From PDF to Affinity

[voyager1]

Hi,

I would like to open my PDF file with affinity and crop some are of the page. But when I pen the file I see many layers so I cannot crop. How can I do that.

Please review the attachment.

Thank you

[toltec]

You could Flatten the Document to put everything on one layer Document > Flatten or just draw draw a selection marquee and Edit > Copy Flattened. Obviously you will end up with a bitmap so you won't be able to edit the text etc.

[MikeW]

You can draw a rectangle or any shape and then select all other shapes to clip the to the rectangle.

[toltec]

MikeW

 

Ah, very clever!

 

You will have to group all the layers below the shape first, I think ? Or do you have a different method ?

[MikeW]

Dunno. Haven't done multiple elements before. Try it with just some random shapes. My computer is busy downloading client files right now so am using my phone for forum browsing.

[MEB]

You will have to group all the layers below the shape first, I think ? Or do you have a different method ?

No, there's no need to group them first, just drag them all over the shape layer (not over it's thumbnail) to clip them.

[R C-R]

You will have to group all the layers below the shape first, I think ? Or do you have a different method ?

Well, it is often more convenient to group the layers first, particularly if there are lots of layers, but you don't have to do that. You could just draw the clipping shape, place it at the top or bottom of the Layers panel, select all the other layers, & drag all those selected layers into the clipping position below the shape.

 

Mike's method works for both Designer & Photo (Designer has no Flatten function), does not require converting anything to bitmaps, & (best of all) allows editing the clipping shape with Lock Children enabled so the clipping is non-destructive & can be changed at any time.

[toltec]

No, there's no need to group them first, just drag them all over the shape layer (not over it's thumbnail) to clip them.

 

Yes, thank you. That worked a treat. A new trick I have learned  :)

 

I'll have to watch the video on layer clipping again.

[toltec]

Well, it is often more convenient to group the layers first, particularly if there are lots of layers, but you don't have to do that. You could just draw the clipping shape, place it at the top or bottom of the Layers panel, select all the other layers, & drag all those selected layers into the clipping position below the shape.

 

Mike's method works for both Designer & Photo (Designer has no Flatten function), does not require converting anything to bitmaps, & (best of all) allows editing the clipping shape with Lock Children enabled so the clipping is non-destructive & can be changed at any time.

Yes, thank you. That worked a treat. A new trick I have learned  :)

[voyager1]

Hi,

I am not good at affinity. I am new. Could you a brief explanation for this issue, how can do that?

Thank you

[toltec]

Select all the layers you want to clip.

 

You can select many at once by clicking on the first layer until it goes blue, then (holding down the shift key) click on the last layer until they all go blue.

 

Group them to make it easier by clicking on the group icon. "group" pic below

 

Draw a shape that you want to use to clip the layers, like a rectangle. That will create a new layer, called "rectangle" if you made a rectangle.

 

Drag the group you just made on top of the layer until the horizontal bar appears at the bottom of that layer. "blue" pic.

 

Drop the group and that will clip all the layers in the group

[voyager1]

Hi,

Thank  you very much,

I understand the method. But the problem that there is more than one hundred layer at the file which is originally a PDF file. So should I click all the layer one by one? If yes, is there any easy way to click all? Clicking a hundred layer one buy one is not a good way.

Thank you very much.

[MikeW]

If you have already drawn the shape you wish to clip everything to, hide that single curve. Then just ctrl/cmd + a to select everything. That will select everything that is not locked. Then group it. If you have locked items, you do need to unlock them first.

 

Then unhide the shape to clip to. Drag the group of objects to under the clip shape until the line that indicates dragging objects becomes a bit shorter. Release the mouse button at that point.

 

Mike

[voyager1]

Hi,

There is an also an important problem. When I try to open PDF file I cannot see it as normal I think it is because of fonts.

Please review the attachment.

Best,

 

[MikeW]

To fix that issue, you need to select the text runs and change the tracking back to 0%.

[voyager1]

Hi,

Thank you but I couldn't understand what you mean. As I said before I am a new user so I am not familiar with most of the thing. Could you explain it in detail :(

To fix that issue, you need to select the text runs and change the tracking back to 0%.

[MikeW]

If I open a PDF for which I (1) do not have the fonts used in the PDF or, (2) do not have those fonts activated or, (3) have the fonts activated but AD does not see them as the same fonts (happens due to the font names as encoded in a PDF), then this is what I see in AD:

 

 

Note the yellow highlighted text run and the tracking value in the Character panel.

 

Now, if I change the tracking value to 0 in the Character panel, that text run has changed to:

 

 

You can select all the text strings on the page using the layers panel or directly on the page and simply reset the tracking for all of them.

 

Mike

[voyager1]

Thank you very much,

1- There is more than a 100 layer on PDF and how can select all the text layer?

2-  What do you mean "directly on the page and simply reset the tracking for all of them"

Also, I couldn't find the menu that you showed on your images.

[MikeW]

There is no select same type of functionality where one would be able to select a single text run, invoke the command to select same and have all the text selected. So you need to do it manually.

 

If there are fewer shapes than text runs, you could select all the in the layer panel and hide them, then ctrl + a to select what isn't hidden.

 

I haven't tried this, but just select everything. Then using the Character panel, only change the tracking to zero. Likely if there are multiple values, that field will be blank. If so, just type zero in it and press the Enter key and see what happens.

 

AD mentioned before and here as well, open the Character panel.