Problem with printing from Affinity Publisher

[Mats Lindroos]

Hi, When I print from Affinity Publisher my text and a eps file, a barcode, the edges and the filling on the font and barcode is blurry. It´s not filled black, rather pixelated. I have made the same document in InDesign, Microsoft Word and Pages and they all print with an excellent result. Crispy edges and fully black filled areas both the text and the bar code. But when doing the same from Affinity it does not come out good. I have also tried to export to pdf from Affinity but the printing result is not good printing from the pdf document either.

I use Affinity 2 on Mac with OS 12.7 and I print to a Canon ImagePress C165.

I attach a document that show the different results.

Thank you for help and tips!

Affinity test.pdf

[Hangman]

Hi @Mats Lindroos and welcome to the forums,

Based purely on your screengrabs it looks as though your text and barcode are not defined using 100% Black in Affinity Publisher, i.e., K100 if using CMYK, subsequently, your file is printing in CMYK, i.e., a mix of all four colours which is why you see the 'screen' effect.

Try changing your text to K100 with whichever colour profile you are using for your Publisher document and do the same for your EPS file. If the Barcode is a placed file you'll need to open or edit it in Publisher using the same colour profile and then change the colour fill to K100.

You should find it then prints with crisper edges and better matches the output from InDesign, Microsoft Word and Pages.

If you still have issue can you upload a sample Publisher page that includes some dummy text along with your EPS Barcode so we can take a closer look...

[Mats Lindroos]

9 hours ago, Hangman said:

Hi @Mats Lindroos and welcome to the forums,

Based purely on your screengrabs it looks as though your text and barcode are not defined using 100% Black in Affinity Publisher, i.e., K100 if using CMYK, subsequently, your file is printing in CMYK, i.e., a mix of all four colours which is why you see the 'screen' effect.

Try changing your text to K100 with whichever colour profile you are using for your Publisher document and do the same for your EPS file. If the Barcode is a placed file you'll need to open or edit it in Publisher using the same colour profile and then change the colour fill to K100.

You should find it then prints with crisper edges and better matches the output from InDesign, Microsoft Word and Pages.

If you still have issue can you upload a sample Publisher page that includes some dummy text along with your EPS Barcode so we can take a closer look...

Hi, I did try with changing the text to 100% black but it didn´t make any difference. What surprises me is if I start adding text in Affinity Publisher why doesn´t Pubisher default use 100% black? Do I always need to change everything I do in Publisher to 100% black when I want it to be black? No other program do I need to to that? I will of course even try to see what happends with my bar code eps file. It´s made from a bar code maker program as an eps file in black and white that is vectorized. If I need to always change it in Publisher then I can not continue to use Publisher. It will take to long time as I have hundreds, maby thousands of documents with text and barcodes that I will start using Affinity Publisher instead of Adobe InDesign. Affinity Publisher is the only program that doesn´t by default just gives me perfect prints. But as I started to write, the text didn´t change to the better when I changed it to 100% black. It still came out pixalated end with blurry edges.

[Mats Lindroos]

16 hours ago, Mats Lindroos said:

Hi, When I print from Affinity Publisher my text and a eps file, a barcode, the edges and the filling on the font and barcode is blurry. It´s not filled black, rather pixelated. I have made the same document in InDesign, Microsoft Word and Pages and they all print with an excellent result. Crispy edges and fully black filled areas both the text and the bar code. But when doing the same from Affinity it does not come out good. I have also tried to export to pdf from Affinity but the printing result is not good printing from the pdf document either.

I use Affinity 2 on Mac with OS 12.7 and I print to a Canon ImagePress C165.

I attach a document that show the different results.

Thank you for help and tips!

Affinity test.pdf 1.05 MB · 0 downloads

Hi, Now I have checked the bar code in both Affinity Designer and Affinity Photo and the bar code eps file is 100% black, nothing else. Still when I print it from Publisher it turns out blurry and pixalated all over the surface. When I print the bar code eps file and text from Designer the text prints perfect with sharp edges and completely filled with black and no pixelation. Also the bar code turns out better, it´s totally filled with black without pixelation but the edges are still a little bit blurry. The edges are better then in Publisher but not totally sharp. When I print the bar code and text from Photo both the text and the eps bar code file is pixelated. The text has sharp edges but the bar code has blurre edges when I print from Photo. Designer is a vector based program and Photo a pixel program so that is normal behavior. But Publisher is doing bad results when printing and that gives me problem to be able to continue to work with Publisher.

