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RelativeOptics
New Participant
March 6, 2024
Question

Incorrectly Rendering Colors When Zoomed Out

  • March 6, 2024
  • 1 reply
  • 909 views

 

I exported some graphs as pdfs from a program called RStudio, where I defined colors by HEX code.  If I open these pdfs in: Preview or Affinity Designer the colors match what I see in RStudio.  However, if I open the pdfs in Illustrator, the colors appear darker.  After much troubleshooting, I found that Adobe Illustrator is 'recoloring' the images when I view at 100% or less.  If I zoom in, the colors magically revert to their expected shades.  I can view the pdf with Preview and Affinity Designer at any Zoom and the colors are displayed correctly (tested down to 20%).

 

The issue is with color rendering in Illustrator and it only affects the color I see on my monitor:

  • If I export the artboard from illustrator as a png, and then open the png in Preview, the colors appear as they should.
  • Printing either the pdf from Preview, or the artboard from Illustrator, results in identical colors being printed.

 

What is causing Adobe Illustrator to do this, and can I change its behavior so that it renders colors correctly at all scales/zoom? 

 

My document is in RGB.  My color settings for RGB are sRGB IEC61966-2.1.  I've also tried Apple RGB with the same outcome.  The HEX codes used during image creation are: Orange #f58231, Brown #9A6324, Magenta #CA2C92

macOS Sonoma 14.3.1

Adobe Illustrator 28.3

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    1 reply

    Ton Frederiks
    Ton Frederiks
    Community Expert
    March 6, 2024

    Do you have multiple monitors and do they look the same on both?

    Did you try to switch Preview, from GPU to CPU Preview (Cmd E)?

    R
    RelativeOpticsAuthor
    New Participant
    March 6, 2024

    I have two monitors, and the colors appear the same on both monitors (correct in Preview/Affinity, darker in Illustrator unless zoomed in).

    cmd+E in Illustrator does cause the colors to become lighter, but they are still darker than they should be.  I collected  color information using the dropper tool.

     

    Illustrator, GPU Preview, 100% Zoom: #D77939
    Illustrator, GPU Preview,800% Zoom: #F58231

    Illustrator, CPU Preview, 100% Zoom: #E17D35
    Illustrator, CPU Preview,800% Zoom: #F58231

    Ton Frederiks
    Ton Frederiks
    Community Expert
    March 7, 2024

    I provided the comparison with Preview and Affinity with the hope that someone would know how color rendering is different between them and Illustrator, which might help pinpoint the problem.

     

    I also found that creating the graph as a png and importing that into Illustrator does not have the same color issues.  Whatever the problem is, it is specific to the use of a pdf.  I collected a bunch of HEX codes using the dropper tool to summarize the issue (attached).


    What dropper tool are you referring to? Illustrators Eyedropper will give you different results when the image/object is embedded vs linked. There are also options to have the eyedropper pickup an average of an area.

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