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[Fixed] Transparency – UI / pdf


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With "Transparent Background" enabled, I see the canvas as transparent, but not the transparency of the placed objects. This can make it difficult to accurately position objects.

This issue seems to be a bug, especially as the preview in Resource Manager does recognize and respect the transparency of a placed resource, also AfPub exports transparency in PDF.

Compare: Transparency in AfPub UI ...

1144425150_transparency1-UI.thumb.jpg.2edd592378a2a49367e12db02e56df90.jpg

 

... transparency in exported PDF in macOS preview.app:

461088487_transparency2-pdfmacpreview-app.jpg.c69ddca4bf5cb551451bc196b99c2413.jpg


... transparency in exported PDF in Acrobat (with overprint active):

631037183_transparency3-pdfacrobat.jpg.326be6b5c5b4c69f9c57604f97196cda.jpg

Furthermore to the screenshot above:
Though in Acrobat the transparency is visible for the objects which got colored in AfPub (one with overprint swatch), the non-colored object (black) does not show transparency. That might be an issue on export.

 

Last but not least:
I would expect and appreciate, if "transparent background", if activated, nevertheless would toggle on/off with "Preview Mode".

 

macOS 10.14.6 | MacBookPro Retina 15" | Eizo 27" | Affinity V1

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1 hour ago, thomaso said:

With "Transparent Background" enabled, I see the canvas as transparent, but not the transparency of the placed objects. This can make it difficult to accurately position objects.

May be Mac-specific, as it seems to work properly on Windows.

-- Walt
Designer, Photo, and Publisher V1 and V2 at latest retail and beta releases
PC:
    Desktop:  Windows 11 Pro, version 23H2, 64GB memory, AMD Ryzen 9 5900 12-Core @ 3.00 GHz, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 

    Laptop:  Windows 11 Pro, version 23H2, 32GB memory, Intel Core i7-10750H @ 2.60GHz, Intel UHD Graphics Comet Lake GT2 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Laptop GPU.
iPad:  iPad Pro M1, 12.9": iPadOS 17.4.1, Apple Pencil 2, Magic Keyboard 
Mac:  2023 M2 MacBook Air 15", 16GB memory, macOS Sonoma 14.4.1

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Here is a sample set (.afpub / linked .tiff / exported .pdf).    |    

170337 transparency alpha.afpub   |   transparency 8bit grayscale alpha.tif   |   170337 transparency alpha.pdf

Do you get the same results as me?
– no transparency in AfPub UI
– no transparency in PDF in 1 of 4 objects ?

macOS 10.14.6 | MacBookPro Retina 15" | Eizo 27" | Affinity V1

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I do not see the transparency in the Publisher UI. I'm not sure whether the black object in the PDF has transparency or not.

But I do not understand how your Publisher file is working, so I'd like some explanation of that. You have 4 linked copies of the same .tif file that is a black ellipse. How are you getting that black ellipse to display as 4 different colors when it's placed into the Publisher document?

I suspect that whatever you've done to allow that is connected with the effects you're seeing. Because if I take a simple color or grayscale .tif file, with transparency, and place them in a publisher page, I get the transparency I expect.

transparency-test.afpub

red-circle.tiff

red-circle-grahscale.tiff

 

-- Walt
Designer, Photo, and Publisher V1 and V2 at latest retail and beta releases
PC:
    Desktop:  Windows 11 Pro, version 23H2, 64GB memory, AMD Ryzen 9 5900 12-Core @ 3.00 GHz, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 

    Laptop:  Windows 11 Pro, version 23H2, 32GB memory, Intel Core i7-10750H @ 2.60GHz, Intel UHD Graphics Comet Lake GT2 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Laptop GPU.
iPad:  iPad Pro M1, 12.9": iPadOS 17.4.1, Apple Pencil 2, Magic Keyboard 
Mac:  2023 M2 MacBook Air 15", 16GB memory, macOS Sonoma 14.4.1

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Using your .tif and .pdf in a new Publisher Document I get proper transparency but opening your Publisher document I get no transparency.

1772403666_ScreenShot2019-05-27at8_31_38AM.png.fed8bb91b53c71ce624e8dd750066fe1.png

Mac Pro (Late 2013) Mac OS 12.7.4 
Affinity Designer 2.4.0 | Affinity Photo 2.4.0 | Affinity Publisher 2.4.0 | Beta versions as they appear.

I have never mastered color management, period, so I cannot help with that.

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7 hours ago, walt.farrell said:

I do not understand how your Publisher file is working, so I'd like some explanation of that. You have 4 linked copies of the same .tif file that is a black ellipse. How are you getting that black ellipse to display as 4 different colors when it's placed into the Publisher document?

