PDF imported into Designer and Photo becomes pixelated

[A_M]

I have Affinity Designer and Photo for Mac desktop, and I'm a newbie to both. I tried importing a PDF (attached) that I need to edit into both Designer and Photo. In both programs the PDF is layered, which is great since that means I can edit it easily. However, the topographic map layer becomes very pixelated. If I do my edits and then export as a PDF or PNG (or any file type that I've tried), the topographic map layer remains pixelated. This layer looks smooth when I open the PDF in a viewer. It is also smooth and not pixelated when I open the PDF using Photoshop (I don't have Illustrator). However, in Photoshop the PDF doesn't open with layers. 

Years ago I know that my partner managed to do some basic edits to this PDF without any pixelation, I believe with Inkscape, so it should be possible. Can someone let me know what I'm doing wrong in Affinity?

Thanks!! 

Test.pdf

[Lee D]

Hi A_M,

Welcome to the forums.

The same is happening for me, the map layer is being pixelated on import. If you open the file in Preview or Adobe Acrobat the map layer remains clear. I'm going to log this with the developers to look into further, in the mean time I've managed to create a new file where the map layer remains clear in Affinity Designer, I'll PM you the file.

[Jeremy Sal]

Hi ,

I'm having the same issue. Any advice fo this one. Did any one find a fix?

Thanks

[lacerto]

Obsolete.

 

[Jeremy Sal]

Thank you so much for your advice @Lagarto.

In my case it's a little different as the PDF doc is more of an A4 magazine advert.

So I'm more dealing with text and rasterised images as apposed to vector images. So when I open the PDF in Affinity Photo the images are fine but some times the text will come out corrupted from the original font. 

Rather than edit the pdf I just want to flatten the doc as it is and re-save it to use in a .afpub doc.

What I currently do as a work-around is open and flatten the doc in another program and re-open in Affinity Photo.

Would be great to find out why the pdf files are coming in to with corrupted looking text and if there's a way to fix it?

Thanks again

[walt.farrell]

11 minutes ago, Jeremy Sal said:

So when I open the PDF in Affinity Photo the images are fine but some times the text will come out corrupted from the original font. 

Rather than edit the pdf I just want to flatten the doc as it is and re-save it to use in a .afpub doc.

Why are you Opening it in Photo first if you intend to use it in Publisher? In any case, the text corruption is probably because you don't have the fonts installed. You get around that with the Affinity applications by Placing the file, not Opening it.

So, perhaps you should simply Place the file in your Publisher document, and choose the Passthrough mode so you don't need to have the fonts.

[Jeremy Sal]

Hi and thank you @walt.farrell,

I would generally open and check, prepare and resave the adverts before importing to the publication (make sure the files are print ready).

Placing them as opposed to opening works fine. 

Still riding that learning curve from Adobe to Affinity.😀

Thank you

[walt.farrell]

You're welcome.

[lacerto]

Obsolete.