Jump to content

Repeating pattern previews correctly but does not tile on export


Recommended Posts

I made a repeating pattern using the technique by Veronica Salach on Affinity’s YouTube channel. The pattern previews perfectly in Designer, but when I export it as a png and preview it, the edges do NOT line up at all. I inserted the elements from the assets studio and moved them to the proper symbol group (it’s possible I missed one, but I’ve tried to triple check). I pulled out some guides and it’s obvious from the guides that the elements should not tile properly, so I’ve done something wrong. I tested the blank set up with a simpler pattern and it tiles correctly. I’d love to figure out what I did wrong as this was hours of work, but also it seems it should not preview correctly if something is wrong? 

IMG_0486.png

IMG_0484.jpeg

IMG_0483.jpeg

IMG_0475.jpeg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

Hi @EAK and welcome to the forums.

It looks as if some elements are not aligned correctly. Check the horizontal and vertical positions of the opposing objects that are shifted against each other.

image.png.85dc0610f8869a2b94155ddb64889135.png

AMD Ryzen 7 5700X | INTEL Arc A770 LE 16 GB  | 32 GB DDR4 3200MHz | Windows 11 Pro 24H2 (26100.2161)

Affinity Suite V 2.5.5 & Beta 2.6 (latest)
Interested in a free (selfhosted) PDF Solution? Have a look at Stirling PDF

I am not old, I have matured like a good scotch! 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yes, that’s exactly the problem.  But I don’t understand how it happened or why it is showing the preview correctly. The misplaced items are placed automatically and theoretically should be lined up. And when they arent, shouldn’t the preview show that they are not lining up?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 10/20/2024 at 12:46 AM, EAK said:

But I don’t understand how it happened or why it is showing the preview correctly.

As you can see in my screenshot, the upper flower is not aligned with the lower flower. A seemles pattern is inevitably displayed with a resulting offset.

Here is another example:

Designer_qpZ7l6HbQe.png.7a59c4bc520ba38545fa60414ef967a2.png

AMD Ryzen 7 5700X | INTEL Arc A770 LE 16 GB  | 32 GB DDR4 3200MHz | Windows 11 Pro 24H2 (26100.2161)

Affinity Suite V 2.5.5 & Beta 2.6 (latest)
Interested in a free (selfhosted) PDF Solution? Have a look at Stirling PDF

I am not old, I have matured like a good scotch! 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I understand that the elements aren’t lining up. That’s why I took the screenshot with red arrows pointing at how they don’t line up, which you duplicated. Are you familiar with the method used to create them in the video? Designer automatically places the additional elements where they should go. But obviously something went wrong somewhere. Possibly I nudged something. But when the elements are moved, all the repeats of that element automatically moves so it should stay in the right place. Furthermore, the pattern preview that affinity shows me, aligns perfectly. It isn’t until the tile is exported and tiled outside designer that the issue shows up. If affinity automatically puts the repeat elements where they should go, and affinity’s preview shows things aligning perfectly, how do I figure out how to prevent this? Or even what went wrong?  That’s what I’m trying to figure out. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

24 minutes ago, EAK said:

Or even what went wrong?

Would you please provide us with the file you working on? So that we can see what is wrong!
Because I still think that some of the opposite elements are not on the same x or y axis.

AMD Ryzen 7 5700X | INTEL Arc A770 LE 16 GB  | 32 GB DDR4 3200MHz | Windows 11 Pro 24H2 (26100.2161)

Affinity Suite V 2.5.5 & Beta 2.6 (latest)
Interested in a free (selfhosted) PDF Solution? Have a look at Stirling PDF

I am not old, I have matured like a good scotch! 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 hours ago, EAK said:

Also why does the preview not show misalignment? 

First of all, thank you for providing the file.
It was not individual shapes, but the pattern layers are not aligned correctly.
I have created an artboard in your file and aligned the pattern layers correctly
and I have positioned a square as a selection aid for the export.

retrofloral2 Copy modified.afdesign

image.png.51eddd3bf93503c53150d2df72581634.png

AMD Ryzen 7 5700X | INTEL Arc A770 LE 16 GB  | 32 GB DDR4 3200MHz | Windows 11 Pro 24H2 (26100.2161)

Affinity Suite V 2.5.5 & Beta 2.6 (latest)
Interested in a free (selfhosted) PDF Solution? Have a look at Stirling PDF

I am not old, I have matured like a good scotch! 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, EAK said:

I’m hoping to avoid this in the future. 

I mean the symbol based layer.

image.png.a8554b7b9c662ab4bb17907e18f6d7b2.png

AMD Ryzen 7 5700X | INTEL Arc A770 LE 16 GB  | 32 GB DDR4 3200MHz | Windows 11 Pro 24H2 (26100.2161)

Affinity Suite V 2.5.5 & Beta 2.6 (latest)
Interested in a free (selfhosted) PDF Solution? Have a look at Stirling PDF

I am not old, I have matured like a good scotch! 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

47 minutes ago, EAK said:

I would select the layer you indicated, then choose “export selection” correct?

Yes, that's right! The square is an auxiliary object so that the correct section is exported.

I once created a file with the pattern symbol to show how I create fill patterns.

