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PNG bar code in Rich Black can't change it to 100% black

Community Beginner ,
May 11, 2023 May 11, 2023

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I have a GS1 bar code that has to be in 100% black. The PNG supplied by GS1 is coming out as rich black in ai. I have tried everything (10 hours trying and counting) but cannot get the black to change correctly.

We have tried changing it to red, to see if we can do that but no luck.

So, how does one change a rich black PNG into a 100% black?

Thanks!

p,s We are using the latest Adobe Illustrator.

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How-to , Print and publish

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correct answers 1 Correct answer

Community Expert , May 11, 2023 May 11, 2023

Thanks, I downloaded your PNG, placed it embedded (although you can embed it afterwards using the, Control, Links or Properties panel), selected it and went to Edit > Edit Colors >  Convert to Greyscale.

I checked it by opening the Window > Separations Preview and turning off black to see if any other colors were present.

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Community Expert ,
May 11, 2023 May 11, 2023

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Good to hear that helped!

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Community Beginner ,
May 11, 2023 May 11, 2023

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Much appreciated Ton. It's a small thing to the outside world -  quite rightly so - but it parlaysed us for the whole of today. Tomorrow we go again. Thanks for the help :). 

 

We make a football game (link removed by moderator), if football or tabletop games are your thing, let me know by private message and I'll get a copy sent to you as a very small thank you.

 

Be well and thanks again.

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Community Expert ,
May 11, 2023 May 11, 2023

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Thanks, glad I could help. I appreciate the offer, but I am not really a games player, thanks anyway!

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Adobe Employee ,
May 16, 2023 May 16, 2023

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Hello @scottpigeon33,

 

Thank you for letting us know that the solution provided by Ton worked for you. We're glad to hear that your issue has been resolved. To help other users with similar problems, would you mind marking the answer as correct? We appreciate your contribution to the community. Let us know if you have any more questions or concerns. We're always here to help.

 

Thanks,

Anubhav

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Community Expert ,
May 11, 2023 May 11, 2023

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While you were able to create a work-around, you should really modify your workflow in the future. 

PNGs are always RGB, although you were able to force it to (black-only) grayscale in AI.

Color images (RGB, CMYK, and GS) will process as an image and will be screened and anti-aliased. 

 

For this type of art, you really need a high-res (1200-1500 ppi) image, save in Bitmap mode, and saved as TIFF.

Since you already have a PNG, I'm assuming it is about 300 ppi. You could up the resolution using the nearest neighbor setting in Photoshop, convert to GS, convert to Bitmap, save as TIFF.

 

David Creamer: Community Expert (ACI and ACE 1995-2023)

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Community Expert ,
May 11, 2023 May 11, 2023

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David, greyscale PNGs do exist.

As long as you don't scale the barcode that was shown (300ppi) the lines will print perfectly clean.

The text will be screened because it is already anti-aliased.

If you really want a bitmap, you can do that in Illustrator. Object > Rasterize... will let you create a bitmap at the resolutions you mentioned 1200-1500 ppi.

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Community Expert ,
May 12, 2023 May 12, 2023

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Thanks Ton. I stand corrected (well... sitting actually!)

 

However, it will still print as a photo-type image--either color or grayscale. A monochrome bitmap image is the best thing for this type of black-only art.

 

David Creamer: Community Expert (ACI and ACE 1995-2023)

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