Conversion to GrayGamma not fully working?  SOLVED

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mauvia
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Conversion to GrayGamma not fully working?

Post by mauvia »

I have a pdf file (I attach a copy)
Reazioni_Sfera_Piano.pdf
(214.48 KiB) Downloaded 57 times
which is de facto B&W, in the sense that no colors are visible in it, BUT (because of the tool I used to make it) in "Document Colors", both in Acrobat XI Pro (which I have) and in PDF-XChange (not yet registered version), both DeviceGray and DeviceRGB (and nothing else) are declared.

Now if I convert colors to profile Gray Gamma 2.2 (say) using Acrobat XI Pro I get a new file which of course looks exactly the same as before BUT now in "Document Colors" I only see DeviceGray.

If I try to do the same using PDF-XChange it will tell me that "no action was performed" and when I save the file I get something which looks exactly the same BUT again in "Document Colors" both DeviceGray and DeviceRGB are declared. No watermark, either.

This is a crucial issue for me. The publisher to which I am sending the many pictures of this type (SPRINGER, a big name) will tell me that the pictures are in color if they see DeviceRGB declared, no matter what there is in the picture, and this creates a commercial issue. Using Acrobat XI Pro I can fix the problem but, apparently, I couldn't using your product. Can you confirm this? (No way to have a discussion with Springer about this, they have their own rules and that's it...).

Thanks
Maurizio
Willy Van Nuffel
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Re: Conversion to GrayGamma not fully working?

Post by Willy Van Nuffel »

For information:

When you activate the "Content" pane, via View > Panes, and then you look into the content of Page 1, you can see that there is the Image (DeviceRGB), an XForm (DeviceGray) and Text (DeviceGray).

NOTE: I detected the ColorSpace of each object by each time removing the two other objects.

Now, when you try converting all these three objects to the "Gray Gamma 2.2"-profile, nothing happens.

But, if you remove the XForm and the Text, and then perform Convert Colors, the Image is correctly converted to DeviceGray.

So, to me it seems like PDF-XChange Editor has currently a problem with the color conversion when there are objects of both types.

Regards.

Willy
mauvia
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Re: Conversion to GrayGamma not fully working?

Post by mauvia »

Thanks for your help. However this means that in practice this feature is not really working, at least from my point of view.

Nothing from PDF-XCHANGE support?

Maurizio
Willy Van Nuffel
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Re: Conversion to GrayGamma not fully working?

Post by Willy Van Nuffel »

@Tracker Support : Please help !
mauvia
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Re: Conversion to GrayGamma not fully working?

Post by mauvia »

Not so much support...

Let's see. For me in practice this would be a no-no for this tool.

Maurizio
Willy Van Nuffel
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Re: Conversion to GrayGamma not fully working?

Post by Willy Van Nuffel »

Hi,

I would not be too quick to judge.

I guess there is just a problem right now, because in normal circumstances their response is always fast and accurate.

In case they recognize and confirm the problem with the Gray Gamma conversion, they will certainly fix it in one of the following builds !

Kind regards.

Willy
mauvia
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Re: Conversion to GrayGamma not fully working?  SOLVED

Post by mauvia »

You are right, we'll wait.

Regards
Maurizio
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TrackerSupp-Daniel
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Re: Conversion to GrayGamma not fully working?

Post by TrackerSupp-Daniel »

Hello, mauvia

Terribly sorry for the delay here, Back to School season is one of our busiest times of the year. We try our best, but we are a very small team, so sometimes we can get a bit backed up.

For the moment, a workaround is to "recompress images" the image alone, as it seems to be the only "DeviceRGB" object in this document. You can do this by selecting the image with the "Edit" tool, then right click and choose "recompress image":
image.png
After which, simply choose the "greyscale" option, and click OK:
image1.png
After this is complete, The document no longer reports that "DeviceRGB" is in use, and it should work for your needs.

I have forwarded this case to our Dev team for investigation, as the "convert colors" function should also work for this purpose. Hopefully we can get that resolved shortly, but I hope this workaround helps for the moment.

Kind regards,
Dan McIntyre - Support Technician
Tracker Software Products (Canada) LTD

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Our Web site domain and email address has changed as of 26/10/2023.
https://www.pdf-xchange.com
Support@pdf-xchange.com
mauvia
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Re: Conversion to GrayGamma not fully working?

