bk.afdesign Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bogarguz Posted May 3, 2016 Share Posted May 3, 2016 I almost forgot, it is another issue in the same file. I know I should write it in another post, but it is related to PDF and PNG with this same AD file. I used Transparency Tool to the globes and they look great, but when I tried to apply a little transparency with a little bit of gradient to the bottom edge of the Wheels (I selected the whole group of a Wheel and apply the effect to it), they looked fuzzy in the final exported PDF or PNG. So I had to forget about the little effect to the Wheels. Thanks again, Bogar Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SymbionProject Posted June 19, 2016 Share Posted June 19, 2016 Seems there's some issue with the PDF exporter. @SymbionProject Can you also upload your file to be inspected please? Thanks. Sorry for the delay in getting back to you. How do I upload the files to be inspected? In the topic post icons there is an image button but it wants a URL. There is the MyMedia button but it doesn't allow me to upload through it. Where do I find the area to upload content? thanks ~ Kasson Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Staff Patrick Connor Posted August 23, 2016 Staff Share Posted August 23, 2016 Thanks for your help with this bug. We have now resolved the main problem and will make the fix available in the next release. Quote Patrick Connor Serif Europe Ltd Latest V2 releases on each platform Help make our apps better by joining our beta program! "There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man. True nobility lies in being superior to your previous self." W. L. Sheldon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MCM Posted October 22, 2019 Share Posted October 22, 2019 I'm using the 1.7.3 version of Affinity Designer and came across this issue while exporting my file to PDF-print or X-1a. I'm surprised to read that this was resolved in 2016 and the fix was made... something might have happened in later versions since I needed to rasterize my image in order for it to not be washed out and even after doing that the image is still not 100% sharp. I can send the images if you send me a link if you'd like to have a look. Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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