T-shirt printer Posted June 4, 2019 Posted June 4, 2019 Hi Guys, Im very new to affinity, and sadly not the best at graphic design :) Ive played with PS, illustrator, inkscape etc for a while, BUT just started using Affinity which Im loving!! Most of my design knowledge is coming from youtube, but I cant seem to find out this issue :( I Have just finished some artwork for a sticker and have added some FX's such as bevel, outer glow and a drop shadow to my text on the design, which looks good until I export the file as a PDF, when I open up the PDF file sadly all the text is looking very fuzzy and not very crisp & sharp like it should be. I did convert the text to curves before the export, but cant figure out what the issue is? Does anyone have any info or help that may be causing my problem? Many Thanks, Mark Quote
Dan C Posted June 5, 2019 Posted June 5, 2019 Hi Mark, Welcome to the forums When exporting fx adjustments they will be rasterised as they aren't supported in a vector format. This means the 'quality' will depend on the size, DPI & JPEG Compression options when exporting. Could you please provide screenshots of your file pre export, your export options and the file post export? Quote
T-shirt printer Posted June 5, 2019 Author Posted June 5, 2019 Hey Dan, Thanks for the welcome & the reply, ok I think I know what you mean, is this problem with the effects in Affinity? i.e could I add the fx's in another program to get over the issue? Sadly Im not 100% sure I can upload screen shots of the artwork due to it being a product that is due to be released very soon. The size of the artwork is quite small at 40mm dia, I am exporting as PDF print at 300dpi is that helps? Thanks Mark Quote
Dan C Posted June 5, 2019 Posted June 5, 2019 36 minutes ago, T-shirt printer said: i.e could I add the fx's in another program to get over the issue? AFAIK, most applications fx adjustments aren't vector compatible and therefore will always be rasterised upon export, the same as Affinity. Not to worry, could you provide me a copy of the .afdesign file to the following link? The file will remain private and will be deleted once this is resolved. https://www.dropbox.com/request/PISf4PtQqL2GCIclvyP0 38 minutes ago, T-shirt printer said: The size of the artwork is quite small at 40mm dia, Rasterizing an object this small is likely to cause some 'fuzziness' but there's certainly a few options we can check to minimise this Quote
T-shirt printer Posted June 5, 2019 Author Posted June 5, 2019 Thanks Dan, Ive just uploaded the files Quote
Dan C Posted June 5, 2019 Posted June 5, 2019 Thanks for that Mark, could you include a copy of the .afdesign file and confirm your PDF export settings too please? Quote
T-shirt printer Posted June 5, 2019 Author Posted June 5, 2019 Cool, just sent it yes export settings were PDF print 300dpi. Cheers Mark Quote
Dan C Posted June 5, 2019 Posted June 5, 2019 Appreciate it - can I please just confirm, the .afdesign file you have sent matches your PDF 'Final' provided. I can see in the other PDF that the fx on the word 'BAIT' at the top has been rasterised and therefore looks slightly pixelated, however your 'Final' design & your .afdesign file does not have the same fx applied, and therefore is not rasterised on export. Which version are you referring to? If it's the design with fx applied I'll need a copy of the file, or a screenshot showing the effects applied to the word. Alternatively, if you're happy with the 'Final' design without the fx then can you confirm which section of the design you aren't happy with? Many thanks! Quote
T-shirt printer Posted June 5, 2019 Author Posted June 5, 2019 Dan, The PDF final file, I removed the effects due to the bad quality, so the final file is just the standard flat text. Yes the file with the BAIT at the top was the same with the FLOSS text, but had the same effects on them and was were both pixelated, hence why I removed the effects on them. Im 90% happy with the final edit, would of been nice to have the Bait & floss with some effects on them to help lift them off the design, but i its a case of having of pixelated print, I would be happy to leave them out Hope that makes some sense? Thanks for your help buddy. Mark Quote
Dan C Posted June 7, 2019 Posted June 7, 2019 Sorry for the slow reply Mark! Unfortunately fx always have to be rasterised on export, so at this size it's likely to look a little pixelated. You could try upping the DPI or changing the Resampler to one of the Lanczos options to improve things slightly, but there is no getting around rasterisation when it comes to fx, apologies! Quote
T-shirt printer Posted June 8, 2019 Author Posted June 8, 2019 No worries Dan, thank you for taking the time to answer and have a look into it for me Any other tips or tricks for adding a drop shadow behind the text? Ive tried adding a layer mask, but its leaving a outline of the box. Thanks again, Mark Quote
Dan C Posted June 11, 2019 Posted June 11, 2019 You could try duplicating the text, changing the colour and offsetting it slightly, then applying a gaussian blur to this. Although it will still be rasterised on export, only the shadow will be, so the text remains legible at this size. I've included a screen recording of this below! EDIT: Screen recording removed due to private artwork. I'll PM you a copy of the file Quote
T-shirt printer Posted June 11, 2019 Author Posted June 11, 2019 Hi Dan, Awesome mate thats great!! I will give that a go Thank you again for your help. All the best, Mark Dan C 1 Quote
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