1bit / bitmap mode colour format?

[Mike_A]

I just stumbled across this thread while looking at some other matters.

While I no longer 'design for print', I did for many years - and I certainly understand the need for 1 bit line artwork. Like many others I've been looking at Affinity and as a complement / replacement for the CC suite, but matters such as this certainly don't inspire confidence. It gives me the impression that Affinity don't really understand the professional market.

+1 for 1 bit capability.

[telemax]

That does seem to be what you need:

 

[Ammoniteii]

another bump for this feature - if memory serves at one point the team stated they would not support 1bit - I cannot fathom why, 1 bit images can have so many uses, and yet again I'm forced to go find and install another image editor to do something that i would much rather do in the affinity workflow, here's to hoping that some sustained requests may change their mind.

[thebodzio]

Let us keep things alive for this issue: 1-bit image support is a must 😊

Furthermore, I consider that Carthage must be destroyed…

[Hans N.]

Here's a little workaround for 1-bit images in Affinity Photo.
From here download and install the macro "Paint by Numbers".
https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/topic/83173-paint-by-numbers/
Reduce the desired image to 2 colors using Paint by Numbers.
Raster&Trim.
Select the image with CTRL+A and copy it.
Paste into IrfanView (or similar).

(The two colors are taken over, but IrfanView blows it up to 24Bit internally. In addition, the display is "smoothed out" .)
Under Image -> Reduce color depth -> 2 colors
Save as Tif (for example)

[Samuli]

There is no substitute for 1-bit 1200ppi images and how they are used in print publications. The filesize is negligible compared to greyscale or heaven forbid, CMYK. We are talking 1-bit – a couple dozen MB and CMYK – several GB. This has a direct effect on speed at every stage of the process. 

Add to this the fact that Affinity has no Live Trace equivalent, which makes large scale hand drawn type next to impossible to work with in Affinity. I have to send my type as separate Photoshop prepared files and just tell the client to place it into the layout themselves. It’s not a great look for a professional.

[RM f/g]

The workaround I'm trying out at the moment is wrapping line art drawing in a pdf which can be set to passthrough in Publisher.

Open an line art (1 bit) file in Photo or Designer.
In document setup:
– Set Colour Format to Grey/8
– Set colour profile to Black & White

Export to pdf using:
– Downsample images: no
– Use document resolution
– Colour space: as document
– Colour profile: use document profile

Place pdf in Publisher document using Passthrough.

This seems to work as long as I don't have to make a pdf/x.

BTW: do not use Photo or Photo Persona to check colour separations: this wil give you the separations of the preview within the Publisher document, not of the actual placed pdf.

 

[Fabio73]

On 6/23/2019 at 7:31 PM, Andy Somerfield said:

I'll be honest here - we will never implement 1bit document support..

However, we would be happy to implement support for *exporting* 1bit TIFF etc. - would that be enough?

Thanks,

A

For me it would be enough just to export 1bit B/W files in bitmap format, although I was perplexed because you manage much more complex color spaces. Please notify me, or advertise, if you will implement this feature. Thanks,
Fabio