Known Participant

Question

RGB colors become dull in Acrobat PDFs

Forum|Forum|13 years ago
August 24, 2012
17 replies
86206 views

I'm using CS6 and when I create a PDF, the RGB colors appear much duller than the original source file. The shift is about (if not exactly) what you would see if you converted an RGB document with bright colors to CMYK.

I'm on a Mac using the latest update to OS X. My typical process for creating a PDF is by starting with Photoshop JPEGs and using the "Combine Files in a Single PDF" function, or by exporting an InDesign document (with RGB art) directly to a PDF.

If I open the exported PDF in either Adobe Acrobat Pro (10.1.4) or the latest version of Adobe Reader, the bright, saturated RGB colors in the original document appears noticeably dull in the PDF.

I've experimented with several different Color Settings to no avail, including different RGB settings (sRGB, Adobe RGB (1998), etc.). Currently my settings are using Bridge to Synchronize my Color Settings across my CS6 apps (Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, Acrobat) and have confirmed they are all reporting a Synchronized state.

My overall Color Setting is "Monitor Color" (though I've also tried others, including the default North American General Purpose). My RGB Workspace for all apps is set to the Profile of my Dell monitor, which was created with Apple's built-in calibration tool (not the best, I know, but wouldn't account for a difference as dramatic as this.) And my Color Management Policies under these Syncronized settings are all automatically set to "Off".

As a test, if I export my RGB InDesign document to a JPEG and open that file back in Photoshop, the colors are fine—unchanged from the original look as they originally appeared in Photoshop. It's only when I go to Acrobat that the colors shift to a duller version.

I keep looking in Acrobat preferences for a "Display PDF with Embedded Profile" or something along those lines, but Acrobat Color Management settings are the same as all my other CS6 apps.

Any thoughts?

Thanks,

R

This topic has been closed for replies.

T

TheWoodman

Participating Frequently

I'm having the same problem. The on-screen RGB colors appear to be doing the same thing when you, for example, switch from RGB to CMYK color mode in Illustrator.

SIDE NOTE: Opening the PDF in Mac Preview will show the original saturated colors.

I just got off an "Official Adobe Acrobat CC" chat (PAID!). And he had NO ANSWERS.

T

Test Screen Name

Legend

How were the pictures made? What colour profile was used?

M

manifestphoto_com

Participating Frequently

Pictures are in sRGB.

lrosenth

Adobe Employee

And the default in Acrobat is Adobe RGB. I suspect you may be seeing the difference between sRGB and Adobe RGB. This is why you should always ensure that your images have the profile embedded in them when they are incorporated into PDF.

T

Test Screen Name

Legend

So, how did you make it? The original poster was using InDesign CS6. What colour profile do you use? What transparency blend space?

M

manifestphoto_com

Participating Frequently

This is a document with embedded pictures. I tried multiple methods of creating the PDF, including export from MS Word, export from OpenOffice, and right-click file to create Adobe PDF. All results the same: look fine in Chrome, look dull in Acrobat.

M

mali architect

Participant

Hi R. Sinclair. I'm not using a Mac (it's my work PC desktop) but I've had this same problem forever. I finally figured it out on my end - not sure if it's helpful to you. If you go to plot/print in Adobe Acrobat

- click on “advanced” in the bottom left corner

– select “Color Management” on the list to the left

– go to “Color Profile” drop down

– select “Working RGB: sRGB…”

Tada! Again, this worked for PC, not sure about MAC. Hope it helps, though.

M

mali architect

Participant

Oh woops, I was looking at the first page posts. Looks like this was suggested already in above post. Oh well: I endorse JM's post

B

bruggeka9

Participant

I had a similar issue, when saving a CMYK Illustrator file with a linked RGB photo in side the Illustrator file. When I tried to save as a pdf, the colors became extremely dull/washed out. Being a novice to Illustrator, I'm not sure if this is the ideal answer...but when I chose Profile Inclusion Policy: Include All Profiles, that seemed to save my pdf with the correct colors.

Can anyone verify if this is an ok way to save the PDF, as a print shop will be printing the file? I just want to make sure they have all the information they need in the files, so that the file prints the colors correctly (as in the same view I get when looking at .ai file).

Thanks!

