Convert colour of background grid

[janetes]

The file is a pdf of a table or grid (from a .ai file) , with columns of squares that will hold colour samples. I have 3 Q, please.

#1 is how to convert the grid from the original blue to grey from the grey scale swatches, before I add colour to the squares.

#2 is, how to print only the colour squares and not the grid. Can I group all the coloured squares into one slice and export it that way? Or does every square need to be its own layer before the colour is added? 

#3 is, if I switch a colour parameter (like RGB/8 to RGB/16, or dpi 72 to 300) at the halfway point of colouring the squares (200 in one sheet), will the new settings be applied to the entire image, meaning those already coloured and those still to be coloured, or do those assignments have to be made at the beginning? I'm thinking the settings can be  changed any time and Rescale will keep the dimensions of the layout the same?

Thank you  I truly love this software, still learning what it can do.

[JFisher]

Hi janetes

Welcome to the forum

To help with questions 1 and 2, would it be possible to provide a copy of the file you're using so I can take a look?

With regards to question 3, you can make these changes at any time.  In File > Document Setup, you can set the rescale option. 

[janetes]

Hi, thank you. I'd rather not copy the post here. Maybe I can describe it better. Picture, I open a PDF and the image is a grid with blue lines. How do I change the lines to grey?

If we can do that, I wouldn't even have to remove the grid to print. 

[toltec]

39 minutes ago, janetes said:

 Maybe I can describe it better. Picture, I open a PDF and the image is a grid with blue lines. How do I change the lines to grey?

 

Your description is no help unless we know

 

Is it a vector grid?

Is it pixel data?

Is it on a separate layer?

 

There are so many combinations of answering your question but they all depend on knowing something about the file.  Hence the request to see it. Otherwise someone would have to virtually write a software manual for you.

 

Even that might not be enough, there are so many different ways of doing things, even manuals can't cover everything.

 

 

 

[gdenby]

Hi, janetes,

 

My guess is that it will be more useful for you to learn how to do this from scratch in AD or AP. 

 

My starting point is that the .ai file was made by someone who wanted to be able to print of graph paper when there wasn't an old fashioned pad of it available. I know I did.

 

Assuming you know the size of the .ai file grid divisions, just use the Affinity guides manager to recreate the grid w.the same size. The blue lines won't export when printed. Then, with snapping to grid turned on, use the rectangle tool to make a square.make the fill grey, and the stroke white, with the stroke set to inside the shape. That way, there will be a white gap between each square.

 

Look up "affinity power duplicate." Essentially, after drawing the first square, move the duplicate 1 square horizontally or vertically. Repeat the duplicate command till you haw a row or column with a number of squares you want. Then select the row/column, and power duplicate along the other axis till you have the # of squares you need.You can then step thru them, and assign the color fills you want.

 

Attached is a screen grab showing the fill dialogue active. I made a swatch palette of colors based on classic pigments hues, such as lapis lazuli and cochineal. The shot shows a step where another square is about to be filled w. a swatch selection.

 

If you want to see how it will print, turn off the grid display.

 

I hope this points you in the right direction

 

[carl123]

11 hours ago, janetes said:

Hi, thank you. I'd rather not copy the post here. Maybe I can describe it better. Picture, I open a PDF and the image is a grid with blue lines. How do I change the lines to grey?

 

Add a Black & White adjustment layer then adjust the blue slider to get the level of grey you want

[janetes]

Thanks everyone. The blue grid is already made, in a .cad file, I believe, by the die cutter. He sends it to me as a pdf, and it is a vectored file. I was hoping that changing the lines from blue to grey would be simple, and it probably is if you are given enough info. I appreciate that you're like the doctor asked for a diagnosis with no patient to examine. I'll work on it, may yet be uploading that file  

[toltec]

If the grid is a vector, it should be as simple as just selecting it and clicking on a new colour.

[gdenby]

On 10/30/2017 at 11:12 AM, toltec said:

If the grid is a vector, it should be as simple as just selecting it and clicking on a new colour.

 

But if the .pdf was generated as an image, then an adjustment layer would work, and then turn off visibility for the grid layer prior to export for printing.

 

I searched a bit, and found that the .cad extension is for Autodesk's QuickCAD files. I found mention of exporting them as .pdf for document output, so janetes' files may be printer ready u=images, not vectors.

[janetes]

Thank you! Yes, clicking on the grid line selects it as an object, and changing the stroke to grey works fine. Since the grid is made up of many separate objects, I tried selecting several at a time but the stroke option disappeared. No problem to do it one at a time though. 

I'll study about adjustment layers, that solution seems like a good way to do it in one step. 

[R C-R]

4 hours ago, janetes said:

Since the grid is made up of many separate objects, I tried selecting several at a time but the stroke option disappeared. No problem to do it one at a time though. 

Without seeing an example of how the grid is layered it is difficult to say what is disappearing but in general, you should be able to select all the grid objects if they are vectors & in the Color Studio panel, use the stroke or fill "well" (or both) to choose what you need to change & set the color for all the objects at the same time. The stroke well is donut shaped & slightly above & to the left of the fill well:

[janetes]

Thank you for how helpful everyone has been. Selecting all the layers and finding stroke in the Colour Studio wasn't working. I want to learn this and have attached the file. The idea with this file is to colour all the squares (which I've been doing in a single layer, or so I think), and then remove the blue background (which is the imprint for a die cutter to cut the file into strips of 6 squares that will then be riveted together to make a fan). I thought I could select the coloured squares, and since it's one layer, I could make them a slice, and export them together, but no success so far. As you've said, I'm not clear on the basic file structure and how backgrounds work. A good workaround would be switching all the squares to pale grey and leaving them included in the exported file. Thank you.

 

[toltec]

Ah, now it all makes sense.

 

The problem is, the file is all individual lines. There are no squares to fill in.

 

What you need is a structure like the green and yellow part of the attached file.

 

You will see that you can change the fill colour or line colour at will.

 

Your only option is to start from scratch or use the green squares, turn them to grey and put them behind the blue "squares". If that will do? At least that will look like they are filled with grey. Or use them and delete the blue lines.

 

p.s. I tried the file in another PDF editor program and it is the same, so it's not Affinity.

 

 

 

 

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