Export & print
Illusion exports PNG, JPEG, WebP, SVG, selection-only SVG, a print SVG with bleed and printer marks, and PDF in RGB or CMYK as one page or all pages. Spot colours and PDF/X are not available. Export from the File menu or the top toolbar. The editable original stays your .illu file.
| Export | Use it for |
|---|---|
| PNG | Pictures for chats, social media and slides: the active artboard at high resolution. |
| JPEG / WebP | Smaller picture files. JPEG has no transparency: open areas become white. |
| SVG | The web and other vector tools: the active artboard. |
| Selection (SVG) | Just the selected objects, cropped to their own size, to drop into another document. |
| Sharing and printing: the active page, or all pages as one multi-page PDF. | |
| Print (SVG) | A page-sized SVG with bleed, printer marks and text turned into outlines. |
Before you print: Preflight
File → Preflight… checks the document and lists what would go wrong on paper, for example:
- images with too low a resolution, or missing images;
- text too small to print, or hairline strokes;
- artwork off the page or outside the safe area;
- no or too little bleed;
- the PDF's colours (RGB or CMYK), colours that will print duller in CMYK, and live transparency to discuss with your printer.
Fix what matters, then press Export PDF right in the Preflight panel. Page size, bleed, safe margins and printer marks are set per artboard in Properties → Page.
Note: PDFs are RGB unless you turn on CMYK for print. Ask your printer which they want; many digital printers convert RGB themselves.
PDF options
The Preflight panel and the Export window have the same switches. Illusion remembers them on this device.
| Option | On | Off |
|---|---|---|
| Printer marks and bleed | Crop marks, colour bars and the bleed area, for the print shop. | Clean pages at their final size, for a client to review. |
| Selectable text | Real text with its fonts embedded: it can be selected, searched and copied, and files are smaller. | Text turned into outlines, which no printer can render differently. |
| CMYK for print | Colours and images converted to CMYK for coated paper (FOGRA39). Pure black and greys print on black ink only. | RGB colours, as on screen. |
| Keep editable in Illusion | The editable document travels inside the PDF (see below). | A plain PDF. |
Both text modes look the same. With Selectable text, text with a gradient fill is drawn as outlines with the text invisible on top, so it still copies.
Your drawing stays in RGB and CMYK happens when the PDF is written, so you can't type exact ink values. To see the printed look while you work, turn on File → Document Color Mode: CMYK (or the CMYK button in the top toolbar). The artboards then show colours and photos as they print on coated paper, the colour picker shows the ink values, and the PDF exports as CMYK by default. It is saved with the document, and going back to RGB loses nothing. PNG, JPG and SVG exports from a CMYK document match what the artboards show. Bright colours look duller on paper than on screen. Ask your printer which profile they want if your paper isn't coated, and ask for a proof if colour matters.
Tip: For a client copy, turn off printer marks and Keep editable. Ask your print shop whether they want text as outlines; most accept embedded fonts.
Keep PDFs editable
With Keep editable in Illusion turned on (in Preflight; on by default), the whole document is attached inside the PDF. Other apps show the pages as usual; opening the PDF in Illusion brings back every layer, group and texture.
Warning: The attached document includes all pages and hidden layers. Turn the option off before sending a PDF to someone who shouldn't receive your source file.