Dov Isaacs

Legend

You should be aware that those “dull colors” are exactly what will print. CMYK inks used by printers simply don't have the wide range (i.e., what we call “gamut”) that RGB screens do. Using the method of leaving the colors unchanged and embedding the profiles in the PDF file will allow for the images to display brilliantly, but unless you use special printing processes that use additional inks, what prints will not look as bright and brilliant. Note that leaving the images as RGB with profiles for printing is best practice and virtually all RIPs and digital printers do properly process color-managed workflows, but some Luddite printers are ignorant of that fact and might demand that you convert everything to CMYK before they will print. Too bad!

- Dov

- Dov Isaacs, former Adobe Principal Scientist (April 30, 1990 - May 30, 2021)

-

-_JM_-

Known Participant

Why is Acrobat Pro DC setting the Color Profile to the monitor profile, not the working profile that is sync'd with the rest of the CC apps? The part that says "Working RGB:.." is Acrobat assigning the monitor profile as the working RGB or is it picking this up from somewhere else? I use an i1 profiler.

screen grab below from the advanced print settings.

thanks.

G

GPGW

Known Participant

I find the issue does not occur in Acrobat Reader, but (still) occurs in Acrobat XI Pro.

I'm running OS X 10.10.3 and have hoped this issue would be resolved by now, especially after forking out do$h for new CC subscription.

To add further insult, it looks fine in Apple's Preview, Safari and Google Chrome also.

T

Test Screen Name

Legend

Perhaps it is fixed in the current version.

A

Anonymous

For those like me who scroll to the bottom of the page to see if there is a solution. This already was mentioned above by others.

Workaround that works for me

A little Tool, that was specificly written for this bug.

https://github.com/iccir/ColorFaker

I only use this when softproofing in Acrobat and disable it right afterwards because of the side effects when converting to sRGB.

Enjoy softproofing again

JO

In OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion, when a color or image lacks an embedded color profile, it is interpreted in the sRGB color space. Previously, the main display's color space was used.
As a result, color meter utilities will show values after an sRGB → Main Display conversion. While many meters offer a "Display in sRGB" feature, using it will result in a double conversion. This results in rounding errors or clipped values.
Color Faker replaces the Generic RGB and sRGB color profiles with the main display's profile. This allows "native values" in color meters to once again be the native values of the display.
As a side-effect, any "Convert to sRGB" or "Assign sRGB Profile" commands in applications will no longer work. You will still be able to manually assign the backup sRGB profile.

L

LarsMerkur

Participating Frequently

Anyone tested yesterdays update?

B

Bonobanzee1972

Participating Frequently

Have a look over here. http://forums.adobe.com/message/5320209

B

Bonobanzee1972

Participating Frequently

I have exactly the same issue running 10.8.2 and Acrobat XI.

B

Bonobanzee1972

Participating Frequently

To add, this issue affects all PDF files, past and present, from all sources.

E

ejodacii

Participant

I have just gone through this, and by trial and error got the results I wanted. I, too, was plagued with the dull pdf which then printed dull when I converted it to tiff and uploaded it to be printed.

Here is what I did to correct my problem

Check this: transparency blend space: to rgb

When exporting to pdf for print;

color output to hanns ( my monitor

color conversion -convert to destination

destination-(Document RGB-(current monitor)

Birghtened it right up....

sorry for the repost...

R

R. SinclairAuthor

Known Participant

Can someone from Adobe please weigh in here?

This is obviously not an isolated issues, nor was it addressed in the release of Acrobat XI.

It should be helpful to know that the problem seems to be specific to Mountain Lion. I started this thread and have since gotten a new Macbook Pro (with the older Lion installed) and do not have the color problem on this system. But now I have to avoid installing Mountain Lion until this issue is addressed.

Thanks,

Robert

J

Joshfree

Known Participant

Still no word from Adobe, but maybe it'll happen if we keep bumping this thread. I am seeing a similar shift, though in my case Acrobat is displaying an intense, over-the-top cherry red no matter how I adjust the original red in my (in this case) InDesign document. When I display the file in Preview, the colors match what I'm seeing InDesign.

G

George_Johnson

Inspiring

Whoever thinks this is a bug in Acrobat should submit a bug report. It is a mistake to count on someone from Adobe seeing this thread and taking some action. The more bug reports the better.

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