[Hangman]

Hi @Mats Lindroos,

Could you upload your Publisher document containing both the text and the barcode and also upload the original EPS barcode so we can take a look?

I suspect the issue is colour conversion in Publisher converting the file to a different colour profile resulting in the text and barcode no longer using K100...

[Mats Lindroos]

Hi, I attached one document each of Publisher, Photo, Designer and a bar code eps-file.

Designer does a good printing as it keeps the text and bar code black, filled with sharp edges and filled with black without being pixelated.

Publish and photo does not make a good print. The edges both on the text and the bar code file have blurry edges and pixelated filling.

See attached files.

Publisher Test.afpub Photo Test.afphoto Designer test.afdesign EAN-13 7320880011464.eps

[Dazmondo77]

This is one of my biggest moans with Affinity, it's capable of printing ok to a desktop inkjet (that expects RGB and then prints CMYK using colour profile information) but can't handle printing to pro level printers or RIPs without first rasterising vectors and fonts + converting to RGB which obliterates your output (If you have a CMYK workflow) as the whole point of a RIP is to rasterise vector information at it's highest resolution - for me, the best usable solution (yet another workaround) is to create a PDF/x and print via Acrobat reader which interprets CMYK correctly and retains vector information unlike apple preview, which at least retains vectors when printing to pro level devices but CMYK is off - if you do a search on the forum you'll see this problem goes back to 2015 or so - in repro, I remember the way (in the 2000s) you'd gauge how useful or capable a application is in a pro environment, is to run a few test sheets from the app to a RIP and view the films or get a match print or cromalin proof done and view in a viewing booth with a linen tester, Affinity would fail this test - OK, modern pro level devices expect PDF but also except printing direct from indesign, illustrator, coreldraw ect with CMYK and vector information intact - I really hope this changes at some point and we even get a proofing persona which lets you view seps and check.

Here's a link to one of the many moans

 

[Mats Lindroos]

28 minutes ago, Dazmondo77 said:

This is one of my biggest moans with Affinity, it's capable of printing ok to a desktop inkjet (that expects RGB and then prints CMYK using colour profile information) but can't handle printing to pro level printers or RIPs without first rasterising vectors and fonts + converting to RGB which obliterates your output (If you have a CMYK workflow) as the whole point of a RIP is to rasterise vector information at it's highest resolution - for me, the best usable solution (yet another workaround) is to create a PDF/x and print via Acrobat reader which interprets CMYK correctly and retains vector information unlike apple preview, which at least retains vectors when printing to pro level devices but CMYK is off - if you do a search on the forum you'll see this problem goes back to 2015 or so - in repro, I remember the way (in the 2000s) you'd gauge how useful or capable a application is in a pro environment, is to run a few test sheets from the app to a RIP and view the films or get a match print or cromalin proof done and view in a viewing booth with a linen tester, Affinity would fail this test - OK, modern pro level devices expect PDF but also except printing direct from indesign, illustrator, coreldraw ect with CMYK and vector information intact - I really hope this changes at some point and we even get a proofing persona which lets you view seps and check.

Here's a link to one of the many moans

 

Hi, thank you for the information. This is what I expected to be the problem. But when contacting Affinity they don´t tell you these problems. My printer, a Canon imagePress C165 have Postscript, can also have a RIP. But as we are not a printing company Postscript was cheaper. And even if I create a PDF from Affinity it does not print well. Affinity Designer, a vector based program, does print better, but not perfect. And I need to be able to print directly from Affinity Publisher with good results to be able to use the programs. I would like to change to Affinity because of the high price of Adobes programs online. Affinity works fine doing what I need to do in the screen but I need better quality on printing directly from Publisher. If all other programs seems to follow postscript standard except Affinity that explains my problems.

[lacerto]

Obsolete.

[Mats Lindroos]

22 minutes ago, lacerto said:

Welcome to Affinity color management confusion related to handling of e.g. grayscales. I had a look on your files and it seems that the reason for poor output from Publisher and Photo documents is that they are both in CMYK color mode while your EPS EAN code is in grayscale mode. Affinity apps interpret grayscale as composite gray, equal amounts of R, G and B values, so in this case R0 G0 B0, which means that when you place this kind of a file in a CMYK document and try to output in CMYK, you will get the RGB black (natively gray) converted to something like  C72, M69, Y67, K88, depending on your working CMYK profile, which would then appear as dark gray and slightly blurred edges on paper (and in rich black in a PDF). Your Designer document, on the contrary, was an RGB document, meaning that there is no mixed color space involved in the document itself. 

