Illustrator Changing CMYK Values

[scottsbluffs26678226]

So I'm setting up artwork for t-shirt separations. I have to use absolute CMYK values to print the separartions accurately, i.e. 100% Black, 50% Yellow, 25% Cyan to match the halftones and color combinations I need to make out spot ink colors.

The issue I'm having is converting an object to my CMYK tones. It is a complex object, made with several layers and a gradient mesh. I set one color to 100% Cyan, and it changes to 69% Cyan and 14% Yellow the next time I check it. From 100%Magenta and 100% Black, it goes to 57, 75, 68, 82.

I am using the "Recolor Artwork" tool.

I have changed my Document Set Up to CMYK and have tried copying it into a completely new document already set to CMYK. Typing in the values or selecting them from the swatches has no effect.

[Lori229839202zfw]

And thank you this will be the last time I post so you needn't worry.

[Patrick254550003j57]

Was having same problem... however, when editing colors in this area, they worked and stopped converting. 

[SundayGladiator · Accepted solution]

Wish I could upload here the 'THANK YOU!' gif of Steve Carell from The Office.

This finally worked. The key for me was to create a Spot Color of the CMYK values I needed. 

The kludgyness and layers of AI's color profiles, workspaces, headspaces, et al was giving me a spatial headache. 

[Rhiannon38942149261c]

Thank you.

I had the same issue and that worked.

[Eric1674]

I'm having this issue and can't get a solution. I've been using illustrator since 88...

[Monika Gause]

I'm having this issue and can't get a solution. I've been using illustrator since 88...

By @Eric1674

Please describe your issue. This is a long thread and there might be several issues described in it. Also: which version and which system are you using.

[murrayb16928514]

Just thought I'd share my issues on a similar subject too, when setting up a simple block object / icon with a shade of colour / grey, for example, C0 M0 Y0 K93, I would then re open the colour pallette to check the colour of the selected object and it would erratically change to something (cant remember the exact values) but the CMYK would all be different numbers. (Document is definitely set up in CMYK not RGB) I found that if i then change the object to something like C0 M0 Y0 K100, then back to C0 M0 Y0 K93, it would then hold its true value of the 93K. Very strange, must be a glitch in Illustrator! Thought I would share for anyone else experiencing same issues.

[defaultgyqoc6r3sih9]

I didn't find a solution to the same problem in this thread (which might be because I didn't see it), but I found another forum that explained that it's all about the setting of the original document. It seems pretty simple, though it doesn't help fix the problem in the document you're woking in becasue it can't be fixed. But a way round it is to open a new a new document with CMYK set at the very start and then paste the content from the problematic document into the new CMYK document. Then re-spec the colours as CMYK (again), for example 60C. This time when you check, the colour will stll be 60C insteaed having changed to a combination of CMYK. This might be an issue when you're using a document as the basis of other docuemnst, i.e. 'save as' (as I do alot) as you simply take the settings of the original with you and you can't change them once set. https://graphicdesign.stackexchange.com/questions/16512/how-to-prepare-a-design-for-cmyk

[Monika Gause]

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@defaultgyqoc6r3sih9  schrieb:

 though it doesn't help fix the problem in the document you're woking in becasue it can't be fixed. 

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So what makes you think that color in a document cannot be fixed?

Not talking about a corrupted document here, but color that cannot be fixed.

[pc12345678]

This works for me -- thank you!

[S38937906kex3]

the original cmyk i wanted to use was #19184A but when exported as pdf, it became #1B1849.

There is a difference in color; the picture in the upper one is a screenshot of a file open in Adobe Acrobat, and below is an Illustrator file.

[Monika Gause]

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@S38937906kex3  schrieb:

the original cmyk i wanted to use was #19184A but when exported as pdf, it became #1B1849.

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Your case is different from this thread.

HEX color is not suitable for CMYK