Question about PSD editables

[jhoandsgnr]

Hello everyone, 

I gave him an editable PSD made in AD and when my client opened it in Photoshop all the layers were flattened, he couldn't edit text or anything, I put the "editable layers" option. Could someone help me how to configure good a file from AD to PSD still editable?

Thanks. 

[walt.farrell]

What kind of layers are you working with?

Text will always become non-editable. Other pixel or vector objects should be editable, though.

[jhoandsgnr]

It have text, pixels and vector layers. 

Do you send the file? 

[walt.farrell]

17 hours ago, jhoandsgnr said:

It have text, pixels and vector layers. 

Text will always be rasterized when exporting to PSD format from Affinity applications. 

17 hours ago, jhoandsgnr said:

Do you send the file? 

Sorry, I don't understand that question.

[jhoandsgnr]

Is it possible to generate the psd but make it editable in photoshop?

[werfox]

Hi @jhoandsgnr,

as @walt.farrell already explained, text objects cannot be exported in .psd as editable (it is an undocumented part of the proprietary Adobe Photoshop file format), but many other elements remain editable.

I don’t know how complex your design work is, if you use effects and/or functions not available in Adobe Photoshop or how much of this should remain editable by your colleague who uses Photoshop.

In my short test with an APub document containing a gradient as backgroud, two images scaled and cropped in picture frames, some vector shapes – and a text frame – only the last became a simple non-editable pixel layer after opening the exported .psd file in Adobe Photoshop (CS6). I also used the "preserve editability" option while exporting.
Even the picture frame remained editable, so the image crop could be adjusted. Colour values are preserved, the background gradient is a vector shape with gradient fill, so editable too. I used some effects but only a few remain editable and preserve the intended look. And the file size is huge: in my case >300 MiB, but all the (linked) image data is contained in the exported .psd.

As .psd is still a proprietary file format, many applications reach different levels of compatibility, Affinity being not bad in my opinion. But still, it can be used as a sort of interchange/exchange format for editing with different tools but with the danger of breaking things or not being accurate. For critical work there seems to be the only solution: to work with the same tool (i.e. Affinity Designer in your case).

 

Best regards

[jhoandsgnr]

I was working on a banner roller for a client, but when I finished it, they wanted the editable file to change some information like the date and time later. I exported it as a PSD, and we both realized that it rasterized all the layers, including the text.

I had to tell him to download Affinity so they could edit the original file.

A few days later, I did some tests and came to the conclusion that the PSDs exported in Affinity Designer are meant to be used for video editing.

I found an alternate solution: you should export the file as a PDF, and when you open it in Illustrator, it allows you to edit the text.

[pupk]

Just want to echo that I am still interested in the capability of exporting PSDs while preserving text: I do typesetting work and I would like to work with other designers who use adobe suite.

I've read previous posts on the topic and I realize this is a difficult (maybe impossible) ask. I'm aware of that, just wanted to reiterate that it's a feature I would use and one which would make me able to wholeheartedly recommend Affinity to people without the caveats I currently have.

(the 'exporting as a PDF > open in Illustrator' tip, while helpful, doesn't work for my use-case, since I am working with unusual font placement and layering on comic pages)

[wonderings]

9 minutes ago, pupk said:

Just want to echo that I am still interested in the capability of exporting PSDs while preserving text: I do typesetting work and I would like to work with other designers who use adobe suite.

I've read previous posts on the topic and I realize this is a difficult (maybe impossible) ask. I'm aware of that, just wanted to reiterate that it's a feature I would use and one which would make me able to wholeheartedly recommend Affinity to people without the caveats I currently have.

(the 'exporting as a PDF > open in Illustrator' tip, while helpful, doesn't work for my use-case, since I am working with unusual font placement and layering on comic pages)

Horrible idea to do collaborative work while using different software. If everyone is using Adobe then I would strongly recommend that you use Adobe as well. And vice versa. You are just asking for a world of trouble and issues trying to merge the 2 very different pieces of software. 

[pupk]

4 hours ago, wonderings said:

Horrible idea to do collaborative work while using different software. If everyone is using Adobe then I would strongly recommend that you use Adobe as well. And vice versa. You are just asking for a world of trouble and issues trying to merge the 2 very different pieces of software. 

If this was paid work, I wouldn't try to do the cross-compatibility thing. This is a passion project and I'll be able to put more time into it if I can use the software of my choice (Affinity). Plus, anything that poses a challenge to Adobe's virtual monopoly on digital art creation is a positive IMO. Not a dealbreaker, but certainly something that would be nice to have and which could help Affinity proliferate.

[Alfred]

9 hours ago, pupk said:

If this was paid work, I wouldn't try to do the cross-compatibility thing.

It would be crazy not to rent Photoshop for a couple of months and bill the client accordingly.

[wonderings]

15 hours ago, pupk said:

If this was paid work, I wouldn't try to do the cross-compatibility thing. This is a passion project and I'll be able to put more time into it if I can use the software of my choice (Affinity). Plus, anything that poses a challenge to Adobe's virtual monopoly on digital art creation is a positive IMO. Not a dealbreaker, but certainly something that would be nice to have and which could help Affinity proliferate.

If it is something I am passionate about I want to do it the best way possible to get the best result, which is using the same software as everyone else. As Alfred mentioned you could simply sign up for the duration of the project and not have any of these issues, things will just work. The fight is not worth it to me, I would rather spend my time getting things done than figuring workarounds. 

[jhoandsgnr]

I've also tried to break away from Adobe's monopoly. But these things happen with files. I'll always favor Affinity.