wet n rainy Posted February 23 Posted February 23 Same/similar issue with Chinese characters. By slowly removing elements from my file I found the culprit. Recreated on the attached file and pdf. It is just 2 Chinese characters. Exporting file as a pdf causes a hang. Printing as a pdf causes no problem, so not a Mac bug. I changed Select → Select Object →... Spelling none, etc., but it still hangs. What should have been a simple export and send, ended up consuming my Sunday trying to fix this. I ended up removing all the Chinese characters and manually pasting them back into my the document in Preview. Painful. It is 25 years into the 21st century, and a page layout program crashes while trying to handle a font. Chinese crash.afpub Quote
Hangman Posted February 23 Posted February 23 Hi @wet n rainy, I'm not experiencing any hang or crash with your attached file... Could you perhaps upload a quick screen recording showing the complete UI with the Character Panel open and visible so we can see what is going on... Quote Affinity Designer 2.6.3 | Affinity Photo 2.6.3 | Affinity Publisher 2.6.3 MacBook Pro M3 Max, 36 GB Unified Memory, macOS Sonoma 14.6.1, Magic Mouse HP ENVY x360, 8 GB RAM, AMD Ryzen 5 2500U, Windows 10 Home, Logitech Mouse
wet n rainy Posted February 23 Author Posted February 23 I've attached 2 screen recordings from the same file, one with and one without the Chinese characters. All else is the same. I masked out my drive info. The first export takes about a minute before starting and after ≈90s I give up. The same file, with the characters deleted takes a second (second video). with chars.mov no chinese chars.mov Quote
Hangman Posted February 23 Posted February 23 Hi @wet n rainy, Many thanks for the screen recordings... The issue you're seeing is different to the one referenced in this thread. It looks as though you are exporting to your iCloud Desktop. What happens if you export to your internal Hard Drive instead, do you still see the same delay and lengthy export? It could just be a syncing issue with iCloud... This is what I see if exporting to my Internal Hard Drive, there's nothing wrong with the file itself or the Chinese characters... Chinese Crash.mp4 Quote Affinity Designer 2.6.3 | Affinity Photo 2.6.3 | Affinity Publisher 2.6.3 MacBook Pro M3 Max, 36 GB Unified Memory, macOS Sonoma 14.6.1, Magic Mouse HP ENVY x360, 8 GB RAM, AMD Ryzen 5 2500U, Windows 10 Home, Logitech Mouse
wet n rainy Posted February 23 Author Posted February 23 Thanks for looking. It is very unlikely to be caused by iCloud. How does the removal of 2 Chinese characters from within a document affect iCloud, and how would it explain that a print to pdf (saved in the same location) does not demonstrate the problem and works normally? (It does point to AP as the problem as making the pdf from the print window bypasses AP's pdf creation calls). Similarly, the preview, before I even export, takes forever to appear..minutes. (If I wait the pdf will eventually get exported as an appropriately small file) I am saving the export locally to my desktop/internal drive, it is just mirrored to iCloud. I see the same problem on 2 different mac. With iCloud off I see no difference. I have no other issues with my machines/other software, etc. just AP with Chinese characters. There are other reports of Chinese language problems with 2.6. Occam. I'll investigate more tomorrow, Whatever the cause, it is highly disruptive and unexpected. Quote
wet n rainy Posted February 23 Author Posted February 23 I also get a preflight warning for "missing font". Do you see this? If I disable every pdf export option, it gets faster, but still takes about 20 seconds. Quote
Hangman Posted February 23 Posted February 23 The Chinese characters don't have a font applied to them, i.e., when selecting them they show as !Helvetia Neue Medium but even replacing them with a Chinese font I'm still having no issue exporting the page, it previews in less than 1 second and exports in less than 1 second so there must be something else going on... Quote Affinity Designer 2.6.3 | Affinity Photo 2.6.3 | Affinity Publisher 2.6.3 MacBook Pro M3 Max, 36 GB Unified Memory, macOS Sonoma 14.6.1, Magic Mouse HP ENVY x360, 8 GB RAM, AMD Ryzen 5 2500U, Windows 10 Home, Logitech Mouse
Hangman Posted February 23 Posted February 23 Just now, wet n rainy said: I also get a preflight warning for "missing font". Do you see this? I do, what font did you use to create the Chinese Characters? Quote Affinity Designer 2.6.3 | Affinity Photo 2.6.3 | Affinity Publisher 2.6.3 MacBook Pro M3 Max, 36 GB Unified Memory, macOS Sonoma 14.6.1, Magic Mouse HP ENVY x360, 8 GB RAM, AMD Ryzen 5 2500U, Windows 10 Home, Logitech Mouse
wet n rainy Posted February 23 Author Posted February 23 Sorry, but I didn't make the document. I'll find out tomorrow where it came from. But a missing font should surely not cause the system to hang/crash. Quote
Hangman Posted February 23 Posted February 23 Just now, wet n rainy said: Sorry, but I didn't make the document. I'll find out tomorrow where it came from. Perfect thank you... 1 minute ago, wet n rainy said: But a missing font should surely not cause the system to hang/crash. Absolutely and it's not hanging for me... Just to be sure under your macOS System Settings → Privacy & Security → Files and Folders is iCloud Drive off? Quote Affinity Designer 2.6.3 | Affinity Photo 2.6.3 | Affinity Publisher 2.6.3 MacBook Pro M3 Max, 36 GB Unified Memory, macOS Sonoma 14.6.1, Magic Mouse HP ENVY x360, 8 GB RAM, AMD Ryzen 5 2500U, Windows 10 Home, Logitech Mouse
wet n rainy Posted February 23 Author Posted February 23 Yes, when iCloud is off, exactly as shown, no different. Quote
Hangman Posted February 24 Posted February 24 9 hours ago, wet n rainy said: Yes, when iCloud is off, exactly as shown, no different. Thanks for confirming and let us know what you find out about the Chinese Font used... Quote Affinity Designer 2.6.3 | Affinity Photo 2.6.3 | Affinity Publisher 2.6.3 MacBook Pro M3 Max, 36 GB Unified Memory, macOS Sonoma 14.6.1, Magic Mouse HP ENVY x360, 8 GB RAM, AMD Ryzen 5 2500U, Windows 10 Home, Logitech Mouse
wet n rainy Posted February 24 Author Posted February 24 I don't yet know what the font is, but I can easily repeat the error by using goolge translate and copy anything translated into traditional Chinese into a new, blank document. Same hang on export. The hang is visible before export when the preview is being generated; it hang as about 5%. I can successfully export in other file format (jpeg, png, tiff) and the resolution of the export file affects the preview speed, but not pdf. I also tried reboot in safe mode, not better. I see the same behavior in APub, APhoto and AD., all upgraded to 2.6.0. Would have been really nice to have a "save as..." to export files to an older version, or a big red warning before upgrading about file incompatibility. UX 101. Changing a file format to a new incompatible format is not a point update. Quote Often programmers write new software to be backward compatible, i.e., the new software is designed to interact correctly with older versions of the software (using old protocols and file formats) and the most recent version (using the latest protocols and file formats). For example, IBM z/OS is designed to work properly with 3 consecutive major versions of the operating system running in the same sysplex. This enables people who run a high availability computer cluster to keep most of the computers up and running while one machine at a time is shut down, upgraded, and restored to service.[12] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Software_versioning Quote
Hangman Posted February 24 Posted February 24 Hi @wet n rainy, 32 minutes ago, wet n rainy said: I can easily repeat the error by using goolge translate and copy anything translated into traditional Chinese into a new, blank document. Same hang on export. The hang is visible before export when the preview is being generated; it hang as about 5% I've just tried that but again, no issues here... I assume you'll see the same issue if you try to export the attached Publisher file which uses Google translated text... Could you upload a screenshot showing your macOS Language & Region Settings (General → Language & Region) and a screenshot showing the Character Panel in Publihser with the Language section expanded... Sample File Shrink the Earth.afpub Quote Affinity Designer 2.6.3 | Affinity Photo 2.6.3 | Affinity Publisher 2.6.3 MacBook Pro M3 Max, 36 GB Unified Memory, macOS Sonoma 14.6.1, Magic Mouse HP ENVY x360, 8 GB RAM, AMD Ryzen 5 2500U, Windows 10 Home, Logitech Mouse
wet n rainy Posted February 24 Author Posted February 24 Quote I assume you'll see the same issue if you try to export the attached Publisher file which uses Google translated text... Unfortunately, no different. It hangs in export to pdf while preparing the preview at 24%, attached. It also hang for actual export. If I cancel, user control returns but it seems like the pdf call is still running in a background thread. After I cancels the export dialog, I can select tools; draw a box or type new text, but the results do not appear on the canvas until many seconds after drawn, when apparently the the pdf call get released. While preparing the preview, the activity monitor show a high energy impact within APub, until preview appears, then drops to a trivial value, attached. Also attached, language screen shot as requested. Quote
Hangman Posted February 24 Posted February 24 Hi @wet n rainy, Many thanks for confirming and for the screenshots... The only other option I can suggest is for you to run a Publisher Factory reset. I don't think it will make any difference or fix the problem because the issue seems to be caused by something else but if you're happy to try it then... Hold the Ctrl key down while launching the Publisher. When you see the Clear User Data screen, leave the first option ticked, Clear User Data, untick the second and third options, tick Reset File Export Presets, hit the Clear button and let Publisher finish launching... Note: Running a Factory reset will reset any customisation you've made to your toolbar and tools panel and delete any custom export presets you may have created... Quote Affinity Designer 2.6.3 | Affinity Photo 2.6.3 | Affinity Publisher 2.6.3 MacBook Pro M3 Max, 36 GB Unified Memory, macOS Sonoma 14.6.1, Magic Mouse HP ENVY x360, 8 GB RAM, AMD Ryzen 5 2500U, Windows 10 Home, Logitech Mouse
wet n rainy Posted February 24 Author Posted February 24 Thanks, but no joy. It still hangs at 24%. I also tried making a new users account on this machine, but the same problem appears. The original Chinese was copied from some random website. Your test file works perfectly on a different Mac running APub 2.5.7, and the problem only appeared after I upgraded on this machine to 2.6.0. So everything points to the upgrade breaking things. I don't know if you are @serrif or just being helpful, but at a minimum in order for us to keep using the software we would need, a downgrade option back to 2.5.7, or an export to the last file format would allow us to keep working, and best, fixing this crippling bug would. This is a lethal bug for us, and stop us using the software, or as the British say, it makes APub, AP and AD not fit for purpose. Quote
Hangman Posted February 24 Posted February 24 Hi @wet n rainy, Many thanks for testing and confirming the results, that is really appreciated... I'm not Serif, just an end user like yourself trying to figure out what is going on... Could I ask you to try one last thing before downgrading as this may help the Serif Development team to isolate what is happening... Could you enable PDFlib logging by following the steps in this post... Run your export again and let it reach the point where it either completes the export or hangs. If it hangs then Force Quit Publisher. This should place a PDFlib.log file on your Desktop. Could you upload the PDFlib.log file here so the Dev team at Serif can take a look to see if it points towards whatever is causing the hang on export... Note: You can downgrade to 2.5.7 but any files saved in 2.6 or the 2.6 Beta will not be backward compatible meaning you won't be able to open them in 2.5.7... You can download the previous versions using these links and expanding the 'Previous Versions' link Mac https://store.serif.com/update/macos/photo/2/ https://store.serif.com/update/macos/designer/2/ https://store.serif.com/update/macos/publisher/2/ Quote Affinity Designer 2.6.3 | Affinity Photo 2.6.3 | Affinity Publisher 2.6.3 MacBook Pro M3 Max, 36 GB Unified Memory, macOS Sonoma 14.6.1, Magic Mouse HP ENVY x360, 8 GB RAM, AMD Ryzen 5 2500U, Windows 10 Home, Logitech Mouse
wet n rainy Posted February 24 Author Posted February 24 Thanks. Log file attached. I watched the log as the preview was waiting, and it hung at the [-1] which is perhaps the error code, around the "PingFangSC-Medium". attached. Quote You can downgrade to 2.5.7 but any files saved in 2.6 or the 2.6 Beta will not be backward compatible meaning you won't be able to open them in 2.5.7... Thanks for the warning, but even this is better than a grinding halt to our workflow. Thanks for the help. PDFLib.log Quote
Hangman Posted February 24 Posted February 24 Hi @wet n rainy, Many thanks for the PDFlib.log file and your patience... Whoever picks up this thread from the Serif team will hopefully be able to determine whether anything odd is happening and if so provide some suggestions but I appreciate for now reverting to 2.5.7 makes far more sense... Quote Affinity Designer 2.6.3 | Affinity Photo 2.6.3 | Affinity Publisher 2.6.3 MacBook Pro M3 Max, 36 GB Unified Memory, macOS Sonoma 14.6.1, Magic Mouse HP ENVY x360, 8 GB RAM, AMD Ryzen 5 2500U, Windows 10 Home, Logitech Mouse