Yes, there is only 1 resource, a grayscale TIF, in original it shows a black circle.
The three colored copies became colored in AfPub simply by a fill color (the bluish is a spot color set to overprint).

The transparency in the TIF was saved as alpha channel. There are no transparent pixels in the image layer so-to-say. If you open the TIF you will not see transparency since the channel wasn't set to visible in the UI when the file was saved. If you activate that channel than you see the transparency. This screenshot shows the panels: preview / layer / channel:

1641111918_transparency8bitgreyscalealpha.jpg.e84ddccdbe24247963a1fc03051ff78e.jpg

 

7 hours ago, Old Bruce said:

Using your .tif and .pdf in a new Publisher Document I get proper transparency but opening your Publisher document I get no transparency.

Ah, good, but strange. – In your macOS 10.14.5?

Would you mind uploading your .afpub file? – Or make a trial in macOS 10.12.6.?
Does the circle show transparency around when exporting your .afpub file as a PDF (print preset) – or a white rectangle? (as it unexpectedly does in my pdf)

macOS 10.14.6 | MacBookPro Retina 15" | Eizo 27" | Affinity V1

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4 minutes ago, thomaso said:

Would you mind uploading your .afpub file? – Or make a trial in macOS 10.12.6.?

These are from Mojave 10.14.5. Transparency seems to work fine in both.

Test 2.afpub

Test 2.pdf

OS 10.12.6 is going to have to wait 'til tomorrow. I am curious too.

Mac Pro (Late 2013) Mac OS 12.7.4 
Affinity Designer 2.4.0 | Affinity Photo 2.4.0 | Affinity Publisher 2.4.0 | Beta versions as they appear.

I have never mastered color management, period, so I cannot help with that.

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9 hours ago, Old Bruce said:

These are from Mojave 10.14.5. Transparency seems to work fine in both. 

Test 2.afpub

Ah, I see transparency with your .afpub, too. Thank you!

But, oh, the image loses its transparency again when a color gets assigned.
(If you select the black circle in my .afpub and set its fill to none then it will show transparency again.)


• A fill color appears to disable only for the UI (not for export) the alpha mask of an image resource.
• With a fill color assigned, an exported .pdf shows transparency – but only if the fill color is a spot color.

macOS 10.14.6 | MacBookPro Retina 15" | Eizo 27" | Affinity V1

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On 5/27/2019 at 8:28 PM, thomaso said:

Ah, I see transparency with your .afpub, too. Thank you!

But, oh, the image loses its transparency again when a color gets assigned.
(If you select the black circle in my .afpub and set its fill to none then it will show transparency again.)


• A fill color appears to disable only for the UI (not for export) the alpha mask of an image resource.
• With a fill color assigned, an exported .pdf shows transparency – but only if the fill color is a spot color.

I remain confused about something. You've mentioned getting the color in those ellipses via a Fill. But I do not see a Fill assigned.

If I select any of those ellipses ((Image) layers) with the Move Tool, the Context Toolbar specifically says there is no Fill. I can assign one using the Context Toolbar, and it is effective, but then that ellipse is shown as having a Fill. (Side question: though the Fill is effective, when I assign one that way I get a color that is much more pale than the color I assign. Again, I can't see anything that would cause that.)

But in your file none of them shows as having a Fill, so how have you set those different colors in the same embedded/linked file?

-- Walt
Designer, Photo, and Publisher V1 and V2 at latest retail and beta releases
PC:
    Desktop:  Windows 11 Pro, version 23H2, 64GB memory, AMD Ryzen 9 5900 12-Core @ 3.00 GHz, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 

    Laptop:  Windows 11 Pro, version 23H2, 32GB memory, Intel Core i7-10750H @ 2.60GHz, Intel UHD Graphics Comet Lake GT2 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Laptop GPU.
iPad:  iPad Pro M1, 12.9": iPadOS 17.4.1, Apple Pencil 2, Magic Keyboard 
Mac:  2023 M2 MacBook Air 15", 16GB memory, macOS Sonoma 14.4.1

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11 hours ago, walt.farrell said:

I remain confused about something. You've mentioned getting the color in those ellipses via a Fill. But I do not see a Fill assigned.

Weird. – When I do select one of these objects then the "Fill" icon both in main window menu bar and as well in swatches panel jumps to the assigned color.
(unfortunately the colored objects don't show their assigned swatches since AfPub still refuses to transfer swatches of copied objects between documents.)

405125323_transparency4-fillcolor.jpg.69a5a18a6ac5178697b86c98ad70a4e8.jpg

 

1. Do you see transparency around the 3 color circles if you export my .afpub with PDF print-preset? (Could you upload please?)