On Windows, the issue gets further more complicated because whatever you send from Affinity apps to the printer (including PostScript), will be converted to RGB, which the printer driver then handles the best it can, in a good case being able to process RGB 0, 0, 0 converting it to K100 compact black (this is by no means a Windows restriction, but an Affinity restriction). On macOS I think (but this is just an assumption based on elementary tests) that Affinity apps can send CMYK data (e.g. K100) and get it through as is. But on Windows you basically have no chance of getting CMYK values through to the printer so your best chance is just playing along and sending RGB black. Perhaps this is what also happened on your Mac when you printed from Designer, so because there was no mixed color space in the source, the bar code was not converted but sent as RGB 0, 0, 0, with happy results... You could try what happens if you open the EPS file (instead of just placing it), paste it in a CMYK document and force color definition to K100 (instead of Grayscale 0, which is same as RGB 0, 0, 0). And then send it to the printer. On macOS I think you should be able to do it.

Hi, Thank you for the explanation. If I find a way to work it around it´s fine. But, if it takes to much time every time I am to create a document then I will not be able to use Affintity programs. The person before you in this post answering that Affinity does not follow the standard how to print to pro level printers with RIP or Postscript is probably the problem. As all other programs that I use not have any of these problems, but Affinity does have problems with printing.

[lacerto]

Obsolete.

[Mats Lindroos]

16 hours ago, lacerto said:

The Affinity way of handling grayscales in context of CMYK documents deviates from e.g. InDesign (and other Adobe apps in context of a CMYK document) so I think this explains the difference you have experienced in Designer (vs. Photo and Publisher). The issue with desktop printing (not being able to send CMYK) is -- I think -- Windows specific, but I have been testing this by sending to virtual printers and PDF on macOS, which does seem to work (document CMYK data gets through), so cannot verify whether this happens also when sending to physical printers (at least when using PostScript).

Hi, When I create a document in Publisher and choose to make in RGB things gets better, but not perfect. It seems like Publisher have a problem to handle my bar code eps file. When the document is in CMYK it fails totally. But when I create a document in RGB at least it fills the bar code with black but the edges get blurry. It seems like Publisher handle the bar code a grey scal instead of black and white with sharp edges. Also when I create a document i Publisher in RGB the text I write with a font turns out black and with sharp edges on my printer. But, the problem is that most of my documents I want to convert from InDesign or new documents builds on a CMYK standard chosing colours to my pro printer (Canon Imagepress C165). All my coloured parts for my products etc are in CMYK. It seems a little bit akward that I first have to go back and translate a coloured part to RGB to be able to get a good result on my printings. When I contact Affinity they answer that they don´t heard of any problems with printing from Publisher. I guess that they don´t want to do the work changing the standard and to be able to work with CMYK from the beginning in a document.

[lacerto]

Obsolete.

[Dazmondo77]

Like you Mats Lindroos I run a CMYK workflow and the way I cope with barcodes (created with Barcode Basics app)is open them in pub convert from grey to CMYK then alter the sliders from the rich black to c0,m0,y0,k100 that aways sorts it for me but it won't  fix the problem of Affinity not being able to print direct to your Canon Imagepress C165 without first rasterising (300dpi) and converting to RGB, then your built in Canon postscript rip converts it back to CMYK messing up all your colour info. The best solution for me (workaround) is create a PDF/x, check seps in Packzview or Acrobat pro 9 (on my old MacBook) and print either via Acrobat pro or Acrobat reader and if you have colour bars on your printout, view through a magnifier, you should see solid CMYK and nice sharp vectors rasterised to your devices maximum dpi - what I get printing direct from Affinity is jagged vectors (as they are rasterised before hitting the PS rip) and contaminated colour bars due to the RGB conversion before hitting the rip - saying that, I've never had a problem sending Affinity PDF's to commercial printers, I just make sure to check separations on all pages and search for rogue rich blacks which should be solid k - I always have a global palette so altering blacks (after any print providers recommended colour profile changes) is a couple of clicks to get back to solid K 

[Mats Lindroos]

On 5/29/2024 at 3:49 PM, lacerto said:

The Affinity way of handling grayscales in context of CMYK documents deviates from e.g. InDesign (and other Adobe apps in context of a CMYK document) so I think this explains the difference you have experienced in Designer (vs. Photo and Publisher). The issue with desktop printing (not being able to send CMYK) is -- I think -- Windows specific, but I have been testing this by sending to virtual printers and PDF on macOS, which does seem to work (document CMYK data gets through), so cannot verify whether this happens also when sending to physical printers (at least when using PostScript).