Staff Sean P Posted February 24 Staff Posted February 24 Hi wet n rainy. Thank you very much for your files. Like @Hangman my machine wasn't hanging. However thanks to your observation on the log file I did check my fonts and I do have Ping Fang HK, MO, SC and TC installed and active. I then deactivated all 4 of those, and like your video it begins to hang at 24% and then eventually preview. The export was similar and did appear to hang for a short while, but again did succeed. I will get this logged Quote
wet n rainy Posted February 24 Author Posted February 24 (edited) Thanks. Here is the message I tried to post this morning, but was over my posting limit. Maybe extra details help. It seems like Apple moved some system file containing “PingFang” during a system upgrade in 2022 into a “Previously Relocated Items 1". The files, within the folder AssetV2, which seems like it is from Affinity, is here: /Users/Shared/Previously Relocated Items 1/Security/System/Library/AssetsV2/com_apple_MobileAsset_DictionaryServices_dictionaryOSX/7e26a29a80f2136f8b61f7e3b10b90f1d51bbdd3.asset/AssetData/Traditional Chinese.dictionary/Contents/Resources So consistent with the other Chinese dictionary problems. Why upgrading a few days ago to 2.7.0 should expose this is unknown. Apple added a pdf file to a Previously Relocated Items folder stating, During the last macOS upgrade or file migration, some of your files couldn’t be moved to their new locations. This folder contains these files. Files needing new locations Some of your files had been in a location that is now incompatible with macOS security settings. These files were moved to the Security folder for your review. If there are any files you want to keep, you can move them to a new location, as long as it is different from their location before the upgrade or migration. Configuration files These configuration files were modified or customized by you, by another user, or by an app. The modifications are incompatible with the recent macOS upgrade. The modified files are in the Configuration folder, organized in subfolders named for their original locations. To restore any of the custom configurations, compare your modifications with the configuration changes made during the macOS upgrade and combine them when possible. No sane person/end user is going to go through dozens of files and directories with obscure file names and determine anything. But perhaps a clue. Edited February 24 by wet n rainy Quote
kenmcd Posted February 24 Posted February 24 @wet n rainy What version of macOS are you using? Apple has changed the PingFang fonts in macOS 15 Sequoia to a non-standard format. Which is not going to work in other applications such as Affinity. In Font Book, what version number is on PingFang SC? I have not examined the actual fonts yet, but I think the version is 20.0d4e1 (been expecting someone to post about these fonts eventually) Quote
wet n rainy Posted February 25 Author Posted February 25 MacOS 15.3.1 PingFangSC 20.0d21e3 I am not sure if the root problem is from a non-standard format, but PIngFang's location in the system was reportedly changed. From apple developer discussions: https://developer.apple.com/forums/thread/758189 Quote If you are running your device in Chinese or even if Chinese is in the list of user languages, your application will get access to a version of PingFang that is parsable by third party libraries. PingFang.ttc is downloaded automatically for those users. The key thing to remember is NOT to hard code the location of PingFang or any other font in your code. Please use CoreText APIs to locate them. Perhaps the problem, and why Apple's print to PDF doesn't fail when printing yet exporting the document within APub does. I have no idea what the affinity devs did, but it is not unknown to take a shortcut around an API, or for Apple to change things causing unexpected problems. Quote
kenmcd Posted February 25 Posted February 25 6 hours ago, wet n rainy said: PingFangSC 20.0d21e3 I can try again to update my macOS VM and get the fonts. Maybe it will work this time. Or you can just PM the font to me. Apple moved the glyphs to a new proprietary un-documented table. There is no CFF table (where .otf glyphs normally reside). So I am guessing that APub is locking-up when it cannot find the glyphs. Quote
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