What ICC profiles does Adobe Illustrator use to convert between RGB and CMYK in its color picker?

Question

I'm trying to understand Adobe Illustrator's color conversion method between RGB/HSB and CMYK. I'm pretty sure they use ICC profiles to do the conversion, and they make a bunch of ICC profiles available for download (http://www.adobe.com/support/downloads/detail.jsp?ftpID=3680). I can't match the conversion using a combination of those profiles to Illustrator's color picker.What RGB and CMYK ICC profiles does Illustrator use in its color picker?

Answer 1

It's actually not directly controlled by Illustrator itself in terms of color profiles for conversion between RGB/HSB and CMYK. The color picker relies on the operating system's color management settings. This means the conversion process might differ between Windows and Mac.

Here's why your approach might not be working:

1. The downloadable ICC profiles from Adobe are likely for use within the application itself, not specifically for the color picker.
2. The color picker uses the system's default profiles, which might not be included in those downloadable ones.

Here are some alternative approaches to understand Illustrator's color conversion:

1. Investigate system color management:
2. Look for settings in your OS (Windows: Color Management, Mac: ColorSync Utility) to identify the default RGB and CMYK profiles used by the system.
3. Use the Color Panel:
4. Illustrator's Color Panel offers more control over color profiles. You can define working spaces (RGB and CMYK profiles) and preview conversions within the application itself. This might be a more reliable way to understand the conversion process.
5. Third-party tools:
6. Explore tools like ColorPicker Dropper in Photoshop (which uses Illustrator's color settings) or third-party color conversion tools to compare results with the color picker.