Export Options
There are three possible export options. The final export size for all three export options is based on the zoom level on which you are on when choosing to export. Export as PNG reveals a list of layers to download directly into your default download folder on click. The other two options take much longer to export and will export all layers of the project.
If there are painted lines from a selected brush size that is smaller than a pixel, the export will grow the thickness of the brush stroke into the size of a full pixel for the corresponding zoom level. It is recommended to export on zoom level 6 in order to export the maximum amount of detail from the layers.
Note: Export as Highlights PNG does not run into the above issue as it directly fetches the brush data without going through a matrix mapping algorithm.
Matrix export downloads .csv files with table dimensions (height and width) of the specified page at the selected zoom level. Matrix export does not download each layer separately. Regardless of the number of layers a pixel project has, the matrix will only display what the viewer sees, combining all layers into one .csv file. Layer priority matters, as a higher layer on the hierarchy will hide the lower layer's data and that information will be lost on matrix export.
Within the .csv file, each blank pixel (background) is identified as 0 and each layer's data is represented by its respective layer number. A diagonal line down a simple 5x5px canvas on Layer 2, for example, would be represented as such:
20000 02000 00200 00020 00002
This option downloads each layer individually. A project with 5 layers would mean 5 downloaded .png files. On download, layer priority does not matter, as all data painted on each layer will be exported. The .png files contain the coloured paths and shapes of a specified layer, with their respective opacities, on a transparent background.
In recent versions, download links for each layer will appear and it will be possible to select specific layers to download.
The "Image Data" refers to the actual background image rendered on the Diva.js canvas. While Export as Highlights PNG exports the brush strokes and shapes themselves into .png files, Export as Image Data PNG takes the painted paths and shapes, and exports those selected portions of the background image. This results in an export of the actual parts of manuscripts highlighted by each layer as separate .png files on transparent background.
During export, a preview will be rendered on the export screen of all exported .png files stacked onto each other.
Here is a cropped side-by-side comparison of Export as Highlights PNG and Export as Image Data PNG:
