Gradient fill rasterized when export as eps or pdf

[gnurf]

Hello, I'm new to the forum so apologies if this question has been asked before.

 

Anyway, I now and then create vector stock images and this is the first time I've done the work with Affinity Designer, mainly because I cannot stand Adobe Illustrator.

 

But the problem is that stock agencies usually demand you send them Illustrator compatible eps files. Therefor I always check the final art in Illustrator. When importing the eps (and pdf) files I created with Affinity, I noticed that the gradient fills have been rasterized to bitmaps (this is a usual phenomena with other programs as well).

 

Is there any workaround to import Affinity created files to Illustrator with the gradients intact. They are simple two color gradients, nothing fancy.

 

It doesn't have to be eps or pdf, anything will do, as I can save them as eps in Illustrator after I have checked that everything is OK.

 

The only solution so far is to create the gradients in Illustrator.

 

-Paul

[Callum]

Hi Gnurf,

 

Welcome to the Forums :)

 

If you Export the file as a .SVG and then bring it into Illustrator the Gradients wont be rasterised. You can then export it to EPS while in Illustrator close the files and re open the newly saved EPS and you will find that the Gradients still haven't been rasterised :)

 

 

I hope this helps

C

[gnurf]

OK, I will try it. Thanks.

[gnurf]

Worked like a charm, thank you!

[Vernon @ M&M]

One of the reasons why we're trying out Affinity is to get away from Illustrator, so is there another way of getting around this?

 

Just out of interest if you don't mind me asking?

[Sirajum Munir Galib]

I am also facing this problem with object that has a opacity gradient.

[lacerto]

On 1/10/2024 at 6:46 AM, Sirajum Munir Galib said:

I am also facing this problem with object that has a opacity gradient.

If you export using PDF (any other than PDF/X-1a or PDF/X-3 which flatten live transparency), you should be able to export gradients containing <100 opacity values without causing rasterization. The objects will show as "Non-Native Art" in Illustrator (at least CS6) if you have only two gradient stops. But if you have three or more, they show as gradients also in Illustrator (even if the transparency is achieved with a transparency mask rather than gradient stop values with an opacity percentage).

 

[Sirajum Munir Galib]

On 1/12/2024 at 4:17 PM, lacerto said:

If you export using PDF (any other than PDF/X-1a or PDF/X-3 which flatten live transparency), you should be able to export gradients containing <100 opacity values without causing rasterization. The objects will show as "Non-Native Art" in Illustrator (at least CS6) if you have only two gradient stops. But if you have three or more, they show as gradients also in Illustrator (even if the transparency is achieved with a transparency mask rather than gradient stop values with an opacity percentage).

 

I tried to export as you said here. But did rasterize all the gradients and live transparency. Would you mind having a look at the attached file?

Untitled.afdesign

[NotMyFault]

You added transparency via transparency tool on top of existing gradient, but using a different angle. Try to use only one gradient, and set the transparency directly on the node colors.

 

[lacerto]

It seems this is pretty complex. First of all, when exporting from an RGB document to an RGB PDF, the only gradient that made it through to Adobe Illustrator as a gradient, was one on the bottom left which has three stop points defined. The one on the top left (with only two stop points) made it through non-rasterized as "non-native art". Both rectangles on the right were rasterized, no matter what. They were possibly defined a bit oddly (with transparent tool instead of defining opacity directly for stop points?), and mixed with HSL and RGB definitions, but changing this (removing transparency tool settings and defining all stops in RGB with opacity values) did not seem to have any change in behavior when opening exported RGB PDFs in Illustrator (CS6 was tested).

But I had earlier tested this only with CMYK exports, and it seems that is crucial; note that you need to export using settings that retain live transparency (any non-PDF/X-based preset, or PDF/X-4).

When you do, the gradient itself is retained, and transparency is achieved by using an opacity mask with gray levels indicating the level of transparency:

Attached is a Designer document where I have taken the bottom left rectangle with three stop points and added reduced opacity levels for two stops and then exported using PDF v1.7 to CMYK. As can be seen, when opened in Illustrator, the gradient is retained (showing as "Path"), and above the opacity is being edited by activating the opacity mask and setting the gray value of the middle stop (I made it 42, the same as location value, which is same as 58% gray). A green rectangle has been placed below to demonstrate the gradually increasing transparency.

This seems to be a PDF limitation within Affinity apps, since when exported to SVG (always RGB), there are no problems retaining the gradient when opened in Illustrator, and opacity values are directly defined for stops:

The Designer document used for exporting the gradient is attached, as are the exported PDF and SVG.

 gradient_with_transparency_exportable.afdesign

gradients_exported_cmyk.pdf

gradient_with_transparency_exportable.svg