Quality issue when exporting neon text designs

[Ballyshannon]

I've been working with different ways to do neon text created at 300dpi and have produced some nice results, but every time I export at 300dpi using PDF, EPS, or JPG, the overall quality drops. And corners, curves, and angled lines in the text are jagged, as well as the outer glow and basic effects not looking nearly as good as the original Affinity file. I've tried various export settings but nothing looks usable in a project. The only way neon text looks the same as designed is if I do a screen capture, but then it's 72dpi. I can change the dpi to 300 in Photoshop when pasting the image, but the size then goes from 8" to 3". Ideas?

[Old Bruce]

Try Layer > Merge Visible. This will give you a layer with all the effects rendered and your can then export that.

[Ballyshannon]

Thanks Bruce, but I'm not seeing "Merge Visible" in the Layer menu. I see "Promote Group to Layer" but is greyed out and not available. I tried Rasterize and checked "Preserve layer fx" but didn't help.

[firstdefence]

Got an example file for us to look at?

It helps to know which Affinity app you are using, they each have unique features.

Have you also considered PNG as an export option that has transparency export.

[MEB]

Hi Ballyshannon,
Welcome to Affinity Forums
If by corners, curves, and angled lines in the text are jagged you mean they are not exported as vectors anymore this depends on the features and export format you are using/selected. For example all Layer Effects (FX) are rasterised on export not matter the export format you select (these effects are raster based an do never export as vector), some blend modes may also force rasterisation on export (varies depending on the export format), EPS doesn't support any kind of transparency and some complex gradients so those will also be rasterised etc. Without seeing the project file is difficult to guess what's causing the rasterisation. If you are referring to other type of issue then attaching the file will help imensely.

[Ballyshannon]

Here is the original AD file, although the specific fonts may not be loaded on the system viewing the file. However, if the fonts are substituted, the file would simply show a different font with the same neon effects. The fonts used are Pipeline and Swiss721BdOul BT. I've also included a zoomed-in screen capture of the original AD file, and a zoomed-in exported JPG in Photoshop. I was viewing the exported files in AD when seeing the jaggedness, but interestingly,  the exported images look much better in Photoshop than AD. The JPG in Photoshop actually looks pretty good.

Sorry, should have specified I'm using Affinity Designer.

 

Neon2.afdesign

[MEB]

You are using Layers Effects (FX) in all text layers thus the rasterisation on export. It looks good in Designer because it recalculates/redraw the effects for screen every time you change the zoom or scale the objects but after exporting they are rasterised and will only look good when viewed at 100% size (1:1).

Regarding the differences when viewing the exported images at an arbitrary level in Photoshop and Designer this is due how both apps render the images on screen. When compared at 100% they should look similar.

[Ballyshannon]

Thank you MEB. I understand that the exported images will only look their best at 100%. However, as I mentioned, viewing the images at 100% in AD produces a lower quality image than when viewed in Photoshop at 100%...as you say, due to differences in how each program renders images. I haven't been using AD long, but so far, neon text is the only project I've experienced this issue with, most likely due to the intense fx used. All other project exports look the same as the native file when viewed in AD.