Colors shifting when exporting EPS to Pshop

[Bob Meador]

I've been exporting EPS images from Freehand 10 (Mac OS X 10.3.2) which I
import into Photoshop for further work. All the colors I use are defined as RGB
colors, and I'm using black as well. When I export as Macintosh EPS, I choose
"Convert colors to RGB". And when I place or open the files in Photoshop, the
colors all change. The black is no longer black - it comes in at roughly 80%
black. The colors are faded and washed out.

Freehand is set up with the default color management settings - which I
believe is "Color Tables". I'm much less familiar with Freehand's color
management than that of Photoshop, but that seems to be about the only setting.
Haven't really messed with it though. In Photoshop, unlike when opening a pixel
image (in which instance I have my settings set to warn me if there is a
profile mismatch), there is no option to choose a color profile when opening or
placing an EPS.

CMYK colors do seem to come across faithfully though - the problem seems to be
only with RGB colors. I tend to keep my workflow RGB until the end, since much
of it is destined for the web.

Any idea what could be wrong?

Also, any idea of a resource for understanding color management between
Freehand and Photoshop in general - favorite settings of those who use both,
etc.?

Thanks,
Bob

[Bob Meador]

Never mind - figured it out with a little experimenting.

Apparently Freehand's default black is a bad choice for exporting RGB, at
least to Photoshop. When I created a black of 0r0g0b and exported that it came
in fine.

Also, if my RGB color is set to "spot" it changes when imported. As long as I
set it to "process" (silly actually - process colors should be CMYK) it comes
in fine.

Still be interested to know WHY this happens, and if there are any popular
preferences for color management settings in Freehand.

[JohnSplash]

What's wrong is Freehand! (haha)

I've been using FH since version 4, and I've always had color shift problems
with RGB. Perhaps it's because Freehand started as a print-only app, but you'd
think MM could have figured it out by now. A couple of years ago, I talked to
someone in MM tech support, and I was told, "You'll have to expect problems --
Photoshop and Freehand encode color quite differently." Gee, thanks.

Generally, my vector art isn't terribly complicated, so if I need raster
effects, I just group all the same-color objects, paste into PS, then use an
adjustment layer or a color overlay to fix the color. Lather, rinse and repeat
for other colors. I never bother with gradients or any of the fancy fills or
effects in FH -- if you output to film directly from FH, they look awful, and
if you export to PS or ID, even if they convert properly (hit-or-miss at best),
the color shift ruins them.

Since upgrading to the CS suite, I've been playing around with Illustrator.
Still generally prefer Freehand's way of doing things, but Illustrator's
seamless integration with PS and ID (including color!) is very, very attractive.

[Judy Arndt]

Thanks for posting this, Bob! I work with bright RGB spot colors all the
time. I have color management set to 'None'.

I didn't realize I had to convert spot colors to *process* to preserve RGB
values in an EPS.

This seems totally illogical. Can someone from Macromedia please explain the
rationale behind this?

Judy Arndt
--
FHMX 11.0.2 (Build 92)
Mac G4, OS 10.3.2




Bob Meador wrote:

> Never mind - figured it out with a little experimenting.
>
> Apparently Freehand's default black is a bad choice for exporting RGB, at
> least to Photoshop. When I created a black of 0r0g0b and exported that it came
> in fine.
>
> Also, if my RGB color is set to "spot" it changes when imported. As long as I
> set it to "process" (silly actually - process colors should be CMYK) it comes
> in fine.
>
> Still be interested to know WHY this happens, and if there are any popular
> preferences for color management settings in Freehand.
>