Need some advice...

Recently submitted a batch containing both photos and illustrations to Alamy. First time submitting jpeg illustrations, always photos previously. Have a perfect record for QC with nearly 50 submissions totalling 1000 images online.

It took over a month to get a QC result, which in the end was a fail (my first, oh no!). The reason - one of my illustrations. I asked about it further, and got sent these crops of the offending image.







Now I can see the problem, but I have no idea why this problem has happened.

Anyone have any experience with this? Vectors created in Illustrator CS5, then opened in Photoshop CS5 in RGB mode and saved as highest quality JPEG (12).

Seems to be just a problem with gradient banding, not anything else - but why would this have happened when saving to best quality jpeg?

Look forward to your thoughts

banding is a big problem because there are not enough colours in jpegs  and the way our eyes work. There are lots of tricks you can use to lessen the effects such as a small amount of texture or blurred noise.

Quote from: Microstock Man on June 12, 2012, 00:58
Need some advice...

Recently submitted a batch containing both photos and illustrations to Alamy. First time submitting jpeg illustrations, always photos previously. Have a perfect record for QC with nearly 50 submissions totalling 1000 images online.

It took over a month to get a QC result, which in the end was a fail (my first, oh no!). The reason - one of my illustrations. I asked about it further, and got sent these crops of the offending image.







Now I can see the problem, but I have no idea why this problem has happened.

Anyone have any experience with this? Vectors created in Illustrator CS5, then opened in Photoshop CS5 in RGB mode and saved as highest quality JPEG (12).

Seems to be just a problem with gradient banding, not anything else - but why would this have happened when saving to best quality jpeg?

Look forward to your thoughts

when creating it, don't you already save it to the highest quality in illustrator? and why not?

if you are going to save it in PS, make sure you choose baseline standard option.. I believe this should sort it out.. also, if you don't want to wait very long to see the outcome, just send in one image.. you will get the result much quicker.. once that is approved, then do the rest..

Quote from: Microstock Man on June 12, 2012, 00:58

Now I can see the problem, but I have no idea why this problem has happened.

Anyone have any experience with this? Vectors created in Illustrator CS5, then opened in Photoshop CS5 in RGB mode and saved as highest quality JPEG (12).

Seems to be just a problem with gradient banding, not anything else - but why would this have happened when saving to best quality jpeg?

Look forward to your thoughts

I've noticed that when banding appears in the Photoshop jpeg version it's already in the Illustrator file.
Especially when using greys and blacks like your examples.
If you work in cymk, instead of using a color like c=0 y=0 m=0 k=100 in gradients you could try something like c=60 y=50 m=50 k= 80.
It works for me.

If this doesn't help see what happens using a blend instead of a gradient. Oh yeah I'm still using CS4.

Sorry for the ignorance, I am not an AI expert (only uses it for silhouettes), but why do you not just export directly from AI to JPG format?

Quote from: CD123 on June 13, 2012, 20:22
Sorry for the ignorance, I am not an AI expert (only uses it for silhouettes), but why do you not just export directly from AI to JPG format?

Thanks for the feedback guys, will take your suggestions on board - including exporting direct from Illustrator and seeing if that helps. The only reason I haven't till now is I am WAY more comfortable in photoshop, and as far as I am aware opening an .ai file and then exporting shouldn't result in any loss in photoshop compared to Illustrator, but you're right, it is an extra step for no apparent reason!

Quote from: CD123 on June 13, 2012, 20:22
Sorry for the ignorance, I am not an AI expert (only uses it for silhouettes), but why do you not just export directly from AI to JPG format?

There seems to be two schools of thought on which is the best method.
Going the photoshop route gives you more control on the final size of the jpeg document.
I usually make them just under the 25 000 000 pixel the SS limit. That size will also give you the Standard XXL size on FT.

I just did a comparsion of my most recent image and noticed that the photoshop jpeg matched the illustrator
document while the illustrator direct to jpeg didnot.     

Also, saving out of Illustrator only gives you a maximum JPEG quality of 10 instead of 12 (at least on my end using CS5 - is that right, or am I missing something?).

I would think that going the Photoshop approach and saving as jpeg quality 12 should help with these sorts of banding problems rather than make them worse.