Optimizing Images for Print in Affinity Designer on iPad: A Comprehensive Guide

Affinity Designer is a powerful design tool, especially on the iPad, allowing creatives to work on the go. However, preparing designs for print requires careful attention to image resolution, specifically DPI (dots per inch). This article addresses the common issue of checking and adjusting raster image DPI within Affinity Designer on iPad to ensure high-quality prints.

Let's dive into the challenges and solutions for achieving optimal print quality with Affinity Designer on your iPad.

The DPI Dilemma: Why It Matters for Print

When designing flyers, brochures, or any material intended for print, the DPI of your images is crucial. DPI refers to the number of dots of ink per inch of printed material. A higher DPI results in a sharper, more detailed image. For professional printing, 300 DPI is generally the recommended standard. Images with lower DPI may appear pixelated or blurry when printed.

The Question: Checking Raster Image DPI in Affinity Designer iPad

A user, SharkyAfsar, raised a pertinent question in the Affinity forums: How can you check the DPI of raster images placed within an Affinity Designer document on the iPad? This is particularly important when scaling images, as it can affect their final printed quality.

The Answer: Current Limitations and Workarounds

Unfortunately, as of the forum discussion in April 2019, Affinity Designer on iPad lacked a direct feature to check the DPI of placed images. A staff member, Callum, confirmed that this functionality wasn't available at the time but was being considered for future updates.

So, what can you do? Here are a few workarounds:

• Check Document DPI: You can check the overall document DPI by going to Document > Resize in the menu. This sets the DPI for the entire project.
• The Affinity Photo Solution: While Affinity Designer on iPad might have limitations, Affinity Photo on iPad offers a solution. You can copy an image from Affinity Designer, paste it into Affinity Photo, adjust the DPI, and then re-import it into your design. Here's how:
  1. Copy the Image: In Affinity Designer, copy the image you want to adjust.
  2. Paste in Affinity Photo: Open Affinity Photo on your iPad and paste the image.
  3. Resize with DPI Control: Use the resize options in Affinity Photo to specify the desired DPI (e.g., 300 DPI).
  4. Save and Re-import: Save the modified image and then import it back into your Affinity Designer document.
• Export to PDF and Check: As a workaround identified by the original poster, you can export your design as a PDF with specific DPI settings. Then, open the PDF in Adobe Illustrator (or a similar program) to inspect the DPI of the images.
• Utilize Desktop Version (If Available): If you have access to the desktop version of Affinity Designer, you can leverage its more comprehensive features to check and adjust image DPI before transferring the design to your iPad.

Rasterizing for Print Quality

Besides DPI, rasterizing your images correctly is also beneficial for achieving excellent print quality. If you want to know the differences between Raster and Vector images, check out this quick guide. Rasterizing converts vector graphics into a raster format. To make sure your vector graphics is rasterized correctly, follow these steps:

• During PDF Export(Desktop): When exporting your design as a PDF, look for rasterization options. The desktop versions of Affinity Designer offer settings to rasterize images to a specific DPI during export.
• Affinity Photo: You can also open a PDF file in affinity photo, and rasterize it to your desired dpi.

The Importance of Downsampling

Another critical aspect of preparing images for printing is understanding down sampling. Walt.Farrell mentioned that the export options provided will help you with your exporting process.

Down sampling comes in handy when you have high resolution images, but the image size is too large. It helps reduce the size of the images, by reducing the resolution.

Considerations for Low-Resolution Images

A common challenge is increasing the DPI of low-resolution images without sacrificing quality. While you can technically increase the DPI value, it won't magically add detail that wasn't there. Instead, consider these approaches:

• Start with High-Quality Images: Whenever possible, begin your designs with high-resolution images to avoid the need for upscaling.
• Image Editing Software: Use Affinity Photo's resizing tools (or similar tools in other image editors) to resample the image while increasing the DPI. Experiment with different resampling methods to find the best balance between sharpness and detail. Some useful methods include; Bilinear, Bicubic, Lanczos resampling.
• Accept Limitations: Be realistic about what can be achieved. Severely low-resolution images may not be suitable for large-format printing, regardless of DPI adjustments.

Key Takeaways

• Checking raster image DPI directly in Affinity Designer on iPad was not possible in older versions (as of early 2019).
• Utilize Affinity Photo on iPad as a workaround to resize images and control DPI before importing them into Affinity Designer.
• Explore PDF export options for rasterization and DPI control (especially in the desktop version).
• Prioritize using high-resolution images from the start to minimize quality issues.
• Stay informed about future Affinity Designer updates, as new features are frequently added.

By understanding these limitations and employing the recommended workarounds, you can effectively manage image DPI and achieve professional-quality print results with Affinity Designer on your iPad.