Rasterize to print from Designer? (Mac)

[nitro912gr]

Hello on windows when I send a print from Designer there is an option to send it rasterized which help to avoid artifacts from transparencies or bad fonts.

The print dialog box is completely different in MacOS and I just can't find this option anymore, any help?

Thank you!

[thomaso]

Possibly this is another inconsistency in the Affinity options between mac and Windows. I haven't seen this option in the Affinity print dialog and only know it from Acrobat, where it's called "Print as Image" and hidden in the "Advanced" print options.

Furthermore In my experience the available print options in macOS depend on the way how the virtual printer is setup. For instance if setup via Bonjour/Airprint (the default in my macOS) the print dialog doesn't show printer specific options (e.g. colour management, quality, et al.) which only appear if I setup the printer via TCP/IP. Apparently the difference is related to different drivers while Apple's Airprint was announced to use a "driverless" method.

[nitro912gr]

38 minutes ago, thomaso said:

Possibly this is another inconsistency in the Affinity options between mac and Windows. I haven't seen this option in the Affinity print dialog and only know it from Acrobat, where it's called "Print as Image" and hidden in the "Advanced" print options.

Furthermore In my experience the available print options in macOS depend on the way how the virtual printer is setup. For instance if setup via Bonjour/Airprint (the default in my macOS) the print dialog doesn't show printer specific options (e.g. colour management, quality, et al.) which only appear if I setup the printer via TCP/IP. Apparently the difference is related to different drivers while Apple's Airprint was announced to use a "driverless" method.

thank you for your reply, I don't use acrobat in mac to check out but so far I remember it is the same between versions, I know the function from the windows version.

Weird to find so many inconsistencies tho, I was expecting things to be lost from mac to pc not the other way around, since affinity started on mac.

So the problem remains then because I open PDFs with preview which have the same dialog box for printing and no flatten option  

I guess another thing to do through VM.

[thomaso]

7 minutes ago, nitro912gr said:

I guess another thing to do through VM.

... if it's even available in a VM.

Another workaround, both in mac or win, is to rasterize in APhoto before printing and print the merged layer only.

[R C-R]

10 hours ago, nitro912gr said:

The print dialog box is completely different in MacOS...

Affinity on Macs use the print interface built into the OS, so what you see varies depending on the print drivers & their support files that have been installed, which in turn varies depending on the make & model of your printer(s).

Because of this, it is best to consult the printer's manual or user guide to see what it says about printing with a Mac. There may or may not be any options comparable to what the Windows dialog offers.

[nitro912gr]

13 hours ago, R C-R said:

Affinity on Macs use the print interface built into the OS, so what you see varies depending on the print drivers & their support files that have been installed, which in turn varies depending on the make & model of your printer(s).

Because of this, it is best to consult the printer's manual or user guide to see what it says about printing with a Mac. There may or may not be any options comparable to what the Windows dialog offers.

unfortunately printing on mac seems to be pretty basic, my KM c258 doesn't even provide a PCL driver for it neither their advanced control panel for print configuration.

it too, like affinity depends on system dialog box that is extremely limited.

all in all looks like a printshop just can't have just macs around to get things done.

[Meliora spero]

It’s quite obvious that Serif built Affinity on as much of what others had already made as they could. They make full use of hardware, drivers, open-source components, and operating systems. In theory, that’s not a bad idea - but in practice, it often is.

Serif has no influence over the quality, development, or testing of these external products, gains no professional insight from developing them, and - most importantly - customers often end up with only the most basic features from these external products, which can even vary between macOS, Windows, and iPadOS.

Example: Photo vs Photoshop. Both programs ultimately rely on the system's printing functionality. However, Photoshop adds a robust layer of Adobe-specific controls before you reach the system dialog, while Affinity stays a bit closer to the standard method, though it still presents its own preview and adjustment options first. CorelDRAW is most similar to Adobe in that it offers extensive internal print controls before the system's print process takes over - much like how QuarkXPress also handles printing through its own detailed dialog before passing the job to the operating system. These professional programs essentially take responsibility for preparing and managing the print quality before handing it off to the printer driver. Programs like Photoshop, CorelDRAW, and QuarkXPress ensure that color management, resolution, scaling, and layout are precisely handled internally, so that the system's print spooler just has to transmit what is already a high-quality, correctly formatted job.

Hence the premium price of the "evil, expensive" competitors. It reflects their premium ambitions and capabilities. 

[thomaso]

17 minutes ago, nitro912gr said:

unfortunately printing on mac seems to be pretty basic,

This could be due to the default "driverless" AirPrint technology in macOS. Try one of the other methods in macOS that allows you to select a driver file from your hard drive when setting up your virtual printer, e.g. via TCP/IP where the "use" option enables you to choose a driver.

https://support.apple.com/guide/mac-help/mh14004/15.0/mac/15.0

34 minutes ago, nitro912gr said:

my KM c258 doesn't even provide a PCL driver for it neither their advanced control panel for print configuration.

If you don't need a Greek language version you might try one of the available Postscript drivers for macOS:

https://dl.konicaminolta.eu/en/?productName=bizhub+C258

[nitro912gr]

Thanks I already installed those, they just add a bunch of things in the basic system dialog. It works for basic prints but for the more advanced ones I fire up the windows system. Better than the bareback settings but still lacking.

That is not adding their own printing dialog (like the PS driver on windows, I keep both because PS is even more customizable on color management). I wonder if KM is to be blamed here but that's a 4K printer not some home low end machine.

I wonder if they will have the dialog on the mac for their production machines. Those only have PS drivers for windows too but they have this super advanced print dialog box. I will find out next month I guess.