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brian-j
Inspiring
October 29, 2013
Answered

Color change when copy Illustrator CS6 artwork into Photoshop

  • October 29, 2013
  • 3 replies
  • 33026 views

When I copy artwork from an Illustrator CS6 RGB file and paste it as a smart object into Photoshop CS6 the colors are changing slightly. Here's an example:

RGB 234, 76, 52 (original color in Illustrator artwork)

RGB 233, 75, 52 (color of smart object pasted into Photoshop)

Any idea why the color is changing? I need the color to be an exact match.

I have CS6 Creative Suite and the applications are synchronized using the same color settings (North America General Purpose 2). I've tried using both proccessed and spot colors in Illustrator but have the same issue with both.

Thanks to anyone who can help.

      This topic has been closed for replies.
      Correct answer brian-j

      Thanks Mike. Your solution worked - kind of...

      I set Illustrator color settings to Emulate Illustrator 6.0.

      If I create a new Photoshop document and copy/paste the Illustrator artwork into Photoshop as a smart object the colors are a perfect match. However, if I copy/paste the Illustrator artwork into the existing Photoshop document I've been working with the colors are still off.

      Do I have to create a new Photoshop document for the color setting change in Illustrator to take effect? I don't see why that would be.

      3 replies

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      Christopher36582905s0iy
      Participant
      April 7, 2024

      SIMPLE FIX:

      As of 4/7/24 I'm using CS6 Mojave - Set Illustrator Color Settings --> Edit/Color Settings - to  Emulate 6.0 and Save Doc. Then drag the doc to the Photoshop Icon to open it. Under Color Settings --> Edit/Color Settings choose 'Monitor Color'. Make sure both docs are RGB. This will at least work for sharing docs digitally with congruency.

       

      That worked for me. 

       

       

      Monika Gause
      Community Expert
      Monika GauseCommunity Expert
      Community Expert
      April 7, 2024

      Don't ever set your RGB working color space to your monitor profile.

      Instead please learn about color management.

      E
      emil emil
      Inspiring
      October 29, 2013

      I checked that with 234, 76, 52 and got 234, 75, 52 when using the same color space in both programs. Yours is more different with 234 becoming 233. If I save or export a file from Illustrator and open, place, or drag it in Photoshop the numbers stay the same. Also opening the smart object in Illustrator from Photoshop shows the original unmodified numbers.

      The thing that must be noted is that both programs render (send to the monitor) the same values from 234, 76, 52 in Illustrator and 234, 75, 52 in Photoshop so, the monitor shows identical colors when using these two different values. I even created the two different colors 234, 76, 52 and 234, 75, 52 next to each other in  Illustrator  and the monitor renders them the same. To make this test yourself create two colors in illustrator with your different values 234, 76, 52 and 233, 75, 52 next to each other then take a screen capture and paste it in Illustrator or Photoshop then measure the colors with the eyedropper to see if they are the same.

      I think the explanation to all this is rounding errors depending on the monitor profile used. 8 bit monitors with wider gamut color space have to make bigger jumps from one band (shade) to another to map one color space to another. 10 bit capable monitors and video card combination which are not available a lot should address this issue better.

      Mike_Gondek10189183
      Community Expert
      Mike_Gondek10189183Community Expert
      Community Expert
      October 29, 2013

      Emil what are your color management settings? I was getting the same exact result as the original poster and am North American General Purpose 2.

      The medium red color the original poster is working with is not even a color that shifts that much. We have seen worse, prior to the fix for deassigning the color profile in Illustrator.

      I also get my Photoshop foreground color shifting slightly after applied, and do not like that and can only speculate on the reason.

      Interestingly though if I make an adjustment layer of solid color, the color is what I enter.

      But for my needs making 3D package renderings, getting the color to match between Illustrator and Photoshop is crucial, so turning off color management in Illustrator works. Systems like Hell, Scitex or Crossfield had many other faults, but alteast color was color that worked and we did not have to look for excuses for why color does not work. Sorry Adobe but got to say your efforts at color management, have created more color mismanagement.

      E
      emil emil
      Inspiring
      October 29, 2013

      I made my tests with the North American General Purpose 2 settings and this is what I use most of the time but sometimes with different modifications depending on the job. I think color values shifting when applying colors within Photoshop is a bug because I've seen  the same color values sometimes  change and sometimes they stay while no color settings have been changed. Apparently there is another variable factor affecting it but I can't figure it out.

      They designed the color management to match as close as possible appearance and not values. So whenever matching values is needed we have to turn the color management off. The problem is that it is always on and turning it off is a convoluted process using workarounds which sometimes may not work because of glitches occurring between various system and  programs processes in charge of all this.

      Mike_Gondek10189183
      Community Expert
      Mike_Gondek10189183Community Expert
      Community Expert
      October 29, 2013

      I agree the way you are doing this having both Photoshop and Illustrator in the same color settings, is what logically sounds as the correct way to work. Unfortunately the Adobe color management is so convoluted, that even the worlds experts have difficulty getting this to work.

      You need to turn off color management in Illustrator, set to emulate Illustrator 6.

      B
      brian-jAuthorCorrect answer
      Inspiring
      October 29, 2013

      Thanks Mike. Your solution worked - kind of...

      I set Illustrator color settings to Emulate Illustrator 6.0.

      If I create a new Photoshop document and copy/paste the Illustrator artwork into Photoshop as a smart object the colors are a perfect match. However, if I copy/paste the Illustrator artwork into the existing Photoshop document I've been working with the colors are still off.

      Do I have to create a new Photoshop document for the color setting change in Illustrator to take effect? I don't see why that would be.

      E
      emil emil
      Inspiring
      October 29, 2013

      emulating Illustrator 6 gets the correct values but turns the color management of the display off. The values in the file will be the same as the values sent to the monitor. I'm using a wide gamut monitor and the colors are displayed completely differently than intended. One solution is to turn it off only for copying and pasting and then back in order to see what I'm doing.

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