Missing preview for imported/placed PSD that contains a channel for spot color

[mbraucht]

Windows 11 / AI 27.0, 64 GB Ram, GPU 3080 TI

Attempting to place a PSD, but I get no preview inside Illustrator. My Illustrator file is scaled 10%. Additionally, when I save the file as PDF, I would normally expect a very large file (with the image included). It is a small file with the image obviously not included. When I open in Acrobat, the image is indeed not there. I otherwise get no errors.

Another team member can open and save these same files and gets the expected results (previews inside Illustrator and large PDF files ready for press), but he uses Mac OS.

The PSD has layers and contains a custom channel used for a spot colour.

I have attempted to save as psb, with no difference.

I have attempted to flatten the image, with no difference.

If I remove the channel, the file imports correctly. 

If I reduce the scale/resolution to less than 98 px/in, it imports correctly (99 px/in does not work). My image file is 278 in x 100 in at 100 px/in. Reducing the image size is not an option in our workflow.

Any idea what I am missing? Working with spot channels in our files is not usual - it's been a long time since I had to do this and not sure ever at this scale.

[Anshul_Saini]

Hi @mbraucht,

Thanks for reaching out and sharing the details. It seems like a large canvas limitation. For more information on the Large canvas and its known issues, please check out this helpx article (https://helpx.adobe.com/illustrator/using/large-sized-artwork.html). However, if that is not the case, would you mind sharing the PSD or small recording demonstrating the trouble you are facing? I will forward it to the product team for further investigation.

Looking forward to your response.

Thanks,

Anshul Saini

[mbraucht]

Thanks for the reply. I am not using large canvas, and am working within the limitations of a regular canvas. 

These are also very large files, so not possible to attach here. Hopefully a Drive link will work.

I have made a sample available here:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1-OT9emh6f6yBi5qEi2AHrNY9gVmATql9?usp=share_link

As I have mentioned though, my other two team members can open this file and the link pops in correctly as we expect. They are both on Mac. So it seems to be related to Windows OS, or my particular system.

On my end, the only variable I can think of that is out of the usual files we work with is the channel spot used in the linked PSD file. Otherwise, this file imports fine. Refer to my original post for other details.

Thanks!

[jdanek]

I wonder if the Mac guys can save a copy of the PSD using a PC based .tiff preview and give it to you to be "placed" in your Illustrator file?  It sounds like a "preview" issue because the Mac people can Place their version of the file.  Also, see if 32bit vs. 64bit makes a difference.

[Anshul_Saini · Accepted solution]

Hi @mbraucht @jdanek,

Thanks for your patience. I checked with the product team, and a bug has been logged for this issue. We are able to replicate this behavior with some PSD files in Illustrator 2021, 2022 & 2023.

The preview is visible for all the PSDs on Ai 2020 & older.

The only workaround is to embed the PSD file as of now.

In the meantime, try the workaround and please stay patient & stay tuned for the updates.

Thanks,

Anshul Saini