Colors don't match when updating smart objects

Forum|Forum|1 year ago
November 6, 2024
1 reply
672 views

Hello everyone, I'm going crazy and can't figure out where I'm going wrong.

A year ago, I created icons for a macOS program (so, ICNS files). To do this, I used a PSD file provided by Apple in 2022. All the instances in various sizes are included in the same file; you just double-click on the smart object, Illustrator opens, you create the icon design, and when you save, all the instances update automatically. It all worked perfectly.

Now, a year later, I need to create new icons. But when I edit the Illustrator file and save it, the PSD updates with colors that don't match the previous icons. Of course, whenever I open the documents in either PS or AI, I choose to keep the embedded profile, but something isn’t working anymore.

Any ideas? Thank you, bye!

Here an image with the color differences between an icon from last year and a current one.

This topic has been closed for replies.

D Fosse

Community Expert

Is there an embedded profile in both the embedded smart object and the master PSD? Which profile is it?

The standard / usual explanation for this is an untagged file. If that's not it, let us know. I've bumped into a few similar cases on Mac lately, with exactly the same blue/cyan anomaly (likely caused by a tiny shift in the red primary).

In those cases we seem to be left with a MacOS bug, as all other possible explanations have been eliminated.

A

Astarte01Author

Inspiring

Hi, thanks for your reply!

Yes the documents both have an ambedded profile.

The PSD file has a sRGB IEC61966-2.1 profile, while the Illustrator file has a Display profile.

The colors change not only if I modify the icon in Illustrator by creating a new one, but also if I resize one of those already present in the PSD file and inserted as a smart object. That one changes colors, the others remain the same.

But as I said, a year ago I made three different icons without any problems, the files are the same.

A

Astarte01Author

Inspiring

Display was a profile I've setted a couple years ago (actually, it's real name is MonitorOf… can't say more).

By @Astarte01

That is a problem if it's an actual display profile.

You should never use a display profile at document level. Ever. Firstly because it's non-standard. It will have highly irregular tone curves, odd primaries and all that. And there will be nothing like it anywhere else.

Secondly, and more importantly, if it's the actual display profile in use, that will turn off color management completely. If the two profiles are the same, no conversion happens. The numbers in the file will be sent directly to screen. That's the definition of no color management.

I'd strongly advise to stop using that profile. Convert to something standard. Even Display P3, widely used in the Mac community, is a bit risky, because 90% of Mac users will also use that profile for their screens. What that means in practice is that you can do a lot of wrong before you notice that something is wrong. Until you do.

This may or may not fix your current problem, but it's the wise thing to do regardless.

As I said, it is a profile inherited from the Illustrator documents I was working on.
This does not explain why for a year that file worked consistently (with the creation of different icons in different time periods) and now instead it offsets the colors when I go to create a new icon.

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