Preserving color and layers when going from CMYK to RGB

MM
Posted By
Mike_Morrell
Apr 8, 2004
Views
1530
Replies
4
Status
Closed
I am working on a web and multimedia project where the original designer created photoshop files under CMYK. Since I need to go to web and since I need to animate the psd layers in After Effects, I must convert the PSD files to RGB. But when I do this and I do not flatten when I convert to RGB, the colors change. The psd files have many layers and opacities that yield specific colors for overlapping layers that need to be maintained.

Are there any tricks to doing the RGB conversion and maintaining the original colors as close as possible? Why when I convert and "flatten" the layers do the colors remain in tact but preserving the layers changes the colors?
Related Tags
cmyk color layer preserve rgb

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CK
Christine_Krof_Shock
Apr 8, 2004
Problem is things like blending modes and opacities, etc. do not convert correctly. Best bet is to change modes and then go in an tweak as necessary–this is a problem for RGB to CMYK also.

If you flatten you should see less of a color change, however, their can be shifts, even significant shifts when switching from CMYK to RGB. But it will be less than trying to preserve the layers when switching gamuts.
J
JasonSmith
Apr 8, 2004
Possible workaround – leave the file in CMYK and use the Save For Web export.
MM
Mike_Morrell
Apr 8, 2004
Jason, I cannot save for web because this, in effect, flattens the image. A requirement is that I must be able to preserve the layers since the layers will be animated in After Effects.

Christine, I figured that this was likely my best option but I was hoping that I might be missing something. Thanks for your posts.
CK
Christine_Krof_Shock
Apr 9, 2004
Mike–

Another idea–time consuming but from the old school–test first. Try saving out individual layers as separate files (Control + A, Control C) File>New (don’t change the settings it will hold the clipboard information) Save layer as a new file with new name . Open the separate files then do the conversion from CMYK to RGB and recombine the separate saved layers in a new document. This might help and keep you from having to tweak as much.

From back in the days of only floppies–can you believe we used to do this with catalogs!

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