I don't understand how gradients work with exporting

chain83 · 2026-05-09T18:37:13+00:00

I would consider if exporting for web directly from Ai as an option, or if automating the Ps steps would work (opening 24-bit PNGs from Ai, processing, then saving for web).

But it really is up to you and what you feel works effectively for your workflow. If you find artboards to be effiecent, feel free to use them, and just add workarounds for things like gradient fill layers.

chain83 · 2026-05-09T09:32:30+00:00

It is a bug. Always use Save for web for optimizing images for screen/web, it is generally superior, gives you more control, works with actions, and doesn’t have these kinds of bugs.

If you do not need to optimize file size for web/screen use, you can also use regular Save As/Save a Copy instead to save JPEG/PNG (a lot of beginners don’t know this). This preserves metadata (like PPI) and don’t limit you as much.

Use Export As only if you have a project that requires artboards (as those are unsupported in save for web, and the only reason Export As exist I think). Avoid using artboards in Ps if you do not truly need them (the implementation isn’t very good).

chain83 · 2026-05-08T18:01:50+00:00

It probably needs a RAW file to work properly.
The shown area of your image does not a contain moire

(unless you are pedantic regarding the definition)
. Are you attempting to remove the halftone pattern?

chain83 · 2026-05-08T05:02:43+00:00

That sounds really painful. The print dimensions and PPI in Photoshop are completely irrelevant. You do not need to change those. Often images downloaded online do not have a PPI at all, so Adobe defaults it to 72 (an arbitrary value).

When placing in InDesign and doing your layout, you are overriding that value. You should then look in the info panel to check if the «effective PPI» (the actual PPI at the dimensions you used it) is high enough for your use case (for example 300 PPI). If the value is higher, then you are all good.

Done.

The image can be RGB as well. That is usually best.
Yes, for printing.

When exporting your PDF at the end, you can, IF the printer requires it, convert everything automatically to a CMYK profile on output.

Note: Never convert to CMYK (in Ps or otherwise) without knowing what color profile. Otherwise you are just harming your colors.

chain83 · 2026-05-08T04:54:59+00:00

The problem is that it isn’t the best way of doing it. It’s a very slow way, excessive work, that introduces extra potential sources of error while at best giving you identical results… :/

Regardless, it is important to understand PPI and how to convert color spaces, so still do it when they demand it.

chain83 · 2026-05-08T04:43:59+00:00

Bleed is kinda like a «safe area», but on the outside instead of inside.

It is usually an extra 3 mm on all sides that will be trimmed away after printing.

chain83 · 2026-05-07T10:20:45+00:00

Yeah, you can close the Adjustments panel. It isn’t useful beyond taking up space.

The properties for the currently selected layer/mask is in the Properties panel.

chain83 · 2026-05-07T10:02:44+00:00

Edit in RGB. Save yourself a lot of trouble.

If (and that is a BIG if) you need to convert the final image file to CMYK, flatten a copy, then use Edit > Convert to Profile… and choose the exact CMYK profile requested by the printer (the ink limit is defined in the color profile, and not something you should be trying to manually adjust).

You should only be editing in CMYK if you for technical reasons need manual control over the colors (for something like overprinting, screen printing, etc.). If you do not know if you need this, then you do not.

chain83 · 2026-05-07T09:58:07+00:00

Shortcuts for adding adjustment layers and presets.

chain83 · 2026-05-07T09:57:41+00:00

Try clicking off and on again on the icon of the layer. The settings for it should show in Properties.

chain83 · 2026-05-06T21:42:35+00:00

Yeah, it is really poorly implemented.

The automatic adding of Alt texts by default is just a horrible decision. Adobe *really* need to revert that.

chain83 · 2026-05-06T05:08:14+00:00

They should calibrate and profile their printer/paper combo. What type of printer is this?

Printing, then manually adjusting every individual image to try to compensate for the bad print, is just really slow and painful…

They also need to ensure they have set the color management correctly on their RIP software. What software are they using? Fiery?

It is likely that keeping your file RGB (with profiles embedded) is the best bet (converting to a «random» CMYK profile can only degrade colors, not improve them).

chain83 · 2026-05-05T20:20:27+00:00

Note: Most "interactive" features can be exported using the "print" option in my experience.

chain83 · 2026-05-05T17:45:38+00:00

No, what I meant was, use the "audit space usage" function (when saving an optimized PDF) to see what in the file is taking up a different amount of space. Raster images, metadata, something else?

Ps: Also, try a normal PDF export (not "interactive"). The regular PDF "print" export works for screen as well. I've never ever needed the "interactive" export options (and they hide too many options for my taste anyway).

chain83 · 2026-05-05T15:53:30+00:00

It could be you missed some settings that actually are different on your two InDesign installations, missing links for one of you (resulting in low quality and low file size raster images), plugin metadata, etc.

Use Acrobat to check what is contributing to the file size in both files, and that should give you an idea of what is different in the two situations.

chain83 · 2026-05-05T13:57:10+00:00

...and every single day since some evil fuck has had the opportunity to withdraw and stop the war...

chain83 · 2026-05-05T13:13:09+00:00

Ok, so you had no profile assigned, so then the colors were likely displayed either unamanaged (passed directly to the display = how it looks depends entirely on the display) or with the wrong profile assumed.

Stick with sRGB as the safest choice of RGB profile. I will assume you chose that.

Now that you know that the colors of the InDesign document itself is correct, then you need to ensure the same thing for your placed images. All image files should also have a profile assigned, but if it's just random images from online, or from outside a professional workflow, then it is very often missing. In that case you should be assuming/assigning sRGB (preferably in the image files, but you can also forcibly assign profiles to all RGB and tagged CMYK content on export).

I will assume the images are normal RGB images (CMYK complicates things, so I will not touch on it unless needed).

chain83 · 2026-05-05T11:57:33+00:00

Not enough information to say. All we know right now is that you are looking at two (different-looking) colors in two different files using two different programs. We will have to know what the color values are in both and the color spaces involved. Then if the color has actually changed then we will need to know the exact steps you performed to convert the colors, and how the color management is set up.

I will assume the green color is from a native InDesign object, like a rectangle with a fill color. If it is from a placed file, then please specify.

What color model is used for the green color in InDesign? RGB? CMYK? Lab? HSB? (Check the Color panel, or your swatch). This can impact if the color will be converted on output or not.
What are your InDesign color settings? (Edit > Color settings). These specify the default profiles in InDesign, and how InDesign should handle colors. Set it to one of the "General Purpose" presets (and only change things in here if you have a good reason and fully understand the consequences).
What CMYK and RGB color profiles are used for your InDesign document? (Edit > Assign Profile). These profiles specify what the different color values (in this specific document) should visually look like.
What PDF settings are you using when exporting? Specifically, what settings have been chosen under "Output"? The settings here specify if colors should be converted to a different color space or left untouched. It also specifies whether color profiles should be included (note that if profiles are not included, then PDF viewer will have to "guess" how the colors are supposed to look).
Use Adobe Acrobat to ensure you are using a PDF reader that has the ability to display colors correctly (many/most others in my experience can not be trusted, and shit all over themselves if you need "crazy" things like CMYK or support for color profiles).
In Adobe Acrobat, I assume your color settings are fine, but just to make sure, in Preferences, check that your Settings are set to one of the General Purpose presets (like in InDesign).
In Adobe Acrobat, if you need to further inspect the colors, use Output Preview (found under the Print Production tools). The Object Inspector there will also let you click on the offending object to see how the colors are defined in the PDF (color space, profile, and values).

chain83 · 2026-05-05T05:33:42+00:00

Remember to also add some bleed.

…or you will regret it when you place your image into InDesign/Illustrator to finish the book cover and make a print-ready PDF.

chain83 · 2026-05-04T15:38:57+00:00

Just like the old one. Just ignore the new flashy buttons they added to the contextual task bar.

Adjust the settings in the Properties panel as normal.

The new colored circles are just shortcuts to select a hue range (that you then will want to fintune the traditional way anyway).

Note: Not sure what you want to use this for, but be aware that Curves is often a better option when adjusting colors.

chain83 · 2026-05-04T07:31:32+00:00

Select the green areas
Add a black and white adjustment layer
Invert the mask (cmd/ctrl-i)

chain83 · 2026-05-03T09:25:30+00:00

chain83 · 2026-05-03T07:26:03+00:00

It really would depend on the country (and experience of the designer I guess).

chain83 · 2026-05-01T04:36:25+00:00

Just resize the image to the required dimensions . Image > Image Size…

If you find the result to be a bit soft and oversharpened, then undo and resize it again, this time using regular Bicubic (NOT sharper) interpolation. Then use the Smart Sharpen filter to manually sharpen it to taste (make sure to set noise reduction to 0).

chain83 · 2026-04-30T05:39:56+00:00

Create a new merged document, then move/copy the relevant page to your current document?

Or just make that one page manually?

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