Graphics/images are randomly inverting themselves

[Holton Recorder]

For the past couple of days, whenever I open an ad, be it from last year or last month, graphics or photos will randomly invert themselves. On an ad with multiple graphics, it's not even the entire ad - it's only one image. Many of these graphics have been in our files for years. They are not linked, but I don't have the originals anymore, so it's a burden when they're inverted like this. Why are they doing this and how can I fix it?

[Holton Recorder]

BUMP. Anything???

[Ton Frederiks]

I have seen this mentioned before, but that was a long time ago and fixed in an update,

It may be best to contact Adobe support and ask for an agent: https://helpx.adobe.com/contact.html?rghtup=autoOpen

[Holton Recorder]

If it was fixed in an update, I don't understand why I'd still have the issue.

[Bobby Henderson]

It might be a bit annoying, but if you select one of the inverted images you should see a "Edit in Photoshop" button on the upper toolbar (I'm using Illustrator's "Essentials Classic" workspace). In Photoshop. Clicking that will open the image file in Photoshop. You can select Image>Adjustments>Invert to flip the image back into a positive looking one rather than negative.

Embedded images can be inverted within Illustrator. Go to the Edit menu>Edit Colors>Invert Colors.

[Holton Recorder]

There is no Edit in Photoshop option in any workspace, and inverting colors directly in Illustrator does nothing. We don't embed anything in our Illustrator files because we don't want to risk broken links, which would cause us to lose data.

[Bobby Henderson]

In your original post you said the images were not linked, which would imply the images are embedded. In either case the images can be edited in Photoshop. I attached a screen shot from Illustrator showing an example of what I see on the upper toolbar.

Embedded images have no links. The image data is contained within the Illustrator document. Linking images does have its advantages, such as keeping Illustrator file sizes lower. Embedding images in Illustrator documents can make file sizes gigantic pretty quickly. The downside of linking files is it requires people to keep their file assets organized. But I think anyone using a computer should be doing that anyway.

If you're not seeing any "Edit in Photoshop" buttons when selecting the inverted images it makes me wonder about the nature of the imagery. When you click on one of the images to select it what does the verbiage on the tool bar say? Does it mention anything strange, such as "Non-Native Art"? Sometimes if other people create Illustrator AI, PDF or EPS files using applications other than Adobe Illustrator some odd things can get baked into the artwork.

[Holton Recorder]

The option for Edit in Photoshop is grayed out when the image is selected:

I also tried right-clicking the photo to see if that would give me any options, but there is nothing:

[Ton Frederiks]

Does Edit > Edit Colors > Invert Colors work for you?

[Holton Recorder]

No, it does not. That  just makes the image all white, so it disappears completely.

[Bobby Henderson]

There has to be some kind of effect applied to the embedded JPEG image for it to not react normally to an invert colors command. When the object is selected what kinds of things are listed in the Appearance panel?

[Holton Recorder]

This is what shows up in the Appearance panel:

[Ton Frederiks]

Can you share the Illustrator file? Save as pdf and add it to a message or usen sharing apps.

[Monika Gause]

Maybe unembed the image and then edit it in Photoshop?

[Holton Recorder]

It's an image we've used on the ad for 10+ years, so we don't have the original anymore. I had to go to an old saved page file, open it in Photoshop, crop out just that picture, then save it and re-paste it into the AI file. A lot of seemingly unneccessary steps. And it's not just this file - several are doing it at random, meaning I have to do this same tactic every time it happens.

[Ton Frederiks]

Can you share one example file?

[Ton Frederiks · Accepted solution]

Thanks for sharing, I see the inverted image in the PDF when opened in Illustrator.

Acrobat displays this correctly.

It is indeed strange what is happening, inverting the image makes it white.

When I direct select the image and choose Edit > Edit Colors > Convert to Greyscale

It inverts the inverted image. This now looks as it should.

Saving as PDF also looks correct.

I don’t know why this works, maybe the very high 1136 ppi has something to do with it.

[Holton Recorder]

That's strange, but it's a simple solution! I tried it and it works, so I'll go with it! Thank you so much! That will definitely save time!

[Ton Frederiks]

Good to hear that helped.

[silk-m]

The image will be inverted under the following conditions.

You're using macOS Ventura.

View using GPU.

Images are embedded as bitmaps.
CMYK documents.

High resolution.

Even under the above conditions, inverted does not necessarily occur.

https://illustrator.uservoice.com/forums/601447-illustrator-desktop-bugs/suggestions/48477803-gpuプレビ... 

[Holton Recorder]

I'm using Monterey, not Ventura. The document is in grayscale, not CMYK. The image is a jpg, not a bitmap. I don't know how to tell if it's GUP or high resolution.

[Brad @ Roaring Mouse]

"I also tried right-clicking the photo to see if that would give me any options, but there is nothing:"

There won't be. If your picture is indeed embedded, go to the Links panel and select the graphic and Unembed it. That new file will now Link and you can open it in Photoshop, either by simply holding down your Option key and double-clicking on it, or opening the newly saved file wherever it's saved.

(When you Unembed, you will be presented with options to save as non-compressed format like PSD or TIF, so don't be surprised if you don't see JPG as an option.)