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Astarte01
Inspiring
November 6, 2024
Question

Colors don't match when updating smart objects

  • November 6, 2024
  • 1 reply
  • 639 views

Hello everyone, I'm going crazy and can't figure out where I'm going wrong.

 

A year ago, I created icons for a macOS program (so, ICNS files). To do this, I used a PSD file provided by Apple in 2022. All the instances in various sizes are included in the same file; you just double-click on the smart object, Illustrator opens, you create the icon design, and when you save, all the instances update automatically. It all worked perfectly.

 

Now, a year later, I need to create new icons. But when I edit the Illustrator file and save it, the PSD updates with colors that don't match the previous icons. Of course, whenever I open the documents in either PS or AI, I choose to keep the embedded profile, but something isn’t working anymore.

 

Any ideas? Thank you, bye!

 

Here an image with the color differences between an icon from last year and a current one.

 

This topic has been closed for replies.

1 reply

D Fosse
Community Expert
D FosseCommunity Expert
Community Expert
November 6, 2024

Is there an embedded profile in both the embedded smart object and the master PSD? Which profile is it?

 

The standard / usual explanation for this is an untagged file. If that's not it, let us know. I've bumped into a few similar cases on Mac lately, with exactly the same blue/cyan anomaly (likely caused by a tiny shift in the red primary).

 

In those cases we seem to be left with a MacOS bug, as all other possible explanations have been eliminated.

A
Astarte01Author
Inspiring
November 7, 2024

Hi, thanks for your reply!

Yes the documents both have an ambedded profile.

The PSD file has a sRGB IEC61966-2.1 profile, while the Illustrator file has a Display profile.

The colors change not only if I modify the icon in Illustrator by creating a new one, but also if I resize one of those already present in the PSD file and inserted as a smart object. That one changes colors, the others remain the same.

But as I said, a year ago I made three different icons without any problems, the files are the same.

D Fosse
Community Expert
D FosseCommunity Expert
Community Expert
November 7, 2024

OK - here's one thing to try for diagnostics: Go into Photoshop Color Settings and change from "Adobe Color Engine" to "Apple Color Engine". If that seems to fix it, as it did in the other cases, it's a MacOS bug and someone needs to tell Apple about it.

 

A color engine isn't an interpretation.  It's supposed to accurately convert from one profile into the other and represent the numbers correctly.

 

(EDIT - just to be clear about the Illustrator file, you do mean "Display P3", not your actual display profile? If the latter, convert it to a standard profile).

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