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MusicMaxEbb
Inspiring
February 28, 2019
Answered

Color Settings set to Monitor, displays oversaturated color

  • February 28, 2019
  • 2 replies
  • 5147 views

First I'm on an iMac Pro. Don't quote me on this, but I believe the monitor is wide gamut, so wider color rage is possible. 

On the desktop, I have my display set to the default, and the colors look natural, as you would expect. And of course, when I set it to sRGB, it looks quite saturated, but that's expected.  We all know the difference between Mac and PC colorspaces. Fine. 

In Illustrator, The problem is that when I set my Color Settings to Monitor, it should match my monitor display color profile, but it does not. Instead, it gives a saturated color display, even more saturated than sRGB if you can imagine that. 

In Photoshop, setting it to Monitor doesn't have the same issue; it renders the color as expected. It matches images exported and viewed on the desktop and the browser. 

In illustrator, I'm forced to use a sRGB color space. I have no choice but to work in sRGB!  Then I need to export it to see how it will look normally on a Mac.

Illustrator's Monitor Color setting is not working correctly.  I've tried proofing Monitor RGB too, but I get the same results, all of the color is wrong. 

    This topic has been closed for replies.
    Correct answer MusicMaxEbb

    Solved!  Illustrator was bugged!  This morning I still saw the issue with oversaturated color.  When I tried to make a new document, Illustrator crashed.  When I reopened Illustrator and opened the documents I used to test the color, everything is back to normal— no more neon colors!  Now, what I preview in illustrator is what I get everywhere else, as I expect.

    Here's what I think happened; when I switched my monitor to sRGB and back to my calibrated profile, Illustrator didn't adjust the color space, it kept it in sRGB. Closing and reopening illustrator solved the issue. 

    I'll monitor it over the next few days, and will come back here if it occurs again. 

    2 replies

    Ton Frederiks
    Community Expert
    Ton FrederiksCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    February 28, 2019

    Don't confuse working color spaces with output color spaces (like your monitor which is an output device).

    If you want a larger RBG working space, choose one like Adobe RGB or even larger, ProPhotoRGB, your carefully calibrated monitor will try to display what you are doing as accurate as possible.

    See also:

    https://www.adobe.com/digitalimag/pdfs/phscs2ip_colspace.pdf

    M
    MusicMaxEbbAuthor
    Inspiring
    February 28, 2019

    OK, thank you. I am aware of the difference.  Like I said, I have no issues with working color space and color profiles in Photoshop.  In Illustrator, no matter what I set, the color appears the same way (very noticeable over saturated).  If I set it to Adobe RGB, still appears just like sRGB... set it to ProPhotoRGB, the same. And, its as if there's another level of saturation that shouldn't be there. In illustrator, no matter what setting, there's nothing that looks even close to what I see in photoshop, desktop or in my browser, no matter what profile assigned, or working spaced used.  Sorry. I'll dig deeper into the info provided, but I don't think that's the issue. Anyone else with an iMac Pro seeing this? 

    M
    MusicMaxEbbAuthorCorrect answer
    Inspiring
    March 1, 2019

    Solved!  Illustrator was bugged!  This morning I still saw the issue with oversaturated color.  When I tried to make a new document, Illustrator crashed.  When I reopened Illustrator and opened the documents I used to test the color, everything is back to normal— no more neon colors!  Now, what I preview in illustrator is what I get everywhere else, as I expect.

    Here's what I think happened; when I switched my monitor to sRGB and back to my calibrated profile, Illustrator didn't adjust the color space, it kept it in sRGB. Closing and reopening illustrator solved the issue. 

    I'll monitor it over the next few days, and will come back here if it occurs again. 

    Monika Gause
    Community Expert
    Monika GauseCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    February 28, 2019

    You don't set the RGB color space to "Monitor space". You just don't.

    And "look natural" is simply not something to rely on in color management either.

    Please learn about it and then calibrate your systems (all of them) and set up color management to whatever is appropriate to whatever you are doing.

    This course is not for free: Learning Color Management

    The information on the Adobe Help pages is rather limited: Understand Photoshop color management

    M
    MusicMaxEbbAuthor
    Inspiring
    February 28, 2019

    I calibrated my system, and it is using the correct gamma, but that just makes the issue worse.  I work in sRGB... but I would still like to work in a mode native to the display I'm using.  I've been doing this for 13 years and have never had this issue before. I know what I'm doing. Illustrator color spaces are bugged. Monika do you have a iMac pro?  If you did, I think you would see what I see. 

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