LukeBronsky Posted March 24 Share Posted March 24 Hello. I encountered very specific problem I can't find solution to. I am creating sewing cutting patterns. And I wanted to export the file with layers so people can print only the size they are interested in. It should work like this - you have pattern with multiple sizes and in layers you can choose which one you want to see/print. This was created and exported in Illustrator and works as expected. But when I try to export the same thing in AD, the layers on multiple pages are not linked - meaning you'd have to select the visible layer for every page of the document separately. You can see when I am in the middle of two pages I see all the layers of every page but it should be just one layers for all twenty something pages of the document. I also created super simple documents simulating my issue since I am not able to upload the screenshotted document itself. Is there any setting to make the "layers linked" across all the pages or is it something than can not be done in AD? Thank for any kind of help. A4 .pdf A4 Print Template.afdesign Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hangman Posted March 25 Share Posted March 25 Hi @LukeBronsky and welcome to the forums, I'm unsure about Illustrator but exporting a multi-artboard Designer document to pdf won't merge the Layers from each artboard which is why you see a repeat of the Layers for each exported page... If you have Acrobat Pro or PDF Studio you can Merge the duplicated layers for each page to create single layers which will then apply to the whole document, e.g., merging all instances of the layer labelled 68 into a single layer will then hide and show layer 68 for all pages of the PDF file with a single click... Quote Affinity Designer 2.4.2 | Affinity Photo 2.4.2 | Affinity Publisher 2.4.2 Affinity Designer Beta 2.5.0 (2415) | Affinity Photo Beta 2.5.0 (2415) | Affinity Publisher Beta 2.5.0 (2415) Affinity Designer 1.7.3 | Affinity Photo 1.7.3 | Affinity Publisher 1.10.8 MacBook Pro 16GB, macOS Monterey 12.7.4, Magic Mouse Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LukeBronsky Posted March 25 Author Share Posted March 25 Hello. Thank you, that is a brilliant idea. Bit tedious for multiple layers and pages but it gets the job done. Anyway I would welcome this to be build in to the Designer itself, it would save some trouble. Thank you again. Oufti 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hangman Posted March 25 Share Posted March 25 Hi @LukeBronsky, Totally agree but glad there is at least a workaround… Is this automatic when exporting from Illustrator or is there a checkbox that enables this? Just curious to understand whether the current behaviour seen when exporting from Affinity apps is correct or would be considered a bug… Quote Affinity Designer 2.4.2 | Affinity Photo 2.4.2 | Affinity Publisher 2.4.2 Affinity Designer Beta 2.5.0 (2415) | Affinity Photo Beta 2.5.0 (2415) | Affinity Publisher Beta 2.5.0 (2415) Affinity Designer 1.7.3 | Affinity Photo 1.7.3 | Affinity Publisher 1.10.8 MacBook Pro 16GB, macOS Monterey 12.7.4, Magic Mouse Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LukeBronsky Posted March 26 Author Share Posted March 26 Hi @Hangman, I have no idea. The Illustrator file was made by external freelancer. And since Designer suits most of my needs and costs fraction of CC, I was hesitant to get in to the whole (mad) Adobe CC sub.... I am myself unsure if it is bug or feature. I suspected it was because of the separate artboards when exporting. Maybe it is possible to draw the pattern in Designer and then move it to Publisher for final composing on printable A4 size sheets and it would then make the layers work as they should? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lacerto Posted March 26 Share Posted March 26 On 3/24/2024 at 10:04 PM, LukeBronsky said: the layers on multiple pages are not linked - meaning you'd have to select the visible layer for every page of the document separately. Yes, this happens because Affinity apps do not support global layers. They are page specific, also when exporting PDF (OCG) layers. Hangman 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LukeBronsky Posted March 26 Author Share Posted March 26 @lacerto Do you know any other way around it except the one mentioned earlier? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lacerto Posted March 26 Share Posted March 26 1 hour ago, LukeBronsky said: @lacerto Do you know any other way around it except the one mentioned earlier? There are probably many PDF editors that can do this, including (possibly free) online versions. If you are on Windows, there is one that I can recommend, PDF-XChange, not free, but with a low-cost perpetual license. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hangman Posted March 26 Share Posted March 26 13 minutes ago, lacerto said: There are probably many PDF editors that can do this, including (possibly free) online versions. If you are on Windows, there is one that I can recommend, PDF-XChange, not free, but with a low-cost perpetual license. I think the issue is that Affinity apps don't support Global (OCG) layers on export so regardless, it is always going to be a manual process to merge Layers... I couldn't figure out any way to do this using the Command Line... On Mac and/or Windows PDF Studio is also a good option, it comes in two flavours, Standard US$99 and Pro US$139, though I believe only the Pro version includes the option to Merge Layers, again a perpetual licence and very feature-rich. I get the impression that not many PDF apps can manage/merge OCG Layers though I could be wrong... Quote Affinity Designer 2.4.2 | Affinity Photo 2.4.2 | Affinity Publisher 2.4.2 Affinity Designer Beta 2.5.0 (2415) | Affinity Photo Beta 2.5.0 (2415) | Affinity Publisher Beta 2.5.0 (2415) Affinity Designer 1.7.3 | Affinity Photo 1.7.3 | Affinity Publisher 1.10.8 MacBook Pro 16GB, macOS Monterey 12.7.4, Magic Mouse Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lacerto Posted March 26 Share Posted March 26 37 minutes ago, Hangman said: I think the issue is that Affinity apps don't support Global (OCG) layers on export so regardless, it is always going to be a manual process to merge Layers... I couldn't figure out any way to do this using the Command Line... Yes (except for one-page jobs where "globalness" is irrelevant). OCG layers as such are "supported" in a meaning that PDF layers get generated in the first place. They are also supported beyond Adobe functionality as it seems they can be at least 3 levels deep (I think most other apps, including ones by Adobe, create only 1-level deep PDF layer structures, and also flatten layer structures that go deeper than 1-level, when they open PDFs for editing (Affinity apps excepted). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Séverine Posted April 4 Share Posted April 4 I have exactly the same problem, which is a big issue for sewing patterns makers 😞 Hope the developpers of AD will be able to allow merging layers in the future... I will have to stay with illustrator for the moment this this feature is key for my business... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Séverine Posted April 4 Share Posted April 4 (edited) In the meantime, I just found a quite easy and free solution with the online tool here : https://www.ilovepdf.com I just export the artboards in one file. Then use the "merge" tool to recreate one document with all pages and... magic... the layers are merged too ! So happy ! Maybe it can help you too ! Edited April 4 by Séverine lacerto 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LukeBronsky Posted April 4 Author Share Posted April 4 9 minutes ago, Séverine said: In the meantime, I just found a quite easy and free solution with the online tool here : https://www.ilovepdf.com I just export the artboards in one file. Then use the "split" tool of ilovepdf to split it in separate pages. Then use the "merge" tool to recreate one document with all pages and... magic... the layers are merged too ! So happy ! Maybe it can help you too ! Wow that sounds wonderful! Can you just point me to the settings you use for exporting artboards and then on I Love PDF? I tried to recreate what you wrote but with no success concerning the merged layers... