How to get rid of the crappy default non-black in Adobe Illustrator CS5?
May 14, 2012 7:46 AM Subscribe
Crappy default non-black in Adobe Illustrator CS5: why, and how can I get rid of it?
I don't know why or when, but recently I've noticed that the default black you get from hitting D or the default fill/stroke icon in the toolbar, or the black swatch next to the white in the Swatches palette is NOT REALLY BLACK, but some sort of 13% brightness abomination.
Where does this come from, and why? I've tried changing the default swatches and/or graphic styles, but every time I open a new document it reverts to the crappy non-black. Help!
I don't know why or when, but recently I've noticed that the default black you get from hitting D or the default fill/stroke icon in the toolbar, or the black swatch next to the white in the Swatches palette is NOT REALLY BLACK, but some sort of 13% brightness abomination.
Where does this come from, and why? I've tried changing the default swatches and/or graphic styles, but every time I open a new document it reverts to the crappy non-black. Help!
That's because Illustrator is set to "Display All Blacks Accurately" in the Appearance of Black preference pane. The black you're picking in the swatch isn't rich black, so it displays as sorta grayish. Here's a decent article about rich black.
posted by zsazsa at 7:53 AM on May 14, 2012
posted by zsazsa at 7:53 AM on May 14, 2012
Response by poster: Thorzdad — I'm judging by the actual values shown in the Color palette.
zsazsa — I know about rich black, but I understand that this is from the CMYK print paradigm, I forgot to mention that my document is in the RGB colorspace, I'm doing artwork for web, games etc.
posted by Tom-B at 8:05 AM on May 14, 2012
zsazsa — I know about rich black, but I understand that this is from the CMYK print paradigm, I forgot to mention that my document is in the RGB colorspace, I'm doing artwork for web, games etc.
posted by Tom-B at 8:05 AM on May 14, 2012
What profiles do you have selected in your Color Settings panel?
posted by Thorzdad at 8:45 AM on May 14, 2012
posted by Thorzdad at 8:45 AM on May 14, 2012
In my experience this problem is from converting CMYK stuff to RGB. If you use the CMYK color picker in an RGB document and select 100K it will convert to this weak black. I would stick with the RGB color picker even though it is sometimes less intuitive.
posted by scose at 9:28 AM on May 14, 2012
posted by scose at 9:28 AM on May 14, 2012
Response by poster: zsazsa — I checked, "Display all blacks as rich black" is selected in Preferences
Thorzdad — where's this Color Settings panel? (Illustrator CS5)
scose — nope, this happens in new documents created as RGB and with colors picked in the HSB picker
posted by Tom-B at 2:21 PM on May 14, 2012
Thorzdad — where's this Color Settings panel? (Illustrator CS5)
scose — nope, this happens in new documents created as RGB and with colors picked in the HSB picker
posted by Tom-B at 2:21 PM on May 14, 2012
I ran this by my (designer) GF. Her response was that she's encountered this, and while she used to stress about it she no longer does. In her words, "You can't press check the internet."
In other words, as long as the numbers are right, don't sweat it. You can't control how Illustrator shows it (besides the obvious screen calibration etc.) and it's not going to be seen on your set-up anyway.
posted by ChurchHatesTucker at 6:43 PM on May 14, 2012
In other words, as long as the numbers are right, don't sweat it. You can't control how Illustrator shows it (besides the obvious screen calibration etc.) and it's not going to be seen on your set-up anyway.
posted by ChurchHatesTucker at 6:43 PM on May 14, 2012
Best answer: ...where's this Color Settings panel? (Illustrator CS5)
Edit > Color Settings...
I check Advanced Mode.
Under Working Spaces, I prefer to set RGB=Adobe RGB, and CMYK=Photoshop 5 Default CMYK. You can certainly set RGB to sRGB.
Many people make the mistake of setting their RGB to their monitor profile. That is incorrect (though it will probably be listed as an option in the drop-down)
Under Conversion Options, I prefer Engine=Adobe (ACE), and Intent=Relative Colorimetric. I also check Use Black Point Compensation.
posted by Thorzdad at 11:54 AM on May 15, 2012 [2 favorites]
Edit > Color Settings...
I check Advanced Mode.
Under Working Spaces, I prefer to set RGB=Adobe RGB, and CMYK=Photoshop 5 Default CMYK. You can certainly set RGB to sRGB.
Many people make the mistake of setting their RGB to their monitor profile. That is incorrect (though it will probably be listed as an option in the drop-down)
Under Conversion Options, I prefer Engine=Adobe (ACE), and Intent=Relative Colorimetric. I also check Use Black Point Compensation.
posted by Thorzdad at 11:54 AM on May 15, 2012 [2 favorites]
Response by poster: ChurchHatesTucker — as long as the numbers are right, don't sweat it.
The thing is, it's the numbers that are wrong! Clicking on the default fill & stroke icon on the toolbar giver me a black that's about 13% brightness in HSB
posted by Tom-B at 12:57 PM on May 15, 2012
The thing is, it's the numbers that are wrong! Clicking on the default fill & stroke icon on the toolbar giver me a black that's about 13% brightness in HSB
posted by Tom-B at 12:57 PM on May 15, 2012
Response by poster: Thorzdad — looks like you've nailed it. I replicated your Color Settings and I'm getting a correct black (0% brightness HSB) in new documents. Previously saved documents still give me the weird non-black though. Any idea how to change these settings retroactively?
posted by Tom-B at 1:09 PM on May 15, 2012
posted by Tom-B at 1:09 PM on May 15, 2012
Best answer: The previously-saved documents still look off because they have the prior color setting embedded. Back in the same Color Settings panel, go to the Color Management section...
Under RGB, select Convert to Working Space in the drop down. FWIW, I also have all three of the check-boxes selected, too. For good measure, quit Illustrator, then re-start it. (Changes to various settings in Illustrator don't take effect until it's restarted. I don't know if Color Settings is one of them, but it doesn't hurt.)
Now, open the old files and see if there is a change. It may end up that you will have to go in and manually adjust everything to where you want it, then do a Save AS... (NOT a simple Save) This will re-write the file completely and embed the new color settings.
Or, you can create a new document, then copy/paste the content from the old file to the new one. You should get a dialog asking if you want the colors converted to the new color space. Say 'yes'.
posted by Thorzdad at 4:43 AM on May 16, 2012 [1 favorite]
Under RGB, select Convert to Working Space in the drop down. FWIW, I also have all three of the check-boxes selected, too. For good measure, quit Illustrator, then re-start it. (Changes to various settings in Illustrator don't take effect until it's restarted. I don't know if Color Settings is one of them, but it doesn't hurt.)
Now, open the old files and see if there is a change. It may end up that you will have to go in and manually adjust everything to where you want it, then do a Save AS... (NOT a simple Save) This will re-write the file completely and embed the new color settings.
Or, you can create a new document, then copy/paste the content from the old file to the new one. You should get a dialog asking if you want the colors converted to the new color space. Say 'yes'.
posted by Thorzdad at 4:43 AM on May 16, 2012 [1 favorite]
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However, if you're judging the black by what you are seeing on screen, your problem could very well be an uncalibrated monitor and/or mis-matched color profiles in your setup.
posted by Thorzdad at 7:52 AM on May 14, 2012