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I use the same image file for a book cover, made in Illustrator, and in the book interior, made in Indesign. They look the same in the Illustrator and Indesign files. However, producing a pdf from either results in a much darker image in the Illustrator pdf. The image is greyscale. What could be the cause of this?
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Community Expert , Aug 06, 2024 Aug 06, 2024
Monika Gause • Community Expert , Aug 06, 2024 Aug 06, 2024
Settings for the PDF are the same?
Then the only reason can be that Illustrator cannot handle the greyscale color profile very well.
https://community.adobe.com/t5/illustrator-discussions/issue-when-adding-greyscale-files-into-illustrator-they-loose-contrast/m-p/11805014
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Community Expert ,
/t5/illustrator-discussions/pdf-s-of-same-image-darker-in-illustrator-than-in-indesign/m-p/14782325#M415360 Aug 06, 2024 Aug 06, 2024
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Settings for the PDF are the same?
Then the only reason can be that Illustrator cannot handle the greyscale color profile very well.
https://community.adobe.com/t5/illustrator-discussions/issue-when-adding-greyscale-files-into-illust...
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Frits5C99 AUTHOR
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/t5/illustrator-discussions/pdf-s-of-same-image-darker-in-illustrator-than-in-indesign/m-p/14782386#M415366 Aug 06, 2024 Aug 06, 2024
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Settings for pdf were not the same. Making them the same as in Indesign solved it! (And I'm glad it did, as trying to understand the other discussion would cost me another evening...)
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Community Expert ,
/t5/illustrator-discussions/pdf-s-of-same-image-darker-in-illustrator-than-in-indesign/m-p/14782353#M415364 Aug 06, 2024 Aug 06, 2024
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There are many problems with greyscale images in Illustrator.
Depending on if the are embedded or linked, placed in an RGB or CMYK document, they become darker or transparent. See this report from 2020:
Embed a grayscale image in an RGB document. Save as PDF with the Default options. The image becomes transparent. In a CMYK document embedded greyscale images become lighter.
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Frits5C99 AUTHOR
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/t5/illustrator-discussions/pdf-s-of-same-image-darker-in-illustrator-than-in-indesign/m-p/14782635#M415381 Aug 06, 2024 Aug 06, 2024
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Thanks everyone for reactions. Problem seems to be solved, see above.
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Community Expert ,
/t5/illustrator-discussions/pdf-s-of-same-image-darker-in-illustrator-than-in-indesign/m-p/14782719#M415387 Aug 06, 2024 Aug 06, 2024
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Good to hear you've got it solved, but what was the difference in settings that caused the problem?
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Frits5C99 AUTHOR
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/t5/illustrator-discussions/pdf-s-of-same-image-darker-in-illustrator-than-in-indesign/m-p/14782757#M415390 Aug 06, 2024 Aug 06, 2024
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That's a bit difficult question for me. I'm not very familiar (to say the least) with everything 'under the hood'; I just know how to drive the car. A former colleague once took me step-by step making a customized set for making pdf's, and I haven't the slightest idea what these settings are doing. In Illustrator the standard set was used. I can try to compare the different settings, but the screens are in Dutch and don't ask me for English translations. If that would be helpful to you, I can capture some screens.
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Community Expert ,
/t5/illustrator-discussions/pdf-s-of-same-image-darker-in-illustrator-than-in-indesign/m-p/14782766#M415392 Aug 06, 2024 Aug 06, 2024
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