Placing images in Illustrator changes their color values-Why?

I've been placing photoshop tiff files into Illustrator, and doing this seems to change the color values, when I sample them with the eyedropper tool. The images I made use a custom mix of CMYK rich black, with the K set to 100. In Illustrator, they appear to revert to the default 'Photoshop black", approx C75 M68 Y67 K90. This is not my intent of C70 M60 Y58 K100. The Illustrator document is CMYK mode, and I don't know why this is happening. The non-image items (vectors) in my illustrator file DO retain the color values I intended, however.
Is this some kind of setting I can change in Illustrator? Will this discrepancy show up when this file goes to print? Please help! Thanks.

WHen the image is not embedded, Illustrator samples the representation values. Those are handled by color management.

Similar Messages

Why do drop shadows created in Illustrator CC randomly change their color mix?

Drop shadows that I've created in Illustrator CC will randomly change their color mix when they are different mixtures of cmyk black, usually after closing and opening again. For example, if the drop shadow is 75c 68m 67y 90k, the next time I open the file it will 20c 0m 0y 100k. This happens with many of my files, and has been going on for several months. Thanks.

Hey I found out from the developers that this is actually fixed in version 29 via Bug 965861. Try the pdf viewer in the next version of Firefox, this will take care of that gradient. :-) Cheers.

Why does Illustrator change CMYK color numbers when set to preserve them?

I'm using CS2 on Mac OSX 10.4. Recently I tried importing a Photoshop image into Illustrator and then matching a color in Illustrator to a color in the Photoshop document. But Illustrator changed the CMYK values of the color in the Photoshop document even though I have "Preserve CMYK colors" checked in the color setup window. Both applications and files are set to SWOP v2.
I don't have the same problem when placing either Photoshop or Illustrator files into InDesign.
I ended up recreating the project in InDesign to get consistent color, but I need to know how to make Illustrator preserve color numbers for the project that will come up for which I need Illustrator features.
Thanks.

So here we are at Illustrator CC and this very simple integration has not been fixed... because as far as I'm concerned... it is a BUG!
Seriously, no offense to @Steve Fairburn... but that is just so archaic for a "suite" of programs that should work well together.
There is absolutely NO need for CMYK colors to be valued beyond solid percentages in 1% increments in either Illustrator or InDesign!
Here's a stupid workaround if you need to link images, and pull colors:
Load the image as "linked" -> duplicate it and choose "embed" -> pull the colors and make swatches with the eyedropper tool... then throw it away. You could also just relink the file after an embed, making sure to check the Adanced Options checkbox.
ADDITIONAL NOTES:
1) why does InDesign give you the ability to "Reveal the Linked Image on the Desktop", whereas in Illy you can only reveal in Bridge?
2) "placing" the same PSD/PDF image in InDesign and Illustrator: ID allows for correct eydropper color pulling, while IL does not until you embed it.

Add Strokes to Placed Images in Illustrator

Hi All,
I'm having a problem to add a stroke "frame" around my tiff image in Illustrator. My image is a "traced picture" from Photoshop. I used the following technique:-
Technique: Use an Effect
Choose File > Place and select an image to place into Illustrator document.
Choose File > Place and select an image to place into Illustrator document.
The image is selected. Open Appearance panel and from the Appearance panel flyout menu, choose Add New Stroke.
With the Stroke highlighted in the Appearance panel, choose Effect > Path > Outline Object.
However, the result I got was the stroke around the image NOT the frame around the image.
How do I achieve it. Any help and tips are greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Technique #1: Use a Mask
This technique requires Illustrator CS3 and works only when your keyline will be rectangular in shape.
Choose File > Place and choose an image to place into your Illustrator document. You can either Link or Embed the image. Once you've chosen the image, click the Place button.
The image is selected (if your image already exists in your document, select it now), so if you look in your Control panel at the top of the screen, you'll see a button labeled "MASK". Click on it. This creates a mask at the exact bounds of the image.
Press the "D" key for Default. This gives the mask a black 1 pt stroke attribute. Adjust the stroke per your design needs.
NOTE: An additional benefit to this method of using a mask is that you now have the elements in place to simulate a "frame and image" paradigm like InDesign. Once you've created your mask, you can decide to "crop" your image by double clicking anywhere on the photo. This will put you into Isolation Mode. Now click on the frame edge and resize at will. When you're done, double click outside the image to exit isolation mode and continue working. This method works wonderfully when you're using the Selection tool (black arrow) and have the Bounding Box option turned on (in the View menu).
Technique #2: Use an Effect
At first, it may seem that applying a keyline with the use of an Effect is a tedious process. But we all know that once we've applied an effect, we can store it as a Graphic Style, at which point applying our keyline will become a single click. Go ahead, ask me why Adobe doesn't ship Illustrator with such an effect as a default setting in the NDPs (New Document Profiles). Go ahead, ask me why Adobe doesn't allow us to assign keyboard shortcuts to styles like InDesign does. I don't have answers to either of those questions (sorry). But let's get on with the styles, shall we?
There are two separate effects that we can use, and each provides a different benefit.
Choose File > Place and select an image to place into your Illustrator document. You can either Link or Embed the image. Once you've chosen the image, click the Place button.
The image is selected (or if your image already exists in your document, select it). Open your Appearance panel and from the Appearance panel flyout menu, choose Add New Stroke. We can't see the stroke yet, because all we have is an image. But we'll change that in short order.
With the Stroke highlighted in the Appearance panel, choose Effect > Convert to Shape > Rectangle. Check the Preview button, select the Relative option, and set both the Extra Width and Extra Height to zero (0). (Be careful not to press Tab after you enter the second value, or it will switch back to Absolute.) Click OK to apply the effect. Style the stroke attribute to match your design preference.
Now make this easier to apply in the future. With the object still selected, open the Graphic Styles panel and click the New Graphic Style button at the bottom of the panel. Give the style an appropriate name. If you then add this style to your NDPs, it will be readily available in all new files that you create.
Add Strokes to Placed Images in Illustrator | CreativePro.com

