Inspiring

Question

Colours on Illustrator suddenly going faded and dull.

Forum|Forum|6 years ago
September 24, 2019
10 replies
25549 views

This is the 2nd time this has happened to me now. I've been working on an illustrator file for a while and it has been fine up until today when the colours suddenly go really dull (it's an RGB file and never changed this) along with the swatches. All the artwork has changed to a much more dull version of itself and everytime I change it back to it's normal colour it fades gradually over time whilst I'm working on it.

This is what suddenyl happened to my swatches, the same thing happened last time too:

Has anyone else had this problem and does anyone know a way to fix it?

Many thanks

Bug

Ton Frederiks

Community Expert

This topic seems to have become about 3 problems:

1 Colors getting dull over time when editing a document, which looks like a problem with color management.

As far as I know nobody has ever shared such a document...

2 Colors getting dull when objects are isolated with ctrl or right click. Causing the objects to be displayed (and stuck) with reduced opacity.

This was supposed to be solved in a recent update.

But you could also change the opacity setting for the Layer

3 Color settings changing to emulate illustrator 6

There is a bug caused by the recent Photoshop update. It sets your Illustrator Color Settings to Emulate Illustrator 6, which turns color management off.

If that is the case, use the CC app to revert Photoshop to the Previous version (22.2.0) and then change your Color Settings to what you want it to be.

I would suggest to create a new detailed post and share files if you happen to see colors getting changed.

W

wimtalker

Participant

I was having the same issue after updating to Illustrator 2021. I think I found the solution.

Edit > Color Settings > Monitor Color

D

defaultjz164uglcd8c

Participating Frequently

Another weird thing is that when this happens it locks other layers or maybe its a feature i don't know about

Ton Frederiks

Community Expert

That looks like a problem caused by right clicking to go into Isolation mode (and never get out of it).

The layer can show a reduced opacity.

Click the dot in the Layers panel for the layer with the reduced opacity objects.

Open the Appearance panel and check the layer opacity. Change it or choose Clear Appearance from the Appearance panel menu.

D

defaultjz164uglcd8c

Participating Frequently

thank you very much i don't know if this is the same issue everyone has but your reply was helpful maybe i mistakenly hit isolation mode all the time this has happened to me

D

defaultjz164uglcd8c

Participating Frequently

I get this problem sometimes but then when I copy my work to a new document it gets its colour back and I think it's not colour management because today clicked on the isolate selected part and I got the same result so maybe there is a bug with it or it was a coincidence i don't know

MRSmith21

Participant

Yes! I just opened Illustrator 2021 and colors are dull and faded, anything I edited in Lightroom looks washed out. It says Embedded Color Profile has been discarded because I am now using Adobe Ill. 6.0. How can I go back to prior settings?

Ashutosh_Mishra

Inspiring

Hi there,

Sorry to hear about your experience. Please try suggestions given on this community post & let us know if they help you out.

Regards,

Ashutosh

MRSmith21

Participant

I had someone help me reset Color Management in Bridges, then uninstalled Photoshop 2021, it was making the color look really off. Restarted everything and color was restored but it took awhile. I would have never been able to rename files in folders I have never seen, go to Bridges and then restart (it was a process). Bottom line, newer Photoshop (and Ill. ?) may throw color mangement off. I reached out to Adobe. Thankfully everything was fixed!

Ton Frederiks

Community Expert

This topic seems to have become about 2 problems:

Colors getting dull over time when editing a document, which looks like a problem with color management.

As far as I know nobody has ever shared such a document...

Colors getting dull when objects are isolated with ctrl or right click. Causing the objects to be displayed (and stuck) with reduced opacity.

This was solved in a recent update.

I would suggest to create a new detailed post and share files if you happen to see colors getting dull.

mdhcoles

Participant

This just happend to me – in the newest Illustrator 2021, I just copied and pasted all the artwork into a brand new document and colours work fine and are not in the weird buggy isolated view mode.

I accidently hit Isolate Selected Group with the mouse shortcut menu when working on a pattern and it looks like it glitched out – basically made the rest of the art board appaear faded (apart from the original pattern but there was no way to escape the Isolated Selected Group view it even let me redo the isolation) but there's no way to release the group or escape from the view!

G

Gabriella5C7D

Participant

Same thing for me - have you worked out how to correct it?

Monika Gause

Community Expert

These issues get reported over and over.

Since nobody yet has provided full information about their workflow, their color management, color profiles etc, there can't be a solution.

You have to check all your color management settings and if they are appropriate (in general and for this workflow). You have to check the color profiles of the files you are using (the work file and files you are copying from). You have to check the soft prrof settings.

If you haven't learnt color management, then stop everything and do it now. Color management has been there for 20 years. It won't go away. If you can read German, there is an e-book available for free at www.cleverprinting.de. You can also check out the introductory information on https://colourmanagement.co.uk/

And then there are trainings available on LinkedIn (not for free).

D

Dominic5FD9

Participant

Hi,

Has this been sorted yet? We've got a presentation to our board of directors tomorrow and the file colour has just gone completely faded – check all the comments and the settings are fine. It seems to be a brilliant update from Adobe aka a bug.

Can you please find a solution or workaround asap please.

Monika Gause

Community Expert

How is your color management set up?

Which color profile is attached to the file?

Do you use the soft proof?

Pentax

Participant

Hi Monika, I have just returned to an older file that I made last year and now I'm facing the same issue. I haven't made any changes to the file or my settings but the colours in Illustrator have faded. I have placed a file on top of my art in the attached screenshot to compare. The placed file is the correct colour and looks as I exported it. I have screenshotted my colour settings for you here too if that's any use.

tarakb

Participant

Has anyone solved this? I have the same issue! Nobody online seems to know the answer.. I just updated my illustrator, I hope that helps. I have never seen this before and it's very frustrating and inconvenient. I have had to spend hours re-coloring.

Thanks,

Graham

Monika Gause

Community Expert

How is your color management set up and which color profile is applied to the file?

Srishti Bali

Community Manager

Hi Samuel,

Sorry to hear about this. If I get your query, actual interface looks faded or its just the artwork and swatches. I would request if you can share a few more details like:

OS and version of Illustrator
Document color settings
How does other application look on screen?
Is Illustrator open on secondary monitor?
Please share some screenshots of how it should look originally.

We’re here to help, just need more info.

Regards,

Srishti

C

caseys30998752

Participant

I've just had the exact same thing happen to me across Illustrator and Indesign. All colours were working perfectly and then suddenlty they've dulled. I haven't changed any trasnparency, overprint or colour settings.

I haven't updated my coputer (MacOS Mojave) and I haven't changed or updated Adobe programs (CS6).

What else can I try to get this working again!?

Screenshots below: