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GadgetAngel
GadgetAngel
Inspiring
July 25, 2020
Answered

Color is wrong when a PNG image is placed on the same page as JPG for Adobe Acrobat

  • July 25, 2020
  • 2 replies
  • 795 views

Here is my problem:  (read the PDF file pages as it descibes the issue) Also all work was done on one machine. My window 10 Lenovo ThinkPad W540 Laptop which has a Pantone color calibrator for the screen.

 

The PDF file can be downloaded from my google drive :   https://drive.google.com/file/d/1oaCQE6-Ja0ZCUKgOf43gUcP-TNlMEXu4/view?usp=sharing

    This topic has been closed for replies.
    Correct answer rob day

    PDF does support transparency but as a layered file format support using Illustrator and Indesign overprint, but clear areas without pixels as PNG supports which have no color

     

    InDesign, also has a Transparency Blend Space, which can be included with a PDF Export, but it doesn’t have anything to do with layers or overprinting. ID allows different color spaces on the same spread—RGB, Lab, or CMYK—so there has to be a common color space for cases where transparent objects with different color spaces get flattened at output or export.

     

    Here are two out-of-gamut RGB page items on a page with no transparent objects and a single layer.

     

     

    My blend space is set to CMYK, so adding any transparent object will proof the entire spread (including RGB objects that have no transparency applied) in the document CMYK profile’s gamut.

     

     

    If I set my blend space to RGB the objects preview as RGB:

     

     

    Illustrator has a document color space, so the blend space is the document’s Color Mode

     

    2 replies

    rob day
    Community Expert
    rob dayCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    July 25, 2020

    The PDF you posted has Transparency, but no Transparency Blend Space is defined, so it is looking to your Acrobat preferences for the default blend space, which is probably CMYK.

     

     

    You can set a default Transparency Blend Space in Preferences.

     

     

    Setting the default to RGB will display the transparent objects as RGB, but you can’t know whether someone else viewing the PDF will use the same prefs. There is the option to flatten the PDF into the sRGB space via the Flattener Preview in  Print Tools. The Acrobat blend space preference won’t affect the color when there’s no live transparency.

     

    Bob_Hallam
    Bob_Hallam
    Legend
    July 26, 2020

    Neither jpeg the nor png appears to have transparency.   PDF does support transparency but as a layered file format support using Illustrator and Indesign overprint, but clear areas without pixels as PNG supports which have no color 

    ICC programmer and developer, Photographer, artist and color management expert, Print standards and process expert.
    rob day
    Community Expert
    rob dayCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    July 26, 2020

    Neither jpeg the nor png appears to have transparency

     

    But there is transparency on the PDF pages, and that’s all it takes to invoke the transparency blend space:

     

     

    I can replicate the OP’s problem by setting my Acrobat Blending Color Space default to CMYK. The OP can’t assume viewers will set their blend space preference to RGB, or will be viewing in Acrobat Pro’s Output Preview with sRGB as the Simulation profile, so a solution is to flatten the pages into the sRGB space, so the blend space is not used.

     

    Bob_Hallam
    Bob_Hallam
    Legend
    July 25, 2020

    From what I see in this PDF both images (although placed at different sizes)  have the same appearance and same color values.  Check the simulation profile you are using to view with.  sRGB works perfectly in this case and there is no difference.  

     

    Acrobat is not a page layout too like InDesign where every element is managed and consolidated.  It supports one RGB, one CMYK and Lab color only which can be set up at the time the document is created and not easily changed.  After the color space of the document is set all elements using it are displayed using that colorspace.  A better workflow tool for this would be InDesign or Illustrator and create PDF's from those tools.

     

    ICC programmer and developer, Photographer, artist and color management expert, Print standards and process expert.
    GadgetAngel
    GadgetAngelAuthor
    Inspiring
    August 14, 2020

    Thank you for the input.  I agree with you.  I am now using Indesign to layout this document.  I have over 700 pages to do but you are right.  Indesign manages the color space and I get alot more features using this layout tool then I did by using Adobe Acrobat DC and manually layout the document.  I did not know about Indesign so again, thank you for pointing this tool out to me.

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