2. Do you see Fill assigned if you select in my document one of the frames + click on any color swatch?

3. What happens to transparency in an exported PDF of my document if you previously select 1 object –> right click –> "Add to swatches..."
... a. "From Fill"
... b.) "From Fill As Global"
... c.) "From Fill As Global" + "Spot color" selected.
In my experience the transparency was lost in PDF if the assigned color is NO spot color. In my .afpup the left/black object has CMYK 100% black assigned – and results in PDF with no transparency for this item.

macOS 10.14.6 | MacBookPro Retina 15" | Eizo 27" | Affinity V1

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11 hours ago, thomaso said:

Weird. – When I do select one of these objects then the "Fill" icon both in main window menu bar and as well in swatches panel jumps to the assigned color.
(unfortunately the colored objects don't show their assigned swatches since AfPub still refuses to transfer swatches of copied objects between documents.)

Does not happen for me. Neither the Context Toolbar nor the Swatches Panel update. May be a Mac vs Windows issue, with a bug on Windows, I suppose. I'll report it and see what Serif (or others) think.

 

11 hours ago, thomaso said:

1. Do you see transparency around the 3 color circles if you export my .afpub with PDF print-preset? (Could you upload please?)

2. Do you see Fill assigned if you select in my document one of the frames + click on any color swatch?

3. What happens to transparency in an exported PDF of my document if you previously select 1 object –> right click –> "Add to swatches..."
... a. "From Fill"
... b.) "From Fill As Global"
... c.) "From Fill As Global" + "Spot color" selected.
In my experience the transparency was lost in PDF if the assigned color is NO spot color. In my .afpup the left/black object has CMYK 100% black assigned – and results in PDF with no transparency for this item.

 1. Yes, I see transparency. 170337 transparency alpha-walt.pdf 

2. Yes. This updates the image, the Context Toolbar, and the Swatches/Color panel. However, for the turquoise and lavender images, the fill I assign does not match the actual results. The Swatches/Color panels and the Context Toolbar show a darker color than is actually applied to the image.

3. Not sure. I will need more time to play with that. Please explain more what you mean in "c" by "+ Spot Color selected".

-- Walt
Designer, Photo, and Publisher V1 and V2 at latest retail and beta releases
PC:
    Desktop:  Windows 11 Pro, version 23H2, 64GB memory, AMD Ryzen 9 5900 12-Core @ 3.00 GHz, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 

    Laptop:  Windows 11 Pro, version 23H2, 32GB memory, Intel Core i7-10750H @ 2.60GHz, Intel UHD Graphics Comet Lake GT2 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Laptop GPU.
iPad:  iPad Pro M1, 12.9": iPadOS 17.4.1, Apple Pencil 2, Magic Keyboard 
Mac:  2023 M2 MacBook Air 15", 16GB memory, macOS Sonoma 14.4.1

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7 hours ago, walt.farrell said:

Neither the Context Toolbar nor the Swatches Panel update. May be a Mac vs Windows issue, with a bug on Windows, I suppose. I'll report it and see what Serif (or others) think. 

Even more weird, because you do get a positive "Fill" info in the panels if you assign a swatch by yourself to that same object. (as you mentioned in 2.)
 

8 hours ago, walt.farrell said:

1. Yes, I see transparency. 170337 transparency alpha-walt.pdf 

Ok. But in your pdf I don't see overprinting. – It was assigned to the turquoise color swatch and does occur on my export (see 1st post, 3rd pic)

Is that lack in overprint affected by my files, or by the fact, that the swatches were not transferred, or ...?

– Can you export with overprint info at all ??
 

7 hours ago, walt.farrell said:

The Swatches/Color panels and the Context Toolbar show a darker color than is actually applied to the image.

Is that related to this .tiff only or to other object you assign these colors, too?
"Darker" – similar to a difference between RGB and CMYK? Can you screenshot the difference?
 

7 hours ago, walt.farrell said:

Please explain more what you mean in "c" by "+ Spot Color selected".

To create a Spot color swatch, I wonder why but first I do need to create a global swatch and activate the Spot check box there.

1108671720_globalcolor-spotcolor.jpg.9a56dc8137693de28a5b05ff050c77c5.jpg

(and I wonder why they made a Global color always start with this rich black? – and not my current color setting?)

To know whether a color is a Spot color or not: I get its info shown in the colors panel - even if the selected object/color is not saved in my swatches:
(As a swatch its icon shows a tiny circle at bottom right)

932991310_colorpanel-spotcolor.jpg.290e737b311f5c334620a1ea3c49e45d.jpg

macOS 10.14.6 | MacBookPro Retina 15" | Eizo 27" | Affinity V1

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1 hour ago, thomaso said:

(and I wonder why they made a Global color always start with this rich black? – and not my current color setting?)

If you want to make a global color from your current fill color, use the "Add current color to palette as a global color" button on a document swatches palette:

image.png.0cb5a50531baa6fa8ca14e12a154b560.png

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