Post by mauvia »

Thanks, yes it seems to work. Anyway I would prefer to have to have a more direct method (as in Acrobat Pro). Since I was just experimenting with this I'll come back when it will be included in a future release (hopefully) and then I'll consider a purchase. Anyway this seems to be a very nice tool.

Thanks again
Maurizio
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TrackerSupp-Daniel
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Conversion to GrayGamma not fully working?

Post by TrackerSupp-Daniel »

:)
Dan McIntyre - Support Technician
Tracker Software Products (Canada) LTD

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Our Web site domain and email address has changed as of 26/10/2023.
https://www.pdf-xchange.com
Support@pdf-xchange.com
Willy Van Nuffel
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Re: Conversion to GrayGamma not fully working?

Post by Willy Van Nuffel »

This one seems to be resolved in the new version 9.2.357.0, but not mentioned in the version history as being 'fixed'.

Regards.

Willy
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Paul - Tracker Supp
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Re: Conversion to GrayGamma not fully working?

Post by Paul - Tracker Supp »

Hi Willy,

every build sees numerous small fixes that don't make it into the build history. It would blow out significantly if we included them all.

It's not likely that this will change though.

regards
Best regards

Paul O'Rorke
Tracker Support North America
http://www.tracker-software.com
mauvia
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Re: Conversion to GrayGamma not fully working?

Post by mauvia »

TrackerSupp-Daniel wrote: Tue Aug 31, 2021 9:18 pm Hello, mauvia

Terribly sorry for the delay here, Back to School season is one of our busiest times of the year. We try our best, but we are a very small team, so sometimes we can get a bit backed up.

For the moment, a workaround is to "recompress images" the image alone, as it seems to be the only "DeviceRGB" object in this document. You can do this by selecting the image with the "Edit" tool, then right click and choose "recompress image":
image.png
After which, simply choose the "greyscale" option, and click OK:
image1.png
After this is complete, The document no longer reports that "DeviceRGB" is in use, and it should work for your needs.

I have forwarded this case to our Dev team for investigation, as the "convert colors" function should also work for this purpose. Hopefully we can get that resolved shortly, but I hope this workaround helps for the moment.

Kind regards,

It seems to me that there is a new release of this software.

Is now conversion to Greyscale from Device RGB working as it should? I tried but since I do not have (yet) a license I get (correctly) the yellow stickers on my pdf and I cannot check.

Can you confirm that the issue has now been fixed?

Thanks
Maurizio
Willy Van Nuffel
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Re: Conversion to GrayGamma not fully working?

Post by Willy Van Nuffel »

Hi Maurizio,

I suppose you have read the posts in this topic following your quoted item ?

For me, the problem seems to be resolved, since build 357.

You can check this by opening your sample PDF in PDF-XChange Editor (latest build 358), and running the conversion to "Gray Gamma 2.2" (via the Convert-ribbon > Convert Colors). After this - DO NOT YET SAVE - verify the result by returning to the Convert Colors dialog-box and clicking the "Document Colors"-button. Only "DeviceGray" should rest.

To be 100% sure, you can wait for a confirmation from Tracker Support.

Best regards.

Willy
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Radi - Tracker Supp
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Re: Conversion to GrayGamma not fully working?

Post by Radi - Tracker Supp »

Hi Willy, mauvia,

@Willy, Thanks for testing this for us. I also tested this on my end and I can confirm that the colours of the document correctly converted to Gray.

@mauvia, Please update your Editor and check if this issue is also resolved on your end.

Regards,
Radi
mauvia
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Re: Conversion to GrayGamma not fully working?

Post by mauvia »

Hi all!

I chose profile

Gray Gamma 2.2

and after conversion from DeviceRGB and before saving I get

ICCBased based on DeviceGray

in the document colors tab.

Is that the same as just "DeviceGray" ? What's "ICCBased" ?

(not for me but for people at Springer who are very fussy about such things....)

Thanks
Maurizio
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Tracker Supp-Stefan
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Re: Conversion to GrayGamma not fully working?

Post by Tracker Supp-Stefan »

Hello Maurizio,

I presume you have this checkbox ticked:
image.png
The ICCBased on Device Gray means that there is a colour profile now embedded in the file based on "DeviceGrey".
ICC stands for International Colour Consortium, and you would usually find ICCxxxxx files in C:\Windows\System32\spool\drivers\color related to your monitors, printers and other devices that could output colour.

If you uncheck that box, you will get only "Device Grey" as the the above shot by Willy.

Kind regards,
Stefan
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