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• • October 17, 2017 at 6:52 pm #99053
    Anonymous

    Inactive

    Hello there,

    I’m new to this forum, but need urgent help! Hopefully all the links I post in this thread work so I can get come help as soon as possible!

    I have this Illustrator vector set – https://imgur.com/VgKHzC7

    And after editing it, the final version looks like this – https://imgur.com/L1Hxd0H

    Now I have saved this file as a .AI and a .PDF and both appear normal when viewed, but this is what it looks like in InDesign – https://imgur.com/W7ydJGN

    I have been Google searching for hours trying to resolve this, but just can not figure it out!
    I don’t even know how to begin to explain the issue or how to name it to try and search for the issue online, so I’ve just been going around in circles!

    I do feel from my searches that it might be colour related – the file is RGB and when I change it to CMYK in Illustrator I am able to replicate what it looks like when placed in InDesign, but that hasn’t helped me resolve the issue…

    I also had another file I purchased for the same design, but since I encountered this issue I went back and purchased a completely new design in the hopes that it would solve the issue, but no!

    I’m desperate to get a fix for this, but I just don’t know enough about what it could be to try and fix it!

    Any help that anyone could provide would be ever so very much appreciated!

    Thanks so much in advance!
    Sarah

  • October 17, 2017 at 7:45 pm #99054
    Bonnie Britt

    Member

    I don’t think this has anything to do with RGB or CMYK.

    The largest bubble appears larger in the placed version than it does in the edited version. The placed version appears stretched when compared to the edited version, and that could account for the color wash out.

    How are you placing it in InDesign?

    Did you draw a text or graphics box sized to the same width and height as the art? Did you click the tool that says “Fit frame to content” while hovering over the tool? Doing so would bring the AI or PDF into InDesign exactly as it appears in the originating file.

  • October 17, 2017 at 7:49 pm #99055
    Bonnie Britt

    Member

    edited for clarity: Did you draw a text or graphics box sized to the same width and height as the art? Did you import the art into the graphics box? And then did you click the tool that says “Fit frame to content” while hovering over the tool? Doing so would bring the AI or PDF into InDesign exactly as it appears in the originating file.

  • October 17, 2017 at 8:38 pm #99056
    Anonymous

    Inactive

    Hi Bonnie,

    Thanks for getting back to me!

    So here are the things I’ve tried since my post:

    1. Open .AI file in Photoshop (which rasterised the file), save as PDF and place in InDesign… Worked perfectly (if not ever so slightly jagged)!
    View from Photoshop – https://imgur.com/a/5ku1z & View after placing in InDesign – https://imgur.com/a/mrNvH

    2. Flatten all layers in Illustrator to see if the transparency and effects on the layers is causing the issue – no luck as flattening made the file look terrible.

    Here is a screenshot of the .AI file in Illustrator set to RGB – https://imgur.com/a/ARPbw

    Here is a screenshot of the exact same .AI file where I have just changed it to CMYK – https://imgur.com/a/WBs8k

    It’s like the CMYK colour mode can’t handle all the transparency, clipping and gradient effects layered into the file…

    You can see how nearly all the colours that ‘glow’ in the RGB version are just flat colours now in the CMYK and they reflect such a large size because the bubbles have flattened out to encompass their transparent ‘glow’ area…

    This is what one layer of bubbles look like in the original RGB file under Isolation – https://imgur.com/a/IM3Ji

    So as you can see, all of the bubbles have some kind of transparency/opacity/gradient effect on them (I don’t know what to call it) and then they are all layered together – so when the file is brought into InDesign or changed to CMYK it’s like it’s not handled properly!

    With regard to placing the file, all I do is simply open a new document to the size I need (A4), turn on the grid and go to File > Place and choose my file and place it anywhere on the screen before aligning it with the page – so it gets placed at it’s full size (and then I resize if need be, but not in this case)… I never really place an image into a frame – I just create my backgrounds to the correct size and use File > Place to place it at full size anywhere on the screen.

    Also as side note, this is the original .EPS file in Illustrator as was downloaded from Shutterstock – https://imgur.com/a/o81ya
    And this is the same file, switched over to CMYK – https://imgur.com/a/kptoi

    Do you have any more suggestions?

    At the moment I’m going to use the Photoshop PDF in my background so I can at least keep working on the wider design and have the file ready to place in the right file once I’ve sorted this issue out…

    Is there some kind of Illustrator forum that I can post this issue in as well? I’m really out of my depth here and I don’t know how to resolve this!

    Thanks,
    Sarah

  • October 18, 2017 at 6:22 am #99067
    David Blatner

    Keymaster

    In the original InDesign file, does it help if you choose Edit > Transparency Blend Mode > RGB (instead of CMYK)? My guess is that some of the transparency blend modes applied in the original AI file don’t work well in CMYK mode. That can happen… some of the coolest effects only work in RGB mode.

  • October 18, 2017 at 6:10 pm #99084
    Anonymous

    Inactive

    Hi David,

    THANK YOU SO MUCH! That solved the issue! What a relief!

    I knew it had something to do with the colour and transparency, but I just didn’t know what settings to check or how to explain the mess my document looked like each time I placed it in and it rendered wrong!

    Thank you so much again for all your help!
    Sarah

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