Identical sized Artboards are exported with different dimensions

[dorian_grey]

I have 40 artboards which are all sized exactly 60x100mm. Also, they all are on even x/y positions.

However, when I create slices from the artboards in the "export"-persona, some slices are 709x1182px, others are 110x1182px.

 

I'm exporting to PDF, btw.

 

So my questions are:

 

- Why?

- Why pixels anyway, when the document was created from the print (press-ready) template and everything is set to mm as document measurement.

 

Any help would be greatly appreciated - had experienced this behavior some time ago, but was able to solve it by moving everything to even x/y positions (back then it was a web project and I wasn't aware that disabling "move by whole pixels" also disabled that for artboards; imo this is an extremely bad idea, anyway, and moving artboards should _only_ be possible to whole positions). This time, however, it's a print project, everything is mm and I'm still having issues with pixels. Not cool!

[MEB]

Hi dorian_grey,

Welcome to Affinity Forums :)

Do you have any clipped or masked elements/objects in those artboards that extend beyond the artboards boundaries?

Without seeing the original afdesign file it's difficult to guess what may be wrong. Can you please upload it using this link?

Don't forget to add you forum's username to the file name. Thanks.

[dorian_grey]

I do have elements, that extend beyond artboards boundaries - extending into the bleed. The automatically created slices shown in the export persona don't extend as far as those objects. After export, however, those items are correctly exported.

 

Still, the exported images have different dimensions.

 

Uploading the file now - the two slices in the document illustrate the problem. If you create more slices the problem also appears there.

[dorian_grey]

It seems the slice size depends on the artboard's x/y placement on the canvas:

 

The underlying grid used for drawing slices still appears to be pixel-based, although the document settings are set to print/mm. So depending on the x/y placement the artboard (with its mm-dimensions) falls between the pixel based slicing grid and therefore the created slices are either 1px larger or smaller.

 

However, not completeley sure if my observation is correct, as I only had issues with the x-dimensions. The y-dimension were always identical.

 

I was able to work around the problem by moving the artboards with larger slices to positions I knew produced the smaller slice dimensions. However, this cannot be a real fix and I'm still bummed, that slices are in px, although I'm working in a print file.

[MEB]

Hi dorian_grey,

Your observation is correct. Both the X/Y coordinates of the artboards and their dimensions are not pixel integer values which leads to the variation you are seeing when exporting the files.

To prevent this from happening make sure you have Force Pixel Alignment in the Snapping Manager (menu View ▸ Snapping Manager...) enabled from the beginning. If you enable it now you will still have to adjust the X/Y coordinates and artboards dimensions manually if they are not integer values otherwise moving the artboards a little should align them automatically with the pixel grid.

[dorian_grey]

To prevent this from happening make sure you have Force Pixel Alignment in the Snapping Manager (menu View ▸ Snapping Manager...) enabled from the beginning.

 

Doesn't work for me! Created a new file to try with Force Pixel Alignment turned on, but still experiencing the same issue:

 

The slice from the first artboard ist perfectly aligned in the top left corner, but off in all others.

I then duplicated the artboard (CTRL + drag) and checked its slice: Same dimensions, but exceeding the artboard in all 4 corners.

I again duplicated this artboard and checked its slice: Different dimensions.

 

To me it looks like the issue occurs due to the fact, that the drawing persona's canvas uses another measuring unit (mm) compared to the export persona (which seems to always work with pixels). If this is correct, it's completely random how the created slices turn out.

 

 

Also

 

If you enable it now you will still have to adjust the X/Y coordinates and artboards dimensions manually if they are not integer values otherwise moving the artboards a little should align them automatically with the pixel grid.

 

I can only adjust X/Y coordinates insofar, that they lie on even measuring units of the drawing persona's canvas. This, however, seems not to have any effect on how they are mapped to the pixel canvas the export persona is using.

 

 

I now played around with exporting from a canvas without artboards (background slice), then creating an artboard and exporting once from a slice I created manually ("snapped" to artboard dimensions - see video: https://www.dropbox.com/s/bf1wqqg5mabzds3/snapping.m4v)and an automatically created slice (using the button in the Layers panel). Result: Although the slices' dimensions (px: 709x1182) are identical, the exported PDFs have differing dimensions (6,01x10,01 vs. 60x100mm).

 

All this leads me to the question if Affinity Designer is really fit for print design?

 

(Disclaimer: I'm an absolute print novice and have no idea, how grave these differences really are. However, when I'm already not using an industry standard application for designing that stuff, its output better be correct - otherwise I will have a hard time explaining to my boss why I chose this over Adobe)

[MikeW]

...

 

All this leads me to the question if Affinity Designer is really fit for print design?

 

(Disclaimer: I'm an absolute print novice and have no idea, how grave these differences really are. However, when I'm already not using an industry standard application for designing that stuff, its output better be correct - otherwise I will have a hard time explaining to my boss why I chose this over Adobe)

 

My main question would be why are you using slices? In order to have separate PDFs of the artboards? If so, I would suggest exporting a a PDF without slices and using a utility or Acrobat or another PDF reader/editor to save the pages as individual PDFs.

 

fwiw, I don't use slices and other than just testing to "see" them in action, it is hard for me to understand why they are using fractional pixels (or pixels at all) when one creates them or they are otherwise created.

 

Mike

[dorian_grey]

 

My main question would be why are you using slices? In order to have separate PDFs of the artboards? If so, I would suggest exporting a PDF without slices and using a utility or Acrobat or another PDF reader/editor to save the pages as individual PDFs.

 

Yes, exactly.

I was designing print marketing materials in the style of trump cards. So I had the same design for 20 cards (front+back) with different data on each. I had to send 40 PDFs to the printing shop, each with bleed and printer marks

 

Not sure, how the workflow you are suggesting would look like - could you elaborate? One big drawing area and all cards next to each other, and after export splitting the file in Acrobat? What about bleed and printer marks, can I add that there too?

 

My only other idea would be to create 40 different afdesign-files and export them individually, but that would be a major pain in the a**.

 

 

@MEB

 

I'd really love to have some kind of official statement or at least acknowledgement of the issue. I mean, is this a bug or known problem?

 

My takeaway is, that the export process of Affinity Designer is fundamentally broken (if you design for print and work with artboards), because the Export Persona doesn't take the file's configured measurement unit into account. How could this be overlooked? This is an absolute bummer!

[MikeW]

Most of the printers I have dealt with would have just taken the single PDF. Depending on how they have their imposition software set up, it's a few clicks to setting the parameters of a new job--and then they would have it for the next time.

 

What I was saying above is that just exporting a file with artboards exports the page sizes just fine, but all into one file. It is then easy to export as individual pages from Acrobat or other such PDF editors and even some free standalone PDF utilities.

 

Bleeds are set up in the document and will apply to each artboard.

 

However, you also provided a bit more information in your response. So these are front/backs. Is either the front or the back identical from card to card and only the other side personalized?

[dorian_grey]

However, you also provided a bit more information in your response. So these are front/backs. Is either the front or the back identical from card to card and only the other side personalized?

 

Each back and front are individual, so I really needed to create 40 documents.

 

Anyway ... I moved all the artboards to X/Y positions, where the exports came all out the same size. The result was not what I expected, but my print shop said they are fine so I guess it's okay.

 

Still, I'm waiting for an answer from Affinity because this was a workaround, not a solution. Handling the export canvas differently than the actual design canvas sounds like a conceptional error to me.

[dorian_grey]

Nothing, really?

[dorian_grey]

Bump!

[Checkmate]

I'm also having trouble with this 'extra pixel' bug. If I set my artboard to a width in pixels, I expect my exported image to be the same width in pixels.

I don't really want to have to mess with pixel grids etc, I just want Affinity to recognise the exact pixel values I've chosen.

Any intentions to fix this?

[dorian_grey]

Back in April I even wrote an email to the support guys from Affinity ... I just didn't get an answer. 

 

I have to say, this issue + the total lack of communication (still, I don't know if my suspicion is correct or if it's just a stupid bug) fundamentally shook my confidence in Affinity and I'm wondering, why there are not more people complaining about the issue.

[MEB]

Hi  Checkmate,

Check the X,Y coordinates of the artboard(s) in the Transform panel (make sure their layer is selected in the Layers panel). Are they integer values? You may have to increase the number of decimal cases displayed in the X,Y fields in the Transform Panel going to Affinity Designer Preferences ▸ User Interface section and increasing the value in the Pixel field in the Decimal Places for Units Types section. If setting them all to integer values doesn't fix the issue can you please attach the afdesign file here so i can take a look please? I can provide you with an upload link if you prefer to keep it private.

[dorian_grey]

27 minutes ago, MEB said:

If setting them all to integer values doesn't fix the issue can you please attach the afdesign file here so i can take a look please?

 

As I already said, this doesn't fix the issue.

My workaround was to look at artboards, which export correctly, and then set the artboards, which DON'T export correctly, to the same x values.

 

Would have loved to send you my file, btw.

[MEB]

Hi dorian_grey,

I do have your file (trumpfkarten-dorian_grey.afdesign) and i'm currently checking it - that's why i haven't replied to you directly yet -.

I'm trying recreating these issues from scratch in a new document to see what's going on here.

[o2deprived]

 

On 3/27/2017 at 3:36 AM, MEB said:

Hi dorian_grey,

Your observation is correct. Both the X/Y coordinates of the artboards and their dimensions are not pixel integer values which leads to the variation you are seeing when exporting the files.

To prevent this from happening make sure you have Force Pixel Alignment in the Snapping Manager (menu View ▸ Snapping Manager...) enabled from the beginning. If you enable it now you will still have to adjust the X/Y coordinates and artboards dimensions manually if they are not integer values otherwise moving the artboards a little should align them automatically with the pixel grid.

This definitely works and resolved the issue for me. The key is to set the Force Pixel Alignment option and then ensure the artboards are integer aligned in their transforms (no decimal/fractional values) on the Designer Persona. Then, when switching to the Export Persona, the blue status bar at the top of each artboard display should indicate proper export sizes. If not, ensure the export slice boundaries have not been modified from the layer slices: in the upper left of the Designer interface, just under the Persona icons, "Slice (from Layer)" should have a button option that is greyed out "Revert to auto sized". If it is not greyed out, click this to ensure the slice size/location matches the artboard layer.