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Question

Convert from ACES PSD to Adobe RGB PSD with layers and transparencies

Forum|Forum|1 day ago
May 19, 2026
5 replies
61 views

Hello everyone,

we have a question regarding an ACES workflow. Background: We render in Maya/V-Ray Multichannel EXR 32 bit files and and edit them in Photoshop.Previously, we only required 8-bit TIFF images without layers. Now, however, we need PSD or TIF files with layers and transparency.

Summary: We have a PSD file with three layers, two of which contain transparency in the ACES color space (See Image 01). We require this PSD file—with the 3 layers and transparencies—in the Adobe RGB color space. If we use "Duplicate Image Into Profile" (see image 02), the image looks exactly the same as before, but we lose all layers and transparencies.

Is there a way to convert the image—including layers and transparencies—to the Adobe RGB color space?

I just asked this question in a thread about multichannel EXR files. Please excuse the duplicate post; I thought it would be better for others if it were in its own separate thread.

Thank you in advance for your help.

Best

Lars GerstenmaierAuthor

Participating Frequently

@Stephen Marsh Thank you again for your offer of help.

Stephen Marsh

Community Expert

@Lars Gerstenmaier - You’re welcome. I’m still happy to take a look at a sample file, however, you may already have an alternative now.

Lars GerstenmaierAuthor

Participating Frequently

@Stephen Marsh I will try to create one. The original file is confidential. But need to find some minutes for that.

D Fosse

Community Expert

I see one thing I wrote was a bit misleading and unclear:

Tha actual values in the file are obviously recalculated in the conversion. That's not what I was referring to. The problem is numerical adjustments (manually set) and blend gamma (determined by the color space, or set manually).

But you got the gist of it anyway :-)

Lars GerstenmaierAuthor

Participating Frequently

Thanks @D Fosse for your thoughts and hints. My colleague expressed something very similar today. I was likely somewhat blinded by the fact that when the image is flattened to a single layer, the results in ACES and Adobe RGB look almost identical.I overlooked the fact that things are actually a bit different with transparencies, since the pixels are calculated together and this depends on the color space.

In other words, we cannot simply "transfer" a 32-bit edit in the ACES color space—involving multiple layers—into the Adobe color space. Since our client requires an 8-bit image in the Adobe color space with layers, we must create the layers in the Adobe color space following the 32-bit editing.

That settles the matter. Thank you all for your help.

Lars GerstenmaierAuthor

Participating Frequently

By the way: We work a Mac with PSD 27.7.0.

Stephen Marsh

Community Expert

@Lars Gerstenmaier - Can you provide a download link to a layered file for testing?

Lars GerstenmaierAuthor

Participating Frequently

@Stephen Marsh We will prepare a file.

We have since found a workaround, though it is not very elegant and functions suboptimally. Simply put, we insert the transparent reflection layer as a PNG into the converted 8-bit Adobe RGB PSD file.

Stephen Marsh

Community Expert

@Lars Gerstenmaier - I'm not familiar with your image 2 screenshot, can you post a screenshot of the menu command highlighting where this feature is located, as I think it's getting lost in translation.

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