All unusably rendered as pixels though there aren't any.

[abra100pro]

I have this design and everything is vector/font but the Export seems to render the whole PDF output into an unusable pile of pixels.

Also destroys layout when converting to curves. See video. In the video you see, that I removed the shadow in order to be sure not to have anything to be rasterized (however: why?).

Also: "Some areas will be rasterized" is as helpful as "you have an error in your 30'000+ lines of code". Why not showing the areas? AND: The preview of export is still complete c**p. Of no use at all. Still. 

I'm a bit tired of this, I must say.

 

[Ldina]

Can you upload your Designer File so we can look at the original design elements? It may be something simple. 

[abra100pro]

I've converted everything individually to curves and still export says "some areas will be rasterised". I go for a walk.

[abra100pro]

AD 2.6.2

Yes. please find it attached.Las Guschgel-Etikette.afdesign

Am I curious.

[abra100pro]

...... it was the selective color adjustment layer that was still on top.

I wasn't aware that this makes it pixels.

But the shadow makes it also pixels – shouldn't shadow be (part of) vector graphics?

[Ldina]

Many FX, Adjustments and Filters can cause rasterization (and a few Blend modes, like Erase, which is not supported by the PDF Specifications). I've read that "Groups", which are normally set to "PassThrough" can sometimes cause rasterization when exporting to PDF. I changed all your Groups from PassThrough to Normal Blend Mode, but that didn't prevent rasterization.

Below, I set Rasterization to "Nothing" and it preserved your vectors and looked right on my system. This was the file you provided in your previous link and I chose PDF/X-3 Preset. This worked, even with your Selective Color adjustment still visible. (On export, it may have just been ignored, since I told Affinity to Rasterize Nothing).

 

EDIT: I just checked. With Rasterize: Nothing selected, your Selective Color adjustment is completely ignored on export to PDF/X-3, since it would cause rasterization if included. The exported PDF (all vector) matches your original Designer file color with Selective Color layer hidden. 

[NotMyFault]

1 hour ago, Ldina said:

Many FX, Adjustments and Filters can cause rasterization

To my knowledge every adjustment and live filter causes rasterization, no exception.

all vector brushes (image or intensity), except basic round brush, too.

for layer fx, at least every blur, 3d, and shadow (which uses blur) will cause rasterization. Color or gradient overlay maybe save, just try them.

some Affinity functions will simply fail to export (get ignored) for certain vector formats or color formats, e.g. pressure profiles, AA settings, blend gamma.

Unfortunately this is sparsely documented and there is no „preflight“ check which detect those issues specifically.