CS6 InDesign - Default display is high-quality. Four placed images are Illustrator files. Three images look the way they should - high-quality. One image looks pixelated. Why?

InDesign CS6 - Default display is high-quality. All four placed images are Illustrator files. Three images look the way they should - high-quality. One image looks pixelated. Why?

Not sure if this will help, but what is your inDesign file's "Transparency Blend Space" set to? It's under the edit menu.
Also, when you are placing your images, are you selecting "Show Import Options" and making any selections there?

Placing images in Illustrator

Hi Adobe Community,
Do placed images in illustrator have to be in vector form before you can expand or convert them to compound paths?
Or is there a way of just using the placed images without having to trace it?
The reason I ask is because I wanted to use the pathfinder pallete to separate, join or intersect objects along with the rest of its functions instead of simply clipping.
Unfortunately, when I try and use the pathfinder options with a placed image without tracing it, it says the objects needs to be a path first. And I don't want to trace the image either because it just converts it to black and white when I'm only concerned with maintaining the original look.
Thanks in advance for your help.

paths are strings of vectors. if you want to use functions that involve intersecting objects made up of paths, then yes, they have to be vectors.

Transparent PSD image in Illustrator changes color of vector background after print.

Hello, I really don't know how to explain this so I'll just upload my files which are located here: http://rapidshare.com/files/4040672260/Green%20circle.rar
I have a green vector background in illustrator and then I placed psd image over it and created PDF for press and under Color bitmap images I selected no compression.
After viewing image in Acrobat all seems ok, I even checked with picker, but after I send this to printer (xerox in thsi case) I end up with this: .
Both .psd and .ai are in CMYK color space. For this particular case I could use mask to cover up that transparent space but my original project has shadows which I cannot mask by vector :S.
Can someone plz explain to me what I am doing whrong or how to set color profiles or whatever is neccessary to avoid this issue. One thing I was using was, opening PDF in Photoshop and flatening all. Problem is that sometimes I need vector files and cut lines for cutter. Don't want to have bitmap, if I can have a vector? Also when I flaten image I do get same CMYK values in photoshop (with picker) than I have in Illustrator on vector object, but when I print this they don't match at all.
Does someone know a solution?
THANKS in advance and sry for my bad english.
Stefan

Nothing worng with your .ai or .psd file, prints fine here. Problem is with your tranparency flattening.
Most likely you can fix that by print >> Advanced >> Custom >.> Move slider all the way towards rasters.
If you need more help, let us knwo your printere, and screenshtos of your print settings can help.

Illustrator cs5 changes Kuler color values when importing, Help!

I am using Illustrator cs5. I access the Kuler Color theme feature for color themes. I will select a them from the Kuler feature
and then choose to add that theme to my swatch panel. I then check the individual colors in the color panel. Here is the
problem: when illustrator brings in the Kuler colors to the Illustrator color panel it will change the values of that color which
changes the actual color. For instance a bright green becomes a muted turquoise. This conclusion is not by my sight,
because I have opened the specific color theme at the Kuler Web sight and obtained the CMYK values for those colors,
and then gone back to the Illustrator color panel and compared then values there. The values are changed which creates
a different color --- obviously. So how can I use the Kuler feature when illustrator changes the values on me which then
changes the color? Help

I dont know what my color settings are at this point.
I download the Kuler color theme straight from the Kuler panel open on my desktop. I open
the drop down menu options and choose: add this theme to your color swatches. The
theme is moved over to the swatch panel while I am using Illustrator.
I don't know what you mean by your last question.

