Mullywhisp V2.0 Posted August 21 Share Posted August 21 I'm using Affinity Designer 2 on iPad Pro. I've made some graphics which contain no raster elements and quite a few layer FX. The art board I'm looking to export to .png is 48" × 32" which will be its print size at 300 dpi. It ends up being 14400 px wide and 9600 px tall. After the first document of this type was successfully exported, each one since stays at 0% indefinitely (this is using Export option in the drop down menu). Going through Export Persona and exporting just the one art board directly worked once, but it took nearly ten minutes and had no progress bar displayed, and I've not gotten that to work again since then. These graphics will be on display for people to walk up and get close enough to touch, so I'd like to keep the dpi high. I was able to export the same dimensions last year with no problem, but there were fewer layer FX in those pieces, so I'm wondering if the FX are causing the issue, and so I'm wondering if there's a way to quickly rasterize these FX and other difficult elements to aid in the export process. I'm open to any ideas at all, this is just where my brain stopped. I have nearly 40 of these to do, so I'm a bit unsure of where to start. Thanks in advance for any advice! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
walt.farrell Posted August 23 Share Posted August 23 I'm not sure what might be happening. Can you share a .afdesign file with us that you're having trouble with? Mullywhisp V2.0 1 Quote -- Walt Designer, Photo, and Publisher V1 and V2 at latest retail and beta releases PC: Desktop: Windows 11 Pro 23H2, 64GB memory, AMD Ryzen 9 5900 12-Core @ 3.00 GHz, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 Laptop: Windows 11 Pro 23H2, 32GB memory, Intel Core i7-10750H @ 2.60GHz, Intel UHD Graphics Comet Lake GT2 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Laptop GPU. Laptop 2: Windows 11 Pro 24H2, 16GB memory, Snapdragon(R) X Elite - X1E80100 - Qualcomm(R) Oryon(TM) 12 Core CPU 4.01 GHz, Qualcomm(R) Adreno(TM) X1-85 GPU iPad: iPad Pro M1, 12.9": iPadOS 18.1, Apple Pencil 2, Magic Keyboard Mac: 2023 M2 MacBook Air 15", 16GB memory, macOS Sequoia 15.0.1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mullywhisp V2.0 Posted August 23 Author Share Posted August 23 1 minute ago, walt.farrell said: I'm not sure what might be happening. Can you share a .afdesign file with us that you're having trouble with? I'll ask the folks I'm making it for if they mind, the event hasn't been unveiled fully yet, but I was going to update this afternoon if nothing changed: I still cannot export these files using the drop down menu and selecting export, but using the Export Persona and exporting just that art board does seem to be working, it just takes about 6 minutes to finish and there is no progress bar or notification of completion, but it does seem to be working reliably now. I'm confused but content to use the work around. Thank you for checking up on it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wonderings Posted August 23 Share Posted August 23 So you are printing this and your artwork is all vector, why are you exporting to PNG at all? You really should just be saving as a PDF and giving that to your printer. No need to worry about resolution at all as it is vector. PNG is always RGB only and it will be converted to CMYK for printing as well. I recommend. you start working with CMYK as you will have a better idea of what your output is going to be like. Working in RGB, which has a wider colour gamut, might leave you surprised with colour changes when converted to CMYK. First thing I do with PNG files is drop them in Photoshop, convert to CMYK and resave as a PSD. If you have he ability to save as a proper vector file that is the best way to go for the best possible printing. Mullywhisp V2.0 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mullywhisp V2.0 Posted August 23 Author Share Posted August 23 1 minute ago, wonderings said: So you are printing this and your artwork is all vector, why are you exporting to PNG at all? You really should just be saving as a PDF and giving that to your printer. No need to worry about resolution at all as it is vector. PNG is always RGB only and it will be converted to CMYK for printing as well. I recommend. you start working with CMYK as you will have a better idea of what your output is going to be like. Working in RGB, which has a wider colour gamut, might leave you surprised with colour changes when converted to CMYK. First thing I do with PNG files is drop them in Photoshop, convert to CMYK and resave as a PSD. If you have he ability to save as a proper vector file that is the best way to go for the best possible printing. The printers had requested png and I figured a vector format like eps or pdf would be an even larger file size to export, which I was trying to avoid mostly because I thought my iPad was grumpy about the file size to begin with, though in retrospect it looks to have been unrelated to file size. I will definitely make sure I'm using cmyk, I did not know that png is exclusively rgb, thanks for the tip! I'll ask the printer if they would mind to test a vector format and that could save a little headache. