Saving, export and printing

You save your document with all its layers as a project or PSD; from it you create finished files for the web, clients and print. This chapter shows all file formats, the ways to export, metadata, provenance records and printing.

Save or export?

• Saving (File › Save, Save As… (.fpd / .psd), Save a Copy…) keeps the document with layers, masks, text and everything else so that you can keep working on it later. The First steps chapter explains the commands and the difference between .fpd and .psd.
• Exporting (File › Export) creates a flat file – a JPEG for the website, a PNG with transparency, a TIFF for the print shop. The document itself stays unchanged and keeps its name.

File formats at a glance

You load brushes (.abr), layer styles (.asl), gradients (.grd), patterns (.pat) and action sets (.atn) through the Preset Manager or the Actions panel – see Automation.

Export As

File › Export › Export As… (⌘ ⌥ ⇧ W) is the most versatile way to export. It flattens the image to one layer, converts it if you want, and shows the expected file size before saving.

Save for Web

File › Export › Save for Web… (⌘ ⌥ ⇧ S) opens the same dialog under the title Save for Web, with conversion to sRGB as the default. The difference shows in documents with slices (parts of the image that you created with the Slice tool, see Tools):

• Each of the … slices as a file writes each slice as its own file into a folder that you choose afterwards (file names “Name_01.png”, “Name_02.png” …).
• HTML page placing them also creates an HTML file that puts the slices back together into the whole image.

Size, format and quality apply to all slices; if you scale the image, the slices are scaled along with it.

Quick Export

File › Export › Quick Export… (PNG, JPEG, WebP…) asks only for the file name and format and writes the image at its original size – without any further dialog. You can choose PNG, JPEG, WebP, TIFF, BMP, GIF, TGA, QOI and ICO; without an extension, PNG is written. For JPEG the JPEG quality applies, which you set with the slider right in the File › Export submenu (10 to 100; the same value as in the preferences under File Handling). The document's color profile is embedded, 16-bit documents are written with 16 bits as PNG and TIFF, and documents in Grayscale, Indexed Color or CMYK keep their form where the format allows it.

Layers, comps and artboards as files

Three commands split a document into several PNG files. Each one first asks for a destination folder.

Generating image assets automatically

With File › Generate › Image Assets, Chromatelier continuously writes individual layers as files – ideal for web and app graphics that are still changing. The idea: you name a layer or group like a file, and Chromatelier keeps that file up to date.

• The command is a toggle (with a check mark when it is on) and applies per document; the setting is saved with the document.
• The files end up in the folder Documentname-assets next to the saved file. A document that has never been saved writes them as soon as you save it.
• After every change, the assets are rewritten in the background (at most once per second).
• Each layer is rendered on its own and cropped to its visible pixels.

If Chromatelier doesn't find a suitably named layer, the status bar reports “No layer is named like a file (for example "logo.png")”.

Export as SVG

File › Export › Export as SVG… writes the document as an SVG file. Shape layers and text become vector paths with fill, stroke, opacity and blend mode; groups stay groups; all other visible layers are embedded as PNG images. Adjustment layers and layer styles have no SVG equivalent and are missing from the file.

Paths in .ai format

In the File › Export submenu, directly below Export as SVG…, you'll find the entry for exporting paths in .ai format (a PostScript-based vector format, version 3). It is only active when the document has paths (“The document has no paths”), and it opens a submenu: All Paths… writes all paths into one file, and below it you can choose each path individually. The file contains only the paths – without fill and stroke – plus crop marks at the corners of the canvas, so that they line up exactly with the image in a vector program. You create paths with the Pen tools, see Text, shapes & paths.

Animated GIF and video

File › Export › Animated GIF… writes a frame animation as a GIF, and File › Export › Render Video… writes the video timeline as MP4 or MOV. Both are described in the Video & animation chapter.

File Info

File › File Info… (⌘ ⌥ ⇧ I) edits the document's descriptive information. The Basic tab contains:

• Document Title, Author, Description
• Keywords, separated by commas
• Copyright Status (Unknown or Copyrighted) and Copyright Notice

The Camera Data tab shows the EXIF information of the file the document came from – camera, lens, exposure and so on; the labels appear there exactly as they are stored in the file. If the file has none, a note says so.

The information is saved in projects and PSD files and written along with the camera data when you export JPEG, PNG and WebP.

Content Credentials

Content Credentials (following the open C2PA standard) are a signed provenance record embedded in the image file. It records which program the image was edited with, which steps took place, which file it was made from – including that file's own record – and whether and how AI was involved. If the file is changed afterwards, checking tools detect this from the invalid signature.

Signing on export

When the option is turned on (the default), all exported JPEG, PNG, WebP and TIFF files carry such a record – whether you use Export As, Save for Web or Quick Export. The AI share is classified according to the features used:

Signing uses a certificate that Chromatelier creates on your computer. Checking tools therefore show the signature as valid but the signer as unknown. You can turn signing off in the dialog below or in the preferences under File Handling › Content Credentials.

Viewing records

At the top, File › Content Credentials… shows the record of the file the current document was opened from: Signature (valid, trusted, invalid or not checked), Signed by, Issued by, Signed on, Made with, Author, AI, Made from and the list of Actions. Show the whole manifest shows the complete raw data. With Check Another File… you read the record of any image file (JPEG, PNG, WebP, TIFF, HEIC, AVIF, GIF) without opening it.

At the bottom, under Exports of this document, you turn signing on or off and see which AI label and which AI tools this document's exports will carry.

Printing

File › Print… (⌘ P) sets up the page and creates a PDF from it. On the right, a small page preview shows where the image sits on the paper.

Color management when printing

With Printer Manages Colors, Chromatelier hands over the colors with the document's profile, and the printer driver converts them. With Chromatelier Manages Colors, Chromatelier itself converts the colors into the profile of your printer and paper; more fields then appear:

• Printer Profile: one of the ICC profiles installed on the computer, or a .icc/.icm file loaded with Load…, for example from the paper manufacturer.
• Rendering Intent: Perceptual, Relative Colorimetric (the default), Saturation or Absolute Colorimetric.
• Black Point Compensation: preserves detail in the shadows (on by default).
• Match Print Colors: the canvas shows the colors the way the printer prints them (soft proof).

Printing or saving as PDF

• Print… opens the finished page in your system's PDF program; from there you print it as usual.
• Save PDF… saves the page as a PDF file, for example for a print shop or to print later.

PDF Presentation and Contact Sheet

For many images at once, there are two more output options under File › Automate: PDF Presentation… combines several images into a multi-page PDF, and Contact Sheet II… places thumbnails of many images on overview pages. Both are described in the Automation chapter.