Placing Images In Illustrator Are Blurry.

Hello I have this problem in CS5 that any type of image or line art are always blurry. All my work is for print and perhaps just the preview is blurry but I am afraid that printing will be bad.
Most graphics I bring in are from Photoshop CS5. I make sure they are 300DPI to start and recently learned they should not be in RGB mode but CMYK.
The images I should also mention when placed are very small and I have to scale them to be the correct size. I do not know why they do not place as their original size. So basically it is small size and blurriness.
Any help regarding this matter is appreciative. I am new at Illustrator and want to learn more from it since it seems like a great tool to use for printing.
Thanks,
Victor

I believe the solution to your problem starts in photoshop. Most printers require resolution to be 2X the lpi (lines per inch) and the most common line screen is 150 lpi (133 or 175 are the next most common), so hence 300 dpi (dots per inch) standard resolution requirement. Open your image in photoshop >> Image >> image size >> uncheck resample image >> change your resolution to 300 dpi if it is not and save. I bolded that cause thath setting is very important, and you will need to become intimately familiar with hwo everthing in image size works. This unchecking will not add or remove pixels, but will adjust the size of your image if you change to 300 dpi.
Now when you place the imahe in ilustrator, you will know that your image is exactly 300 dpi. If you scale your image smaller, no problem your effective resolution will be >300dpi adn that never hurts. If you scale your image larger in Illustrator, then you know that your resolution will be less than 300 dpi. You can now better assess the quality of your image reproduction.

Why do placed images in illustrator print a different shade of black than the black in the document?

It has happened to me more than a few times. For example, I'll place artwork that was created in photoshop into an illustrator document, and the blacks are inconsistent. Any advice?

Your blacks may have different CMYK values. The default value for foreground swatch in photoshop is 75c 68m 67 y 90k and many people don't realize that is not 100%k. A common Rich black value is 60c 40my 100k, which makes the black darker, and still neutral by having cyan above my.
If you specify 100 k in photoshop & 100k in illustrator, and the colors print different, you may have a color destination profile assigned to your placed CMYK image.

PLACING Images in Illustrator documents and saving.

Is there any way to just embed pictures in an illustrator document, because I know when you PLACE (File> Place) them in, it creates a link, and if you accidently delete a pic or something it won't show up in your document you open. My question is: Is it possible once you place images in your document, to embed them permanantly without having them linked at all, yet still preserve editing capability?
I save out a lot of PDF's and sometimes the images are linked to the pdf's as well. I always have (preserve illustrator editing capabilities) checked when I save out my PDF's in order to make changes regularly. ANY HELP??

To embed images go to you links palette flyout menu and choose embed.
Experienced Illustrator users usually do not embed because
makes your illustrator files larger and slower.
cannot keep track of resolution or color space
they can keep track of their files without losing
making edits later is a longer process
overall control and management of image quality is better
Embedding images on large projects increase the overall project file size, because you make a copy of the image within illustrator each time you embed.
To edit embedded images, you need to copy from illustrator and paste them into photoshop. Problem is you do not know what original resulotion they are and you maybe upsampling the image or changing the colorspace/profile. If you still want to embed, you are better off , keeping an original image in your job folder, that you can edit in Photoshop, and then use the links palette in Illustrator to relink.

Placing images in Illustrator for print ready files

I'm designing a brochure in Illustrator that contains several logos and photos. (Yes, I know, Illustrator... I've read several forums and know that InDesign may be a better program for this, but I completely underbid this project and really need to stick with something I know for cost efficiency.)
I need to resize several images in Photoshop to place in Illustrator and I'm wondering if I should save them as CMYK jpegs, or tiffs, etc. I need the file to be the smallest it can be for upload to the printer. I need the basics on different file types and their pros and cons.
Also, when I'm sending out the proof to the customer, any tips on saving the pdf so the images aren't too blurry and the file is still sendable?
Please help!! Any other information or tips on how to prepare my file as a print ready would be great. I love to learn and really need some great resources.
Thanks!

