I am having issues generating PDF files from Inkscape for use as book covers on Amazon. I hope some experts on the forum can help me.
The PDFs produced (by saving as PDF) are making fantastic physical book covers (i.e. the actual books look great) but the preview book cover on Amazon has random white lines everywhere (not a great first impression for potential buyers - see here).
I am being told by Amazon that these white lines are as a result of multiple layers (but this isn't the case in Inkscape - all content is on one layer). I am also aware that the white lines could be the result of transparencies, so to solve this, I have ensured I am using the alpha channel instead of the opacity option.
Some of the remaining white lines appear to be associated with blurred content in Inkscape. Other lines appear randomly (I cannot easily associate them with any of the content in Inkscape). The Inkscape document also contains clipped content.
So, to summarise, I would love guidance on how to save my book cover as a PDF without the tendency for it to look a bit naff. Is there anyway of doing this through Inkscape? Or any workarounds that people have come up with using other software?
Thank you very much. Any help is greatly appreciated.
@TomTomTom When opened as "look inside" the white lines are gone. Hard to tell what´s causing this in the Preview without the actual Inkscape file. Could be clipping masks.
And this can be done in Inkscape by moving all objects to one layer.
Also, the OP in that topic said that he solved the problem by saving the cover as PDF, the save the PDF as JPEG, then save the JPEG as PDF, but this is not a good solution.
"If the proof still shows the lines, what you can do is the following: separate any glows or soft shadows from text or graphic elements (by expanding the appearance) and then flatten all that stuff and the structured background into pixels, so that you have one large pixel image in the background, then the detailed graphics on top and the text on top, which will stay vector, if that makes sense."
Thank you everyone for your advice, I seem to have solved the issue by generating a PNG with the background components of the image (300dpi), then bringing this PNG back into the document and laying any text over the top. Fingers crossed it works.
Beyond the Basics Save as PDF problems
Inkscape.org
Hi everyone,
I am having issues generating PDF files from Inkscape for use as book covers on Amazon. I hope some experts on the forum can help me.
The PDFs produced (by saving as PDF) are making fantastic physical book covers (i.e. the actual books look great) but the preview book cover on Amazon has random white lines everywhere (not a great first impression for potential buyers - see here).
I am being told by Amazon that these white lines are as a result of multiple layers (but this isn't the case in Inkscape - all content is on one layer). I am also aware that the white lines could be the result of transparencies, so to solve this, I have ensured I am using the alpha channel instead of the opacity option.
Some of the remaining white lines appear to be associated with blurred content in Inkscape. Other lines appear randomly (I cannot easily associate them with any of the content in Inkscape). The Inkscape document also contains clipped content.
So, to summarise, I would love guidance on how to save my book cover as a PDF without the tendency for it to look a bit naff. Is there anyway of doing this through Inkscape? Or any workarounds that people have come up with using other software?
Thank you very much. Any help is greatly appreciated.
Not seeing the issue here in the US, via Chrome.
Could you give us a screenshot of what you see?
Hi guys, thank you for your responses. Please see attachment. Thank you.
@TomTomTom When opened as "look inside" the white lines are gone. Hard to tell what´s causing this in the Preview without the actual Inkscape file. Could be clipping masks.
Yeah, it would be better to see the actual SVG, it's really strange that the white lines appears only from outside.
But I see here a suggestion, you should flat your design objects/elements: https://www.kdpcommunity.com/s/question/0D52T000058wZrdSAE/weird-lines-appearing-on-book-cover-images
And this can be done in Inkscape by moving all objects to one layer.
Also, the OP in that topic said that he solved the problem by saving the cover as PDF, the save the PDF as JPEG, then save the JPEG as PDF, but this is not a good solution.
May be some nuggets of wisdom in this Adobe forum: https://community.adobe.com/t5/illustrator-discussions/thin-white-lines-boxes-appearing-when-saving-as-pdf-in-x-1a-2001-or-x-3-2002-format-for-book-printer/td-p/10832482
"If the proof still shows the lines, what you can do is the following: separate any glows or soft shadows from text or graphic elements (by expanding the appearance) and then flatten all that stuff and the structured background into pixels, so that you have one large pixel image in the background, then the detailed graphics on top and the text on top, which will stay vector, if that makes sense."
Thank you everyone for your advice, I seem to have solved the issue by generating a PNG with the background components of the image (300dpi), then bringing this PNG back into the document and laying any text over the top. Fingers crossed it works.