Hello,
I just saw that some objects I have in some documents are exported into a PDF in a different way I expected. I attach a simple circle.
As a PDF opening it in Adobe Illustrator, it is shown as "open path".
As an AI opening it there it is shown as "closed path".
Is there any hint in this objects that shows it could be understood as open path by illustrator in a PDF?
(I send some files often as AI or PDF to other creators or customers using Illustrator, so it's not about that I should not use or open it in Illustrator...)
testcircle.zip
What PDF setting are you using to publish your PDF in Draw?
I'll download your file and take a look, however you seem to have an easy solution simply send your Illustrator clients AI files.
I have never had a closed path in Draw publish to a print based setting PDF in Draw show up as an open path in ANY RIP.
If I remember this correctly waaay back when CorelDRAW was introducing PDF it was intended as an export filter for output not for editing in graphic applications. The same approach was taken earlier with the EPS filter. In my experiance Corel has never wavered from that approach from either filter.
A little information on PDF export only, X3 does not support transparency in spot color, X4 does, complex fills and live transparency was not supported until 2019.
Illustrator does not support opening PDF ffiles from CorelDRAW that support any high end complex fills and transparency.
yes, I could send an AI, but sometimes it's also better to send a PDF. I tested the prepress and the editing PDF option, both in RGB, but should be the same in CMYK and other PDF export options.
When I open it in Illustrator I see the curve is open, also when I open it in Infinity designer.
When I open the PDF in CorelDraw again, it's closed :).
So my question is less about any workflow or CorelDraw functionality or bug, more about what could be special about the circle in the attachment so that it is exported as an open curve as PDF while many other shapes I create or use are just exported fine as closed path?
it is also in Inkscape, and in Illustrator CS4 and in the current Infinity Designer, I guess it's just like that and not a thing of the used software.
It seems that the start/end node is not a single node but at least two :). You can drag the other one out of the node in Illustrator, Inkscape, Designer...
I am not an expert in printing, I only want to deliver PDF files to customers or other creators. And of course I would like to have CorelDraw exporting the PDF with the shapes as they are and not different.
One question would be also if you or others just can reproduce it by creating a circle with fill and without outline and save as any PDF in CorelDraw and open it in any other known vector program.
(to defend CorelDraw I may add that when I create such a circle as described above and open the Illustrator-created PDF in Inkscape and Designer, there it's also TWO nodes the start/end node created by Illustrator - when I open the Illustrator-PDF in CorelDraw it's fine though)
so after all it seems that some vector programs can't read the PDF correctly concerning shapes with fill only and its start/end node and think it's more than one node. Am I the first person to notice this or is this just known and not a problem at all? Perhaps it's ok for the printing when the start/end node is just an overlaying double node. But not perfect either.
I looked at your file and then decided to recreate the circle using the ellipse too and converting to curves. BTW Illustrator CS 4 is ancient. Affinity Designer 2.4 I believe is the latest and greatest, from the forums I understand that the Designer PDF filter is good but not perfect. I don't use Designer, I testes V1 and never bought it.
Not knowing if this is how you created your circle I did it how I usually do it. My circle is a perfect circle but in CMYK.
Your circle shows as a closed curve in the properties docker, it has a miter limit of 5 (not the default 45) and the fill winding is checked (not the default of winding unchecked. Your circle dimensions show as 7.238 wide x 7.239 high.
My system using a metric document created from the new document dialog has a miter limit of 45, no winding on the fill and the object as a closed fill.
I've sent along a PDF from my system and file for you to test. Adobe has different specifications for PDF and EPS, specifications for Illustrator editing and for document distribution. Corel does not conform to the editing specifications. I expect that some software publishers either pay Adobe for the editing specification if it is available or they back engineer the file format. I expect the latter as there are so many issues with editing PDF files from different publishers.
PDF
thank you very much for the file. The circle is an open path in Infinity Designer, Inkscape and Illustraror CS4. The node at the top is not a start/ending node but are actually two nodes over each other (in all three programs).
Yes, of course CorelDraw can not do anything, also because of specifications. But that a node becomes two nodes is not because of editing spefication probably.
but good to know that it's still the case in the new version of CorelDraw.
by the way also in Illustrator as mentioned there is some problem with this. also when I do vectorizing there I end with shapes with such open paths and double nodes. But I never had any problem from customers. So I guess this is just something found very often but not a problem for printing. Perhaps this is also the reason why I don't find any "open paths preflight" in Acrobat.