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wonderings Posted August 23 Share Posted August 23 7 minutes ago, Mullywhisp V2.0 said: The printers had requested png and I figured a vector format like eps or pdf would be an even larger file size to export, which I was trying to avoid mostly because I thought my iPad was grumpy about the file size to begin with, though in retrospect it looks to have been unrelated to file size. I will definitely make sure I'm using cmyk, I did not know that png is exclusively rgb, thanks for the tip! I'll ask the printer if they would mind to test a vector format and that could save a little headache. I am very surprised the printer would request a PNG file. I won't comment on their work, but that is backwards in my opinion and makes no sense. File size should not really be an issue in this day and age. Companies have options to upload large files, you have dropbox, iCloud, etc. If anything, rasterizing your vector work should actually make the file larger then keeping it purely vector. I would be curious to know why they want a PNG. I work in print and wide format and find this request very strange. Mullywhisp V2.0 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mullywhisp V2.0 Posted August 23 Author Share Posted August 23 1 minute ago, wonderings said: I am very surprised the printer would request a PNG file. I won't comment on their work, but that is backwards in my opinion and makes no sense. File size should not really be an issue in this day and age. Companies have options to upload large files, you have dropbox, iCloud, etc. If anything, rasterizing your vector work should actually make the file larger then keeping it purely vector. I would be curious to know why they want a PNG. I work in print and wide format and find this request very strange. They are wonderful people, but the show they put on is new to using digital art and printing as it's only a fraction of the work displayed, so I think they just picked it because it had worked for them on previous projects. I'm not exactly new to doing digital work, but I have no experience in print so everything you're telling me is not only helping me, but helping these lovely folks as well. Thank you again! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wonderings Posted August 23 Share Posted August 23 2 minutes ago, Mullywhisp V2.0 said: They are wonderful people, but the show they put on is new to using digital art and printing as it's only a fraction of the work displayed, so I think they just picked it because it had worked for them on previous projects. I'm not exactly new to doing digital work, but I have no experience in print so everything you're telling me is not only helping me, but helping these lovely folks as well. Thank you again! That would make sense for digital work with displays wanting PNG, just not the print side of things. Are they just getting into print themselves? Do you know what type of printers they are using? Mullywhisp V2.0 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mullywhisp V2.0 Posted August 23 Author Share Posted August 23 2 minutes ago, wonderings said: That would make sense for digital work with displays wanting PNG, just not the print side of things. Are they just getting into print themselves? Do you know what type of printers they are using? You know, they run an annual art show and just started trying to incorporate printed media in the last 5 years, and they bought their first and only printer for this show. I do not know much about the printer aside from that it can print up to about 40 inches wide and most of what we print on is vinyl, and most of the printed pieces are intended to have a custom lighted frame built around them to make them glow. They handle so many different types of work to make this show happen I'm sure they'd welcome any tips they're offered. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wonderings Posted August 23 Share Posted August 23 35 minutes ago, Mullywhisp V2.0 said: You know, they run an annual art show and just started trying to incorporate printed media in the last 5 years, and they bought their first and only printer for this show. I do not know much about the printer aside from that it can print up to about 40 inches wide and most of what we print on is vinyl, and most of the printed pieces are intended to have a custom lighted frame built around them to make them glow. They handle so many different types of work to make this show happen I'm sure they'd welcome any tips they're offered. I am assuming it is probably a 44" wide format printer, probably from Epson as that is the big brand. There are others like HP, Roland and others as well. The printer is only a part of the equation, they need a RIP to run it, though they could be going direct with a print driver. I have never gone the print driver route, always used a RIP, be it Onyx, EFI or Caldera. If they are only using the printer for an event one a year they are probably using a print driver and going direct that way and cutting by hand after that. Mullywhisp V2.0 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mullywhisp V2.0 Posted August 23 Author Share Posted August 23 1 minute ago, wonderings said: I am assuming it is probably a 44" wide format printer, probably from Epson as that is the big brand. There are others like HP, Roland and others as well. The printer is only a part of the equation, they need a RIP to run it, though they could be going direct with a print driver. I have never gone the print driver route, always used a RIP, be it Onyx, EFI or Caldera. If they are only using the printer for an event one a year they are probably using a print driver and going direct that way and cutting by hand after that. These are entirely new terms to me. They do cut images out by hand, I've assisted with that before. I will try to familiarize myself with some of these things. I really appreciate you taking the time to go back and forth with me, and if you have any research recommendations for printing i would be delighted to receive the homework! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wonderings Posted August 23 Share Posted August 23 3 minutes ago, Mullywhisp V2.0 said: These are entirely new terms to me. They do cut images out by hand, I've assisted with that before. I will try to familiarize myself with some of these things. I really appreciate you taking the time to go back and forth with me, and if you have any research recommendations for printing i would be delighted to receive the homework! RIP is where you would control the printing and you can do other things there with colour management, control the substance you are printing to, among other things. They are expensive, though Onyx has a monthly subscription model that makes it affordable to get some high powered software. Onyx - https://onyxgfx.com You can get cutters reasonably cheap, of course they would need enough volume to warrant the software and hardware, but it sure does make life so much easier. https://mutoh.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/CUSTOMER-Refurbished-Specials-070824.pdf Mullywhisp V2.0 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mullywhisp V2.0 Posted August 23 Author Share Posted August 23 20 minutes ago, wonderings said: RIP is where you would control the printing and you can do other things there with colour management, control the substance you are printing to, among other things. They are expensive, though Onyx has a monthly subscription model that makes it affordable to get some high powered software. Onyx - https://onyxgfx.com You can get cutters reasonably cheap, of course they would need enough volume to warrant the software and hardware, but it sure does make life so much easier. https://mutoh.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/CUSTOMER-Refurbished-Specials-070824.pdf Well God bless you for this information, I will mention both of these things to them. They might really like the cutters, I imagine that would save so many hours. Thank you! Going to try to learn a bit about RIP Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wonderings Posted August 23 Share Posted August 23 12 minutes ago, Mullywhisp V2.0 said: Well God bless you for this information, I will mention both of these things to them. They might really like the cutters, I imagine that would save so many hours. Thank you! Going to try to learn a bit about RIP Don't hesitate to reach out in DM to me here with questions, I can do my best to answer. I don't directly with the RIP myself anymore, more in management and working with files before sending to our production team who use the RIPs directly, but I have done that in the past. If you think it is something you would seriously look at getting you can reach out to those companies as well as and let their sales guy educate you, just don't let them be pushy and stick to what you want and could need. Mullywhisp V2.0 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mullywhisp V2.0 Posted August 23 Author Share Posted August 23 52 minutes ago, wonderings said: Don't hesitate to reach out in DM to me here with questions, I can do my best to answer. I don't directly with the RIP myself anymore, more in management and working with files before sending to our production team who use the RIPs directly, but I have done that in the past. If you think it is something you would seriously look at getting you can reach out to those companies as well as and let their sales guy educate you, just don't let them be pushy and stick to what you want and could need. Awesome! If the crew up there is interested in using it then I will absolutely reach out for a bit of guidance, I'm sure that's a bit overwhelming to get started on. I really appreciate all your help, and I hope you have a fine weekend! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wonderings Posted August 23 Share Posted August 23 4 minutes ago, Mullywhisp V2.0 said: Awesome! If the crew up there is interested in using it then I will absolutely reach out for a bit of guidance, I'm sure that's a bit overwhelming to get started on. I really appreciate all your help, and I hope you have a fine weekend! yeah it can be for sure, happy to help where I can, have a great weekend as well! Mullywhisp V2.0 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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