Rough Edges on JPEG with new "Export for Screens" - Illustrator 2020 heartbreak

[Beardmancer]

Hi all,

First, I have to say a big thanks. The export speed for JPEGs using the "Export for Screens" option has increased from around 30 seconds to nearly instantaneous for me on AI 2020. This, along with background export, was one of my top requests and I am so grateful that it's been added.

Next, a story of heartbreak. For many of my exports using this method, I now get jagged edges, especially on round edges and especially at angles. Please see attached examples. The file "TestLayout_Overall_01.jpg" was exported using the new "Export for Screens" dialog and has jagged edges on the oval shape. These jagged edges are not present when exporting from File > Export As, but this latter method takes much longer to export, particularly for large artboards which I use frequently.

So, is there anything I can do to make the jagged edges go away? I am using "Art Optimized" in both places and exporting at 300dpi in both places. Is this an anti aliasing issue?

Help! I'm in love with the new export window, but the jagged edges are stabbing me in the heart.

[NormanStormin]

All I can do is tell you what I've done. The fact that we are getting different results is for sure, how shall I put it, weird as all get out.

In my initial post I literally have a screen shot of the PDF setting that I'm using. [High Quality Print]

I appreciate that user error is often the cause of these issues. 

But I have checked and double checked those settings.

[NormanStormin]

@Abhishek Rao  Here's an interesting thing...

I tried resetting my Illustrator preferences.

I created a new file, adding in a couple of circles with drop shadows.

Then I did an Export Selection... as a high quality PDF.

And the drop shadows now look good. PDF attached (CirclesFreshPrefBackInGames.pdf)

If I load the previous Illustrator file (the one that I Exported from previously) and do a Export Selection, the drop shadows are still pixeled. So something has been saved in the Illustrator file that is making this happen.

I would VERY much like to upload the two Illustrator files so you can see what differences there may be. HOWEVER, yours system is still rejecting them. It also does not accept zip files.

I do have a copy of my old preferences file if that's helpful. 

[Anubhav M]

Hello @NormanStormin,

Could you share a link to the sample file(s) along with the exports and a screen recording of your workflow and the problem, after uploading them to a file-sharing service, so I can check this with the team?

Note: While sharing the file, kindly make the link public, and enable the option to Save a Copy/Download under Link Settings.

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Anubhav

[NormanStormin]

@Anubhav M  Here you go:

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1-_2_HCYkyQWbOz4aQMh3Bd-0tCs_ymtr?usp=sharing

[Anubhav M]

Hello @NormanStormin,

Thanks for sharing the files. I tried using the sample file, and it exports as expected. As you've rightly pointed out, the preferences are causing this problem. I understand this is not ideal, and I apologize for the inconvenience. You can, however, try copying your settings one at a time (https://adobe.ly/43s2FbH) to check if it helps to identify the problematic file.

Feel free to reach out if you have more questions or need assistance. We'd be happy to help.

Anubhav

[Abhishek Rao]

Hi everyone,

Thank you all for your continued feedback and for sharing detailed examples.

Following up on the issue, I reached out to the product team, and we did some additional testing. Here's what we found:

By default, 'Export for Screens' performs the export operation in the background, which seems to interfere with the anti-aliasing quality, especially for JPG exports involving raster effects like drop shadows.

Workaround:
Please try the following steps and let us know if it improves the export quality on your end:

1. Disable 'Export in Background':
Go to Preferences > File Handling and uncheck the 'Export in Background' option.

2. Then use these Export for Screens settings:

 - Format: JPG 100

 - Anti-aliasing: Art Optimized (Supersampling)

These settings should give you output similar in quality to 'Save for Web' exports.

We're continuing to investigate why the anti-aliasing isn't working as expected when background export is enabled.

Looking forward to hearing if this helps resolve the issue for you!

Abhishek

[Ton Frederiks]

Thanks, @Abhishek Rao . That works for me, turning off  the 'Export in Background' option.

[Eugenio23283613l3ha]

This used to work just fine, but the last few months when ever I use"export for screens" the images are exported with distortions (See attachements). If I export the files individually it exports correctly . Which is fine when is just a couple of images but I need to expor 200+ banners so it takes more time to export than actually bulding the banners. Please fix this.

