Skip to main content
T
thesergie
Participating Frequently
May 14, 2011
Question

bug: RGB colors change to Grayscale

  • May 14, 2011
  • 5 replies
  • 32878 views

The Problem:

Any RGB swatches I create in a gradient that are gray automatically switch to Grayscale swatches when i want to edit them later.

Description:

I only work with the HSB (Hue Saturation Brightness) color picker in Illustrator CS5. So when i create a gradient i add colors using the HSB color picker. It makes a RGB-value color swatch in the gradient. The problem arrises when i add a color swatch to a gradient that has any form of grey (rgb12,12,12 or rgb150,150,150, so on). After creating it using the HSB picker, when i go back to edit the color value later it ends up being in grayscale mode when actually i created it in RGB. It's frustrating because i have to re-create each gray color in the gradient in RGB. It wouldn't be a problem if the Grayscale grays looked the same as RGB grays, but they dont.

Maybe HSB chooses the right color space for the color? Is it supposed to do that? Does anyone know how to fix this?

This is one of the most annoying things I wrestle with on a daily basis and it's been around for as long as I know (back to CS at least). People have noted their frustration on the website link below, but it there is no solution...

http://www.bittbox.com/illustrator/illustrator-101-the-annoying-grayscale-color-problem

Thanks for the help!

Sergie

    This topic has been closed for replies.

    5 replies

    M
    MADPILOT1
    Participating Frequently
    May 30, 2024

    Just chiming in here 13 years later to confirm this bug is still present in version 25.2.3.  Whenever you select an object that has a color that is close to grey (37,32,26 is grey according to Illustrator), then it will change the color swatch to Grayscale. the issue seems unrelated to RGB, HSB or CMYK, and it is not deterministically reproducive, just one of those things that happen very much.

     

    [abuse removed]


    I would 

    M
    MADPILOT1
    Participating Frequently
    May 30, 2024

    It even engages in this interesting behavior of using the black and white colormode, but with colors 🙂 25.2.3

     

    I
    icefront
    Participant
    October 31, 2011

    Nice insight indeed.

    (This explains why is my integer brightness value (in HSB) is corrected to some real when I leave the input field...)

    Are there real beta testers or the nature of the bug doesn't makes it enough high priority?

    I
    icefront
    Participant
    October 28, 2011

    I have this problem too.

    It's really annoying to switch always from grayscale to hsb.

    When I'm working with hsb, I can change the color but in grayscale no. To change the color I must switch back to HSB.

    If I'm working with gradients or meshes, Illustrator often changhes the gray colors to Grayscale.

    I also don't understand why needs this to be discussed so much.

    It's a simple amateur coding error. The programmer wants to reproduce the color on the color selector and he doesn't check, what is set before (or globally), he simply looks, in which color space can be represented the given color. If it's completely gray he represents in grayscale.

    Very annoying for the people who are working, considering the ultra minimized, extrasmall interface oif illustrator. I'm getting tired to target precisely with the mouse the small controls.

    Mike_Gondek10189183
    Community Expert
    Mike_Gondek10189183Community Expert
    Community Expert
    October 28, 2011

    With a document mode of RGB has colors created in gray|RGB|HSB, the color palette reverts to the last color mode used (if possible). If you are currently in gay, and switch to a square originally created as  R128 G128 B128 square, your color pallette will stay in gray mode. Do a test liek this and input these valeus, shoudl make sense.

     

     

    R128 G128 B128

    Gray 50

    HS50B

     

    Mike_Gondek10189183
    Community Expert
    Mike_Gondek10189183Community Expert
    Community Expert
    May 20, 2011

    I tried choosing a neutral gray color in both RGB &  HSB from the color palette, and could not reproduce this.

    Do you have file >> document color mode >> set to RGB

    Try choosing your gradient color stops in the color palette rather than the color picker.

    T
    thesergieAuthor
    Participating Frequently
    May 20, 2011

    Mike, i was able to reproduce it by doing this:

    1. Create RGB-space ai file. Create two different gradients. One with all grayscale values and one with RGB values.

    2. Save and close the ai file.

    3. Open the file and there you will see the problem. Check out the screenshots/files i attached.

    Things i noticed: when double-clicking on the gradient swatch the color space in the Color panel changes from Grayscale (wrong pallet) to HSB (right pallet). But if you use the Color panel to change your value all hell will break loose.

    Bottom line: when a gray swatch is selected in the gradient panel, the information in the Color panel should represent the real color space that the gray swatch is using (which in this case should be HSB, not Grayscale).

    AI file: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1053706/greyscale.ai

    I hope this explains the problem in more detail.

    -Sergie

    T
    thesergieAuthor
    Participating Frequently
    May 23, 2011

    Here's another weird thing:

    Why does a grayscale black look different in a gradient and a solid color. Here's a screenshot showing this visually (click to enlarge):

    Am i getting something wrong here? This just seems really weird!

    -Sergie

    T
    thesergieAuthor
    Participating Frequently
    May 20, 2011

    Anybody else use HSB color picker and have this problem?

    -Sergie

    W
    Wade_Zimmerman1
    Inspiring
    May 20, 2011

    that definitely sounds like a bug and if I recall it has been outstanding for while but I am not certain of that but I will look at it and see. You should report it but I see Mike has looked at it allready

    Terms & ConditionsAccessibility statement
    Using the community Terms of use Privacy Cookie preferences Do not sell or share my personal information ad choicesAdChoices