Color profile issues per object

[TonyO]

Hi, I've been noticing some color issues since updating to V2.

I never mess with color profiles, never touched them on either my iPad or Mac, once you mess with them once, you basically have to reformat your computer to get things normal again, haha.

Anyway, i noticed on V2, that the option under settings to "convert to working profile" had been turned off, not sure if I did it or if it was a new default - but it was making some of my files from my iPad and V1 apps (older) open with weird profiles like "C2" "Image P3" or some other randoms that I've never touched. 

Having turned the "convert to working profile" option back on, all of my files seemed to be opening normally, warning that they were converted back to SRGB, and mostly acting normal, but some objects appear to have other color profile data baked in that doesn't get converted. 

 

I've attached 2 Afdesign files below the screenshots so you can diagnose the code. 

1. The file that the WIGWAM logo was on was one that opened from V1 with a weird color space. This file was auto converted to SRGB when last opened and the MFG logo was pasted in from a good file to make sure the color settings worked normally on the converted file. When copy pasting these 2 objects to a new, fresh file in the matching SRGB color space, the Wigwam logo color code gets messed up, the other logo is fine. 

2. File is SRGB color space, appears normal when opened. When copy pasting all objects to a fresh, new file in matching SRGB color space, the greens in the main body, and eyes get messed up upon pasting, but the hands and arm objects stay normal when copy pasting to a new, fresh document. These objects were created at different times and melded together, the body has some bad color code somewhere in it. 

Hoping these 2 files help in isolating what is wrong with those specific objects compared to the ones that are functioning correctly. 

 

Examples: 

This is File as opened. SRGB document. The Wigwam logo was on a file that opened with a bad profile, but then was auto converted back to SRGB. Something is wrong with the wigwam logo because.... 

 

... This is how it pastes. The new file is a blank document in the same SRGB format as the previous. The MFG logo pastes just fine, no problems with color, but the wigwam logo must have some residual color info from the bad profile that wasn't converted carrying over. 

Messed Up File 2.afdesign Messed Up File 1.afdesign

[Hangman]

Hi @TonyO,

Both files use a mix of RGB and CMYK colour for the various objects...

• The Wigwam logo has all objects defined using CMYK colour values
• The MFG logo has all objects defined using RGB colour values

So the likelihood is that you are simply seeing colour conversion between the two colour spaces when you've been opening in v1 and copy/pasting in v2.

The Gherkin graphic is the same...

• The main body has colour specified using CMYK colour values
• The hand holding the ball uses both RGB and HSL colour values

Ideally, your document should use the colour space of the intended end output and all objects in you file should specify colour using the same colour space as you document to avoid any colour conversion, so if the required document format is RGB/8 using sRGB then you should adjust any graphic elements that currently use CMYK colour values to RGB colour values and then resave you files and ensure your RGB Working Profile specified in the Colour Preference panel is also set to sRGB IEC61966-2.1.

This should then result in no colour changes when opening your corrected files as both your Working and Document colour profiles will match and all your objects will be specified using RGB colour values rather than a mix of RGB and CMYK colour values...

[TonyO]

OK, i see what you're saying... and it does fixe the pasting issue when i manually change out colors, but this brings up another question.

If a designer file can support multiple color spaces per object, how exactly are you supposed to know what color space is being used on a selected object? I took a quick video, the letter "A" has been changed manually to RGB, but the white and blue outline are CMYK, but there is no indication on the color pallet or sliders of which color space is being used in code, it just shows the values of whatever mode i select in the dropdown of the pallet. 

There should probably be some sort of indication, perhaps show the color space of the selected object on the status bar at the bottom OR some sort of function to select-all, or select-same-color-space and "convert all colors to document working mode" (that space being the color mode you select in the document setup). There should be something, as of now i don't see a way to tell the difference, unless I'm missing something. 

I knew that Adobe Illustrator could have multiple color spaces and spot colors per document, spot colors always made sense to me, but i could never think of a single use case as to why you would want to be able to mix around CMYK and RGB values on the same doc, unless somebody wants to enlighten me as to the practicality. 

 

[Hangman]

On 5/31/2023 at 12:02 PM, TonyO said:

I took a quick video, the letter "A" has been changed manually to RGB, but the white and blue outline are CMYK, but there is no indication on the color pallet or sliders of which color space is being used in code, it just shows the values of whatever mode i select in the dropdown of the pallet.

If you unlock the 'Lock Colourspace' padlock icon in the Colour Palette, selecting the various elements on the canvas will show the colourspace used for each item...

 

[TonyO]

Dang, i had no idea! That's what i was looking for!

Learn something new every day. Thanks a ton!

 

[Hangman]

No probs, glad it helped...