[Monika Gause]

When exporting which settings do you use in each of the methods?

I suppose when exporting the images one by one you do not use Export for screens, but instead ...?

[Eugenio23283613l3ha]

In "save for screens", I've tried, type otimized, art optimized, and none. All of them with and without interlaced, and all in jpg and png.

For individual ones, I do "save for web" type or art optimized depending on the banner. Sometimes jpg sometimes png24 depending on the size specs

[Eugenio23283613l3ha]

@Monika Gause 
The issue continues, Im trying to export an image as png or jpg and it looks terrible, and these are vectors 

[Monika Gause]

JPEG and PNG are NOT vector formats.

[Eugenio23283613l3ha]

There is no need to be rude. What I meant is that everything on the source file is vector, so there shouldn't be any problem when exporting. I'm trying to get help from the experts on the software, one would expect better from Adobe

[Mohammad.Harb]

to maintain the quality, Select 2x or 3x from scale when exporting for screen 

[Doug A Roberts]

Your original post was about Export for Screens, but here you've shown Save for Web, with anti-aliasing turned off (which looks as I would expect).

What settings did you use in Export for Screens for your original problem?

[Ton Frederiks]

There are differences in size and alpha channel. What else? Anti-aliasing method, Type or Art optimized?  8 bit or png 24?

[Eugenio23283613l3ha]

Thanks for the reply. The only setting that seems to allow anti-aliasing is type optimized. Im not sure where are the alpha channels I've never used them in illustrator only in photoshop. I didn't have this issue before, and I haven't changed any settings.

[Ton Frederiks]

As you can see, you can also select Art Optimized for Anti-aliasing.

And when choosing Transparent, an Alpha channel will be created to preserve transparency.

[trashcaneron]

Having a similar issue here. The original author is correct – all these settings using Save For Screens cause tearing. Solution? Export it a higher resolution "over-sample" (say 2x), and then scale it down to the proper scale using another program (Mac OS Preview does just fine). Really silly that Illustrator isn't doing the same process. Obviously, I want to use Save For Screens so I can export tons of versions simultaneously. Now I have to write a script to automate a rescale after the fact! haha there's always something. 

[Anubhav M]

Hello @trashcaneron,

Our team is aware of the problem and is currently investigating it. Would you mind upvoting UserVoice for this feature request (https://adobe.ly/43Q82Dn) and adding your comments there? Doing this will help us prioritize this request, and you will be notified of any updates.

For now, try using the Save for Web option, and let us know if it helps.

Feel free to reach out if you have more questions or need assistance. We'd be happy to help.

Anubhav

[Anubhav M]

Hello everyone,

Our team is aware of the problem and is currently investigating it. Would you mind upvoting UserVoice for this feature request (https://adobe.ly/43Q82Dn) and adding your comments there? Doing this will help us prioritize this request, and you will be notified of any updates.

For now, try using the Save for Web option, and let us know if it helps.

Feel free to reach out if you have more questions or need assistance. We'd be happy to help.

Anubhav

[fradia]

I know it was discussed in some other threads but the answers didn't quite fix my issues:
I noticed there is a really big quality difference between the two export possibilities "save for web" and "export for screens"  - anti-aliasing-wise. Unfortunately I could not figure out how to solve it even if I tried to change as recommended:

• I did align my artboard to the pixel grid.
• I've changes my JPG-Settings (JPG 100) in "export for screens" to "supersampling".

Even the JPG file size is higher in the "export for screen"-version although it looks worse.



Settings for "save for web":


Settings for "export for screen":

I've already tried to change every single setting that is possible in the "export for screens"-JPG 100-Setting with no improvement.

Any suggestion? I really would prefer to use "export for screens" as I sometimes have a lot of named artboards to export and doing it with "save for web" takes longer - particulary because the naming of each file is required every time.

Thanks a lot for any ideas!

[Ton Frederiks]

There are anti-aliasing problems mentioned lately with export for screens and jpeg art optimized.

Did you try Export As?

[Ton Frederiks]

Looks like this:

https://illustrator.uservoice.com/forums/333657-illustrator-desktop-feature-requests/suggestions/338...

[Ton Frederiks]

And this:

https://illustrator.uservoice.com/forums/601447-illustrator-desktop-bugs/suggestions/34636129-export...