To do this, I created an empty square with 2000 x 2000 pixels and used it to create a symbol.
I then created an artboard with 4000 x 4000 pixels. I created and positioned 4 copies of the empty symbol on the artboard.
I positioned another copy next to the artboard and copied the content from your pattern symbol into it. To make further editing easier, I grouped all the copied layers.

retrofloral -version komatös-.afdesign 

AMD Ryzen 7 5700X | INTEL Arc A770 LE 16 GB  | 32 GB DDR4 3200MHz | Windows 11 Pro 24H2 (26100.2161)

Affinity Suite V 2.5.5 & Beta 2.6 (latest)
Interested in a free (selfhosted) PDF Solution? Have a look at Stirling PDF

I am not old, I have matured like a good scotch! 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I appreciate you trying to help, but neither of the files you uploaded export correctly to a repeating pattern when I follow your directions. At this point, I give up and will try to find another solution. I don’t want to take up any more of your time. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The Document has been setup using margins which makes it extremely hard to verify that the tiles are correct, at least on iPad.

What is visible that the tiles are not correctly aligned to achieve the intended 4000px square rectangle, the right side is a bit off.

I would like to recommend adapting to a new fresh template, using specifically multiple artboards.

  1. artboard 1 (source) of 4000px squared showing the source tile
  2. Artboard 2 of 9x the size showing how the tiles combine, to spot any defects and allow correcting them. A grid helps to perfectly align the tiles.
  3. priority one: all artboards must be perfectly pixel aligned, to avoid any seams

The current file has many layers exceeding the parent shapes, and having non-pixel aligned position and size. This makes it too complicated, and the actual issue only becomes visible after exporting and using the tile in another document as bitmap fill.

I assume that one of the layers has been moved or resized unintentionally.

So a fresh start may help to achieve a more robust template.

Mac mini M1 A2348 | Windows 10 - AMD Ryzen 9 5900x - 32 GB RAM - Nvidia GTX 1080

LG34WK950U-W, calibrated to DCI-P3 with LG Calibration Studio / Spider 5

iPad Air Gen 5 (2022) A2589

Special interest into procedural texture filter, edit alpha channel, RGB/16 and RGB/32 color formats, stacking, finding root causes for misbehaving files, finding creative solutions for unsolvable tasks, finding bugs in Apps.

My posts focus on technical aspects and leave out most of social grease like „maybe“, „in my opinion“, „I might be wrong“ etc. just add copy/paste all these softeners from this signature to make reading more comfortable for you. Otherwise I’m a fine person which respects you and everyone and wants to be respected.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If I set my document up with margins that was a mistake on my part and I wonder if that’s what’s causing this. How did you see how the document was set up? I’ve tried to find that info. Is there no way to change the margins after the setup? 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I used publisher. Unfortunately the functionality of the 3 apps differ, you can view files in all 3 but cannot change certain parameters which are exclusive for one of them.

Mac mini M1 A2348 | Windows 10 - AMD Ryzen 9 5900x - 32 GB RAM - Nvidia GTX 1080

LG34WK950U-W, calibrated to DCI-P3 with LG Calibration Studio / Spider 5

iPad Air Gen 5 (2022) A2589

Special interest into procedural texture filter, edit alpha channel, RGB/16 and RGB/32 color formats, stacking, finding root causes for misbehaving files, finding creative solutions for unsolvable tasks, finding bugs in Apps.

My posts focus on technical aspects and leave out most of social grease like „maybe“, „in my opinion“, „I might be wrong“ etc. just add copy/paste all these softeners from this signature to make reading more comfortable for you. Otherwise I’m a fine person which respects you and everyone and wants to be respected.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Ah thanks! I have started over with my same original template and it worked. I just wish I knew what went wrong,and also wished the preview would indicate if something is wrong so I don’t end up wasting so much time again. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

6 hours ago, EAK said:

wished the preview would indicate if something is wrong

The problem with your original is that there is no real preview of the final tile but only ‘unhappy’ composite layers.
To create a repeating square pattern you don't need a 3x3 grid!

As you can see in my file, my preview with 4x4 tiles is displayed correctly and without offset.

I have saved the history for the last steps I took. So you can see how I arrived at my final result.

image.png.8f91edfa2826dcab4ff30ed75bd7c075.png

 

 

 

 

retrofloral -version new with history-.afdesign

AMD Ryzen 7 5700X | INTEL Arc A770 LE 16 GB  | 32 GB DDR4 3200MHz | Windows 11 Pro 24H2 (26100.2161)

Affinity Suite V 2.5.5 & Beta 2.6 (latest)
Interested in a free (selfhosted) PDF Solution? Have a look at Stirling PDF

I am not old, I have matured like a good scotch! 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, EAK said:

Thanks for your help!

 

You are welcome!

AMD Ryzen 7 5700X | INTEL Arc A770 LE 16 GB  | 32 GB DDR4 3200MHz | Windows 11 Pro 24H2 (26100.2161)

Affinity Suite V 2.5.5 & Beta 2.6 (latest)
Interested in a free (selfhosted) PDF Solution? Have a look at Stirling PDF

I am not old, I have matured like a good scotch! 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

Terms of Use | Privacy Policy | Guidelines | We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.