Color inconsistency of published PDFs on MAC - Critical bug in AC28/27/..

[Pavel_N]

For JPG images that are inserted into Layout as an external drawing, significant color changes occur after publishing to PDF via Publisher.

In Archicad Layouts, JPGs appear the same compared to the source file, but the PDF export from Publisher is significantly color-shifted (both in terms of color tone and image brightness). The output is completely unsatisfactory, a PDF with embedded images cannot be presented or printed seriously in this state.

I did a small test to demonstrate the problem. In Layout, I created colored rectangles as fills, made a printscreen of them and inserted a printscreen next to the original. I attach the test result in the attachment.

On Windows everything is all right, Its only MAC Silicon issue. The issue also occurs in AC27 MAC and maybe in older versions?

[Ke_CARTA]

I completely agree — this is a critical issue. I can understand why it hasn’t been widely flagged before: we only started noticing it in Archicad 27, and my first post about it (link here) was just last month.

Every time we encounter this bug, it’s at the end of a mad rush to prepare for a presentation. The results are often so disappointing that we end up showing visuals directly from Finder instead of using the exported PