Acrobat 8 "washed out" colors/ Simulate Black Ink stuck?

[Michael_P._McHugh@adobeforums.com]

I'm having a problem. It seems like "Simulate Black Ink" in Acrobat 8 is stuck "on" for some files that come out of InDesign for me.

When I select Output Preview the display shifts back to what I'd expect. When I click "Simulate Black Ink" it goes back to the 80% washed out look, which I'd expect.

When I close the Output Preview window, it goes back to being 80% washed out as if "Simulate Black Ink" is still stuck on.

Color settings are identical in InDesign CS2 and Acrobat 8.

Any suggestions?

Thanks,
Michael

[Richard_Peltier@adobeforums.com]

I'm having the exact same problem you are. The on-screen color is all washed out in Acrobat 8 unless I call up the Output Preview dialog box. As soon as I close the dialog box, the color goes back to being washed out. However, if I open the same PDF in Acrobat 7, the file looks exactly the way I intended it to. How very odd. I was hoping that someone from Adobe might have given you some information on this irritating problem, but apparently they haven't gotten around to reading your post yet. Can't wait to hear what they have to say.

[Steve_Werner@adobeforums.com]

That's the way it's supposed to work.

Choose Advanced > Preflight to open the Preflight dialog. Click on the warning icon at the upper right corner to view the Display Settings Alert. Read what it says about "Output Preview":

"When Output Preview is turned on, Acrobat will simulate the appearance of the current PDF document so that it will look very similar on screen to the final printed output. It is preferable to have Output Preview enabled to preview the appearance of the final output."

In other words, the Simulation Profile shown at the top of the Output Preview is only used when Output Preview is open. It's not used when it's closed.

[Leonard_Rosenthol@adobeforums.com]

In addition, Acrobat 8 is ALWAYS Color Managed. You can't turn off color management as you could with previous versions.

Leonard

[pjonesCET@adobeforums.com]

" In addition, Acrobat 8 is ALWAYS Color Managed. You can't turn off color management as you could with previous versions."

That's a bad move. There have been intances in the Past to cure certain Problems (as discussed on this very list) the only cure was to turn off color management. In cases where the originating program also had color management, and looked better in originating program than the color management added by Acrobat. Now those problems can't be cured. They will have to keep 7.0.8 just to work around problems.

[Michael_P._McHugh@adobeforums.com]

This was a majorly bone-headed move by Adobe. To the average user, the app is just going to seem broken now. I can't tell you haw many times I've heard "but it looks better in Preview" since Reader 8 was released.

Color Management is only useful if it's used properly, and since most don't, imposing it on people is a horrible idea.

I'd also dare to say that color management for on screen/Web work is utterly useless, so to force it on in an app that is often used for non-print work is just wrong.

I hope they fix this errant behavior in a dot release soon.

[peter kleinheider]

Hi all

Why do you think this is a bad move? Where does it bother you? When printing, you can still print without Colormanagement.

regards

Peter

[pjonesCET@adobeforums.com]

Are you using 7 or 8 ? The fellow above just Stated you can not turn off Color Management in 8.

[peter kleinheider]

Good evening

I am using 7 and 8. My answer is valid for both Versions. You also can turn it of for EPS export.

rgds

Peter

[Steve_Werner@adobeforums.com]

I'm not sure what you're so surprised.

It's not just Acrobat 8. All the Adobe Creative Suite 2 print applications (Photoshop CS2, Illustrator CS2, InDesign CS2) have had color management turned on since April 2005. The world did not stop turning!

[pjonesCET@adobeforums.com]

Steve You don't understand - He said It can not be Turned off in 8. In 7 you could turn on or off as needed.

Don't you remember some of the discussions about stuff created with Color Management turn on in Photoshop or Indesign (or Maybe it Quark?) would show up lousy and print so, because Acrobat was Managing the management?

According to the above its said it can not be turned off for any reason, in Acrobat 8. If you have one program that has color management and its converted to PDF Unless the management stuff is stripped in the PDF process, why do you want to manage the Management?

[Michael_P._McHugh@adobeforums.com]

The fact that the behaviors are different in Reader 8 and Acrobat 8, in and of itself, is a problem. This inconsistency is unacceptable, especially since you can't control the behavior in either!

[Leonard_Rosenthol@adobeforums.com]

Let's clarify a few things.

When I talk about Color Management, I am referring to the display of colors to the screen. As Peter pointed out, CM at print time is TOTALLY different and remains as it did in 7 (ie. optional). I also agree with Peter and Steve that this is a VERY good thing, esp. since it keeps things completely consistent with CS.

In addition, when working with documents containing transparency it is almost required to introduce proper color management in order to handle the complexities of blending.

Michael's comment about Reader vs. Acrobat is a VERY good one and I am investigating the situation there. I will report back when I know more.

Leonard

[Leonard_Rosenthol@adobeforums.com]

I've been researching this and things are not as they seem to everyone...

I am going to try to write up a complete description of Color Management in Acrobat (both on screen and print) for Acrobat 7 & 8. When completed, I will post a link.

Leonard

[Richard_Peltier@adobeforums.com]

I don't know if this tidbit will be of any help or not, but I've run some test files and have found that the "washed-out" black color occurs when a transparency effect is used on the InDesign page that the PDF is created from. Specifically, when a drop shadow is used. For some reason when InDesign is used to create the PDF, the black color in the resulting file will appear washed out (less than 100 percent black).

Hope this adds a clue to what's going on with Acrobat 8.

Ric

[Michael_P._McHugh@adobeforums.com]

Leonard — any final explanation on what's going on and/or how to adjust the default behavior in the full Acrobat 8 app to display the same as the Reader?

Thanks,
Michael