pdf's of same image darker in illustrator than in Indesign

Forum|Forum|1 year ago
August 6, 2024
3 replies
478 views

I use the same image file for a book cover, made in Illustrator, and in the book interior, made in Indesign. They look the same in the Illustrator and Indesign files. However, producing a pdf from either results in a much darker image in the Illustrator pdf. The image is greyscale. What could be the cause of this?

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Correct answer Monika Gause

Settings for the PDF are the same?

Then the only reason can be that Illustrator cannot handle the greyscale color profile very well.

https://community.adobe.com/t5/illustrator-discussions/issue-when-adding-greyscale-files-into-illustrator-they-loose-contrast/m-p/11805014

F

Frits5C99Author

Known Participant

Thanks everyone for reactions. Problem seems to be solved, see above.

Ton Frederiks

Community Expert

Good to hear you've got it solved, but what was the difference in settings that caused the problem?

Ton Frederiks

Community Expert

There are many problems with greyscale images in Illustrator.

Depending on if the are embedded or linked, placed in an RGB or CMYK document, they become darker or transparent. See this report from 2020:

https://illustrator.uservoice.com/forums/601447-illustrator-desktop-bugs/suggestions/41260390-embedded-grayscale-image-in-rgb-document-becomes-t

Monika Gause

Correct answer

Community Expert

Settings for the PDF are the same?

Then the only reason can be that Illustrator cannot handle the greyscale color profile very well.

https://community.adobe.com/t5/illustrator-discussions/issue-when-adding-greyscale-files-into-illustrator-they-loose-contrast/m-p/11805014

F

Frits5C99Author

Known Participant

Settings for pdf were not the same. Making them the same as in Indesign solved it! (And I'm glad it did, as trying to understand the other discussion would cost me another evening...)

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