sveto Posted September 2, 2019 Share Posted September 2, 2019 I need quick help on this one, because i'm on a deadline, and have used only Photoshop before, never Affinity. I'm about to export a PDF for print (product packaging). It has different layers - pixel layers for the images and background, and vector layers for the text. Do i need to merge all pixel layers into a background layer before exporting to PDF, and how can i do that in AfDesigner? Or does the PDF exporter automatically flatten all pixel layers into a background layer? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pruus Posted September 2, 2019 Share Posted September 2, 2019 You need to export the PDF for print. And then you can add extra’s like trimmarks for the printerservice. Make a trail, send this to the printerservice to check your file for future use. Just double check is always good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sveto Posted September 2, 2019 Author Share Posted September 2, 2019 Hm, it doesn't answer my question though. What happens to the pixel layers, do they get flattened automatically by the PDF exporter? Printers in Germany always want the PDF to have only one background pixel layer, and the rest can be shapes/curves. Trimmarks are not needed. [EDIT] Temp solution - opened in AfPhoto and merged the layers there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fixx Posted September 2, 2019 Share Posted September 2, 2019 PDF spec does not indicate that pixel layers should be merged. Usually for printing all objects can be separate. Flattening a PDF usually means that transparencies are removed by merging transparent areas to a single pixel graphic. You can achieve this by using right PDF export profile, like PDF-X3:2003. Modern press can take PDFs with transparency, usually. Of course, your printer knows best what works. sveto 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sveto Posted September 2, 2019 Author Share Posted September 2, 2019 7 hours ago, Fixx said: PDF export profile, like PDF-X3:2003 Ah, that's the information i'm looking for. Here in Germany print services usually don't allow pixel transparencies, and that's probably the reason most require PDF X3 etc. I didn't know that this is part of the specs. Gonna look into the different PDF profiles. Thanks for the help! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fixx Posted September 3, 2019 Share Posted September 3, 2019 Good if that helped. On the other hand, this 16 hours ago, Fixx said: merging transparent areas to a single pixel graphic was not so well said. The graphic may certainly have more than one pixel Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.