All my printing and by that, I mean ALL my printing from CorelDRAW V4 forward, (I loaded 3 but got 4 for free so never output anything form V3) was to high end digital front-end workflows. In the early days for about a year or so the RIP devices were predominantly Mac, and we had to remove the ^D characters from the postscript to make them run in the Mac devices. Lucky for me I had access to what they then called a service bureau who ran Windows based RIP's.
Luckily the Mac was not around very long in terms of being the dominant platform for RIP devices, so competition opened up and I then had access to Kodak approval proofing systems.
During V5 I worked with Corel, and it took to V8 to get the EPS export from Draw to support the RIP, imposition and Trapping solutions in the digital front-end systems of the day. That included spot color separations from EPS export. From then on quite frankly CorelDRAW has worked like a charm in professional output devices.
It became a game of leapfrog; Corel would come out with a feature than Adobe would come out with a feature, or Adobe would come out with a feature than Corel would follow up. It was very fast paced and then Adobe bought up everyone and things changed.
Not all for the good but the Corel pace slowed as the then CEO's legal issues mounted, and the market changed. Once X3 came along and Corel along with a team of testers got them to up their pro game in terms of color management and PDF support for spot colors with transparency with the release of X5 Draw output worked fine until 2017 they ran out of steam, and it took to 2019 to fix their PDF export.
Since then, Draws true PDF export as well and their postscript 3 PDF export has kept their output on top of the game. I wish they either take the font manager bull by the horns or just drop it.
In any case you'll have to find you way with exporting from Draw to Affinity Designer and Illustrator. The more complex the file the less likely it will work.
I went the other way as a capitalist pig, I simply dropped supporting Adobe users and started doing the creation and the installation.
thank you again, interesting to learn.
But after all it's not about Adobe but the exported PDF is also opened that way in Inkscape and Affinity. And it's a PDF with one = 1 object :). A circle. Perhaps the concept of start and end node is not supported by the PDF specification for all other software tools.
Yes I also never had any problems with printing and customers. I just saw this today and wondered.
Affinity and Inkscape built their products to be more Adobe compatible, Corel less so, I believe both programs made making Adobe Illustrator EPS and PDF a priority.
In fact, I have Affinity Photo 1.XX whatever and when I tested Photo V2.4 the fact that Affinity made V2.4 to be more like Adobe was the deal breaker for me in purchasing it. Of course, the lack of any real improvements in areas that I used or didn't have but wanted didn't help
But is "open path check" and "start/end node" something that PDF as a format understands? Is there any software that offers a preflight for the open paths? I did not find any. So perhaps if no editing is needed anymore and only printing (no cutting) this is perhaps ok after all.
I asked also in the Illustrator community and there I learned that it seems to happen as well when exporting from InDesign or Illustrator CC (when unchecking the Illustrator editing option, so deliver a final PDF). Then also the path is open the one node added.
But from CorelDraw I tried now all options, always it stays that way.
To solve this issue in CorelDraw it would be nice to change the editing PDF export option in that way that the path is not changed but still closed, just like the AI export option in CorelDraw. Actually the AI export option and the editing PDF export option should be similar that way.
Or is there any other hint how to maintain the closed paths of fillings in the PDF export in CorelDraw?
If you remember I mentioned Illustrator editing versions of PDF and EPS earlier.
I don't worry about the issue because I use PDF for output only.
If I send files to Illustrator I use the AI format because CorelDRAWdoes not support IllustratoreditingPDF and EPS. Better yet I avoid Adobe anything, Illustrator in particular.
BTW the AI file format I don't think has an output version only the native Illustrator editing.
Yes I will also deliver AI for more editing use.
For printing output of course PDF is needed mostly, and then it's now at least good to know that CorelDraw (as also Illustrator and InDesign) just opens all those paths and adds additional nodes :). So if a customer tells me he needs absolutely closed paths, then I can't export a PDF from CorelDraw. I could deliver a PDF from Illustrator though (with checkbox AI editing option), but then I just can deliver directly *.ai.
Still interesting that this was not known for CorelDraw and even not for the Adobe users as it seems (also did not find any discussion via Google).