Did I set up this PDF correctly for Tayda UV printing?

[The Robot Devil]

A heck of a lot easier than Inkscape!

I use both though, Inkscape has some very useful features for tweaking fonts, for example. I also like the way it handles measurements a lot more.

That’s good to know!

What is community around Affinity like? I know that Illustrator is the industry standard, so there are lots of resources for it.

Is there something similar for Affinity?

 

[Passinwind]

That’s good to know!

What is community around Affinity like? I know that Illustrator is the industry standard, so there are lots of resources for it.

Is there something similar for Affinity?

To be honest, I haven't looked at that aspect very hard yet. I went in with quite a bit of experience with Inkscape, a few trial stints with Illustrator, and lots of experience with other Adobe products like Photoshop and Premiere. Within a few hours I was able to get very good results with Amplifyfun doing the printing, and I still haven't had occasion to need to send any print jobs to Tayda, but it looks like many people have been able to make that work fine by now too.

Learning new software frequently used to be a big part of my old day job, and yeah, the resources for Adobe products have always been very robust. But their subscription model just doesn't work for me at all, unfortunately.

 

[The Robot Devil]

But their subscription model just doesn't work for me at all, unfortunately.

I don't blame you one bit. Their prices are ludicrous.

@Brett I installed Designer today and gave it a go. If I did this right, I already like Designer better than Illustrator.

I increased the red type 0.1pts to make it just that much bigger than the white. Did I do it correctly?

 

[Brett]

I already like Designer better than Illustrator.

After I got used to it, I found it to be more intuitive than Illustrator. I'm glad I could suggest it if you're enjoying it!

Did I do it correctly?

You're close, but let's take a look at the stroke you added.


Your stroke is a different color than the primary shape fill. For the slight bleed to work, you'll want to be sure that you're using the same color. You can do this with a stroke (as you have done), but you'll want to do the following:

Set the color of the stroke to the same color as the object.

Be sure that you select to align the stroke to OUTSIDE of the shape:


If using fonts with sharp angles, you may also benefit from setting the JOIN to miter join instead of curved join. (this setting is above the align setting in the screenshot above)

Since Tayda doesn't recognize strokes, you'll have to convert those strokes to vectors. Once you're happy with the object, select the object and in the top-level menu click: Layer > Expand Stroke. This creates a vector from the stroke you applied that will show in your layers menu as a new object.

There are other ways to do the bleed effect, but I'll save those discussions for another time.

Make a copy of your file (before making any other changes) and try these changes on the copy. Feel free to send it over when you knock it out and I'll be happy to take a look!

 

[Brett]

Also, don't forget to add your bleed to the Ipotane warrior!

 

[The Robot Devil]

Also, don't forget to add your bleed to the Ipotane warrior!

Thanks! I did forget that!

I've added bleed to everything, and I changed the stroke colour. However, the stroke is still showing up as black.

Might you know what I've done wrong?

 

[Brett]

Might you know what I've done wrong?

When you select an object, the object fill is accessed by clicking on the color picker next to "Fill:" and the stroke color is in the color picker next to "Stroke:" as shown here:

If you'd like, after selecting the color picker for stroke, use that eyedropper tool and hover over your object. It'll set the circle next to the eyedropper tool to the same color. Then just click on that circle to apply the color to your stroke.

 

[Brett]

It'll also save you a substantial amount of time if you just merge all the vector objects in the color layer into a single object. Then you don't have to individually select each one to apply your stroke color, fill color, etc.

You do this by selecting all the vector objects in the color layer and then click on this (far left) button:


Be sure that you are working from a copy of your file when you do this. It can be a bit more challenging to reverse changes once you start merging visible vector objects.

Once you do the Expand Stroke thing I mentioned earlier, you *can* also merge all of those stroke objects with your vector objects to have a single vector object in the COLOR layer. It's not necessary to merge the stroke objects with the other objects, but it's an option if you choose. Be sure to review all vectors carefully after any merge operations because vector nodes can be a little finicky sometimes after merging.

 

[The Robot Devil]

When you select an object, the object fill is accessed by clicking on the color picker next to "Fill:" and the stroke color is in the color picker next to "Stroke:" as shown here:

If you'd like, after selecting the color picker for stroke, use that eyedropper tool and hover over your object. It'll set the circle next to the eyedropper tool to the same color. Then just click on that circle to apply the color to your stroke.

I think I have it now.

I found the T and L in Treble were only in the white layer, so I copied them over to the colour layer and added strokes as well.

 

[Brett]

I think I have it now.

It looks like the font may not be a great candidate for using stroke to perform this bleed. See below:


This happens sometimes and if this is the case, you will want to take a look at using the contour tool instead:


Using the same letters in the screenshot above, here are the results using the contour tool instead of using a stroke:


The settings used are as follows:


After setting the contour and verifying its appearance, you'll want to click the button at the end that says Bake Appearance. This will vectorize the contour.

See if this method works a little better for you.

There's also a strange image artifact on the ipotane character after strokes were expanded, I'd assume. You'll want to remove any strange things like this before you send the file off for printing. Check below:

 

[The Robot Devil]

See if this method works a little better for you.

I've attempted using the contour function, using your settings. I'm getting the following artifacts.


Do you think it might be a flaw with the font? Would it be worth trying a new font all together?

I want to thank you for your help and infinite patience.

If you ever find yourself in Southern Ontario, at the very least, I owe you a beverage of your choice!

 

[Brett]

Do you think it might be a flaw with the font?

I'm not seeing an issue on my end with the font you've chosen. Just be sure that you delete the stroke layer that you created so it's not possibly confusing you when you're using the contour tool.

Be mindful of your character fills as well. Characters with enclosed spaces (like "O" in Volume) may need the fill option set to "forced closed" in the contour tool.

I want to thank you for your help and infinite patience.

I'm happy to help. Plenty of folks have helped me on these forums!

 

[The Robot Devil]

I'm not seeing an issue on my end with the font you've chosen. Just be sure that you delete the stroke layer that you created so it's not possibly confusing you when you're using the contour tool.

I tried using the contour tool from a clean back up of the file, and I seem to be still getting those artifacts.

I also tried using the stroke feature again, and noticed those artifacts showed up when I convert them to vectors. I don't know if the two are connected or not, just thinking out loud.

 

[Brett]

Can you please share the file you are working from? I just want to see if I can replicate the issue you're having so I can try to help you figure out what's going on. You're welcome to send the file via private message if that works better for you.