Hi, Thank you for your advice. I understand that I am not the only one having problems with Affinity printing results. I will read through all good advice and see if I can find some way to work it around without to much extra work. When I ask Affinity support they say that they have not heard of this problem. I am surprised that I have received so many good answers from people confirming that Affinity have som issues when printing compared to other programs.

[Mats Lindroos]

On 5/30/2024 at 11:57 AM, Dazmondo77 said:

Like you Mats Lindroos I run a CMYK workflow and the way I cope with barcodes (created with Barcode Basics app)is open them in pub convert from grey to CMYK then alter the sliders from the rich black to c0,m0,y0,k100 that aways sorts it for me but it won't  fix the problem of Affinity not being able to print direct to your Canon Imagepress C165 without first rasterising (300dpi) and converting to RGB, then your built in Canon postscript rip converts it back to CMYK messing up all your colour info. The best solution for me (workaround) is create a PDF/x, check seps in Packzview or Acrobat pro 9 (on my old MacBook) and print either via Acrobat pro or Acrobat reader and if you have colour bars on your printout, view through a magnifier, you should see solid CMYK and nice sharp vectors rasterised to your devices maximum dpi - what I get printing direct from Affinity is jagged vectors (as they are rasterised before hitting the PS rip) and contaminated colour bars due to the RGB conversion before hitting the rip - saying that, I've never had a problem sending Affinity PDF's to commercial printers, I just make sure to check separations on all pages and search for rogue rich blacks which should be solid k - I always have a global palette so altering blacks (after any print providers recommended colour profile changes) is a couple of clicks to get back to solid K 

Hi, thank you for your advice. I will try to find a way to work it around without to much work every time.

[hunter_sk]

I had similar problems with black color and Indesign PDF export. One workaround was to check "preserve black" when printing in preferences. Then the black color was not mixed with 4 colors. Other workaround, which worked for me, was turning off the color management. Then the PDF file was printed OK, without setting "preserve black".

However, I can not find a way to export PDF with Publisher same way, without color management.

[Chris_06]

We are having similar issues when printing to an ImageRunner Advanced C7565i III. Converting to RGB8 and rasterizing the entire document seems to work around most of the issues mentioned here. Though the text still looks a bit screened under a loop.

We do not have this issue printing from InDesign.

Another interesting aside is the fact that AP will not print oblique text created via 'Character > Positioning and Transforming' unless the document is rasterized. This has been true regardless of the make/model of printer we use.

[Chris_06]

@Patrick Connor This issue has been hanging around for over five years. Are there any plans to bring APs print engine up to standard?

[shallum802]

I've encountered the same issue with text appearing blurry when printing directly from Affinity Publisher. It seems that the text is rasterized, leading to a loss of sharpness. The best workaround I've found is to export the file as a high-quality PDF and then print it from Acrobat.

[Catshill]

4 hours ago, shallum802 said:

I've encountered the same issue with text appearing blurry when printing directly from Affinity Publisher. It seems that the text is rasterized, leading to a loss of sharpness. The best workaround I've found is to export the file as a high-quality PDF and then print it from Acrobat.

I’ve done this before when printing locally. 99% of my exports are via PDF to a commercial printer.

[Mats Lindroos]

7 hours ago, shallum802 said:

I've encountered the same issue with text appearing blurry when printing directly from Affinity Publisher. It seems that the text is rasterized, leading to a loss of sharpness. The best workaround I've found is to export the file as a high-quality PDF and then print it from Acrobat.

I have tried to go export as a PDF and print the PDF. I do export to PDF when I send to a professional printing company. The PDF doesn´t always turn out good when I do this procedure. When I print to my own printer which is a Canon high solution printer I don´t have time to go through the process of first do a PDF. I have hundreds of documents every day that just needs to be printed. All other programs does it good. 2024, how hard can it be to make a program that can print as all other programs does. For the moment I can´t switch to Affinity before this issue is solved in a better way.

[redseidesign]

What I found with the separations for CMYK, is to change the Compatibility to PDF A-1A:2003. Then it separates properly.

[Mats Lindroos]

7 hours ago, redseidesign said:

What I found with the separations for CMYK, is to change the Compatibility to PDF A-1A:2003. Then it separates properly.

Do you mean when exporting to a PDF-document when you write "change the Compatibility to PDF A-1A:2003"? My problem is when printing directly from Publisher to my printer.