How many pages are we talking about? The key to file efficiency is Placing images at their final size, so you are on the right track. Let me try to help...
"I need to resize several images in Photoshop to place in Illustrator and I'm wondering if I should save them as CMYK jpegs, or tiffs, etc. I need the file to be the smallest it can be for upload to the printer. I need the basics on different file types and their pros and cons."
-Do not save as JPG. The compression artifacts will show up in print. Just Place CMYK .tiffs or .psd's without sizing in Illustrator. Another thing to keep in mind is "Linking" the image files instead of "Embedding" them. You have a little more control saving your page files as EPS before creating the final PDF.
"Also, when I'm sending out the proof to the customer, any tips on saving the pdf so the images aren't too blurry and the file is still sendable?"
-There are a few different ways you can create a PDF viewable as a softproof. You could send the final as a Standard PDF using defaults. Don't forget to embed the fonts and leave color unchanged. What I do is Export > RGB TIF @ 150ppi > Open the .tiff in Photoshop and Save-As Photoshop PDF with a JPG compression of 8. You could do that for each page and then reassemble using Acrobat for one assembled, final PDF optimized.
"Please help!! Any other information or tips on how to prepare my file as a print ready would be great. I love to learn and really need some great resources."
-Get Adobe's Print Publishing Guide. It has enough information in it to help you wade through all of the disinformation out there. Get in touch with a couple of local print shops and have them take a look at your files. Good shops can spot problems and give you some handy tips. Not all shops will take the time, so finding one can be tricky.
Thanks!
-You're welcome. Let us know how it all shakes out.

Placing Images in Illustrator CS4 causes them to appear 1/3 size

Whenever I try and place an image (whether it be simply placing an image or opening one) within Illustrator CS4 for Windows - for whatever reason, the images appear at about 1/3 the size they should be.
I go to View > Actual Size and it shows that the image is at 100% but it's obvious the images are nowhere near 100% (see attached ai.cs4.jpg). What could be causing this? I open up the same images (I know this because I am pulling from my desktop so I know I am pulling the same files to avoid confusion) in Fireworks CS4 and it pulls open correctly the right size, the same time - every time (see attached fw.cs4.jpg).
I'm really trying to come to grips with Illustrator, but this simple task is driving me nuts.
Your help in this matter would be greatly appreciated -
Sincerely,
kstagg

You sir, are "the man".
For whatever reason, that image came through with a res of 240. Not sure how I did that but once I corrected it and tried placing it in Illustrator again - no problem.
Thanks to you not all of my hair is gray.
All of the best -
Kevin

Please, can I with help of Javascript change spot color values? for example by my color VARNISH with c:0,m:10,y:15,k:0 to make change to c:0,m:0,y:0,k:0? thank you

Please, can I with help of Javascript change specific spot color values? for example, I have color named VARNISH with values c:0,m:10,y:15,k:0 and it would help me to make change to c:0,m:0,y:0,k:0 as a part of an action. Is it possible? Thank you

Hi Kon Verter,
you can change the values of your spot swatch, but you have to check many things before.
e.g. you can do something like this:
var Vcolor = app.activeDocument.swatches.getByName("Varnish");
if (Vcolor.color.spot.colorType == ColorModel.SPOT && Vcolor.color.spot.spotKind == SpotColorKind.SPOTCMYK) {
    alert("Black value before: "+Vcolor.color.spot.color.black);
    Vcolor.color.spot.color.black= 0; // and so on
    alert("Black value after: "+Vcolor.color.spot.color.black);
This will change the black value of the cmyk spot color with name Varnish to 0
Have fun

Using placed images in Illustrator

Hi everyone,
This may be a simple thing, but I'm having some display issues with JPEGs and TIFFs that are placed in to Illustrator.
When I go to move the item, I don't get any outline of the item or 'preview' of it whilst moving, it just stays in place then magically appears in another place once I've made the move.
Obviously this is very annoying when you're trying to place something precisely on the page.
Is there anything I can do to help this?

Why not be vague about your system and what version you are using and of course not tell us about any new fonts or new software or anything what so ever that might be helpful.
Yes, I am being sarcastic but those are the things one really has to know in order to help. There is no preview when moving but there is an outline.
So you can try this depending on the system. If this has always been the case with your install of Illustrator then you have a conflict with another software most likely.
This is what you can try
PC
1. Quit Illustrator.
2. Rename the AIPrefs file (for example, to AIPrefs.old) in the Users/(user)/AppData/Roaming/Adobe/Adobe Illustrator CS3 Settings folder.
3. Start Illustrator. Illustrator creates a new preferences file.
Mac
1. Quit Illustrator.
2.Go to User/username/Library/Preferences/ Adobe illustrator CS4 Settings and trash the settings folder, the whole folder not just the contents of the folder..
3. Start Illustrator. Illustrator creates a new preferences file.
This what I see when I move a placed image

Placing images in Illustrator changes their color values-Why?

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for