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hangman Posted April 4 Share Posted April 4 1 hour ago, Séverine said: In the meantime, I just found a quite easy and free solution with the online tool here : https://www.ilovepdf.com I just export the artboards in one file. Then use the "split" tool of ilovepdf to split it in separate pages. Then use the "merge" tool to recreate one document with all pages and... magic... the layers are merged too ! I've just tested ilovepdf by both Splitting and Extracting PDF pages followed by Merging the Split Pages and I still see non-global layers on every page in the Merged PDF file so I'm a little surprised if it is working for you... It looks as though the Free version of ilovepdf permits a maximum of 25 pages so you'd need to pay £7 /mo or £48 /yr for larger patterns... Quote Affinity Designer 2.4.2 | Affinity Photo 2.4.2 | Affinity Publisher 2.4.2 Affinity Designer Beta 2.5.0 (2415) | Affinity Photo Beta 2.5.0 (2415) | Affinity Publisher Beta 2.5.0 (2415) Affinity Designer 1.7.3 | Affinity Photo 1.7.3 | Affinity Publisher 1.10.8 MacBook Pro 16GB, macOS Monterey 12.7.4, Magic Mouse Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Séverine Posted April 4 Share Posted April 4 Sorry maybe i explained bad...English is not my native language. Enclosed my test file in AD ("test affinity" file) I have a form with 2 sizes (2 layers) and 2 A4 artboards. I export artboard 1 and then artboard 2. (see pdfs enclosed "test P1" and "test P2") Then i use the website ilovepdf to merge and obtain "test P1_P2 merged" were the layers are merged. Hope you will be able to succeed too. I havent seen the 25 pages limits but normally a A0 pattern should fit into 25 A4 pages. test affinity.afdesign test P1.pdf test P2.pdf test P1_test P2_merged.pdf LukeBronsky 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LukeBronsky Posted April 4 Author Share Posted April 4 Wow that is super cool, I just tried it on one of my files and it really seems to be working. Thank you for this! Séverine 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hangman Posted April 4 Share Posted April 4 Hi @Séverine, Thanks for the sample files, I'd been exporting the file as a multipage PDF and then using ilovepdf to split it before remerging so it's interesting that the merge feature alone merges the layers into a single Global Layer... Are you exporting each artboard individually one by one? If so you could speed things up by nesting the layers inside each Artboard rather than sitting them on top of the Artboard (though I understand why you've taken that approach) and then using the Export Persona in Designer to export each Artboard as a slice in a single click using PDF as the export format which for large patterns will save you a lot of time... Excellent find with ilovepdf, thanks for sharing... Quote Affinity Designer 2.4.2 | Affinity Photo 2.4.2 | Affinity Publisher 2.4.2 Affinity Designer Beta 2.5.0 (2415) | Affinity Photo Beta 2.5.0 (2415) | Affinity Publisher Beta 2.5.0 (2415) Affinity Designer 1.7.3 | Affinity Photo 1.7.3 | Affinity Publisher 1.10.8 MacBook Pro 16GB, macOS Monterey 12.7.4, Magic Mouse Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LukeBronsky Posted April 4 Author Share Posted April 4 26 minutes ago, Hangman said: nesting the layers inside each Artboard Hi @Hangman, could you please expand on this or point me to where could I find more informations about this? I am not sure how do you mean it since there can be big elements spanning through multiple artboards (since one artboard represents one A4). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hangman Posted April 4 Share Posted April 4 Hi @LukeBronsky, The screen recording and attached file show a free download (for non-commercial use) A0 sewing pattern which I've adapted to 16 A4 Affinity Designer Artboards... Hopefully, the file and screen recording make sense but please ask if not... Exporting the Affinity Designer File as a 16-page PDF file using File > Export results in a non-global layered PDF and subsequently the same Layers need to be switched on and off for each page in the PDF file... Exporting as Slices is a quick way to export all 16 pages in one go rather than having to manually export each Artboard one at a time via the File > Export Option... Then using @Séverine's excellent find you can merge the exported PDF Slices into a single PDF file with Merged Global Layers meaning turning any Layer off in Acrobat Reader will turn the same Layer off globally for the entire document rather than having to manually turn the same Layer off on a per-page basis... Pattern.mp4 Sample Affinity Designer File Pinafore Pattern.afdesign Resulting Merged PDF File (Created from the exported PDF Slices from Affinity Designer using ilovepdf) Merged Pattern.pdf Quote Affinity Designer 2.4.2 | Affinity Photo 2.4.2 | Affinity Publisher 2.4.2 Affinity Designer Beta 2.5.0 (2415) | Affinity Photo Beta 2.5.0 (2415) | Affinity Publisher Beta 2.5.0 (2415) Affinity Designer 1.7.3 | Affinity Photo 1.7.3 | Affinity Publisher 1.10.8 MacBook Pro 16GB, macOS Monterey 12.7.4, Magic Mouse Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lacerto Posted April 5 Share Posted April 5 18 hours ago, Séverine said: In the meantime, I just found a quite easy and free solution with the online tool here : https://www.ilovepdf.com Thanks! I have thought that these are pretty much the same tools as on https://tools.pdf24.org/ but no, the merge really merges the layers with the same name while the pdf24 tools do not! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Séverine Posted April 5 Share Posted April 5 Hi @Hangman ! Thanks for the info and the files. Unfortunately there is a problem on the final files the layers are not all merged. It seems there is a problem starting page 13... I really don't know why ? See enclosed screen recording Enregistrement de l’écran 2024-04-05 à 10.22.48.mov Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hangman Posted April 5 Share Posted April 5 Hi @Séverine, That's interesting... I'm wondering whether this is because Page 13 only contains a single size in the original pattern and this has perhaps confused ilovepdf when merging the individual pages... I've just opened the PDF in PDF Studio and regardless of which page is shown or the page zoom it shows five instances of each layer which ties in with the theory, as in, it shows one set of layers for Pages 1 to 12 which are all controlled by the same single layer setting and then repeated layers for Pages 13, 14, 15 and 16 which have to be shown and hidden on a page by page basis... In Acrobat, when zooming out you see all the duplicated layers because 'List Layers for all Visible Pages' is enabled in the Layer Options under the ellipsis. If I merge the layers in PDF Studio I end up with a single set of layers which control all pages in the PDF when opened in Acrobat Reader, see the attached file. Note: I'm testing this with a trial version of PDF Studio, hence the watermark. I'll do some more testing but I think this is a possible shortcoming of ipdf... New Merged Pattern.pdf Quote Affinity Designer 2.4.2 | Affinity Photo 2.4.2 | Affinity Publisher 2.4.2 Affinity Designer Beta 2.5.0 (2415) | Affinity Photo Beta 2.5.0 (2415) | Affinity Publisher Beta 2.5.0 (2415) Affinity Designer 1.7.3 | Affinity Photo 1.7.3 | Affinity Publisher 1.10.8 MacBook Pro 16GB, macOS Monterey 12.7.4, Magic Mouse Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lacerto Posted April 5 Share Posted April 5 I did not have a closer look on the document at hand but I would assume that ilovepdf does OCG layer merge based on common names (possibly existing on the first page to be merged). Adobe Acrobat Pro, PDF/X-Change and PDF Studio all do layer merging by allowing the user to select the layers (on single or multiple pages) on to be merged (even if having different names), and then optionally pointing the target layer with which the selected layers should be merged with, so if there is complexity in the document, one would probably need a more advanced tool. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hangman Posted April 5 Share Posted April 5 15 minutes ago, lacerto said: I did not have a closer look on the document at hand but I would assume that ilovepdf does OCG layer merge based on common names (possibly existing on the first page to be merged). That certainly appears to be the case... To test the theory I've added content to the sizing Layers on Page 13 in the form of the different dashed line size indicators so every page now has content in every Layer where before Page 13 had no visible content appearing in the sizing layers... When exporting as slices from Designer and merging using ilovepdf you now get a single OCG layer which controls every page. Updated Designer File - Note the additions on Page 13 Pinafore Pattern.afdesign New PDF Merged using ipdf Merged Pattern v2.pdf lacerto 1 Quote Affinity Designer 2.4.2 | Affinity Photo 2.4.2 | Affinity Publisher 2.4.2 Affinity Designer Beta 2.5.0 (2415) | Affinity Photo Beta 2.5.0 (2415) | Affinity Publisher Beta 2.5.0 (2415) Affinity Designer 1.7.3 | Affinity Photo 1.7.3 | Affinity Publisher 1.10.8 MacBook Pro 16GB, macOS Monterey 12.7.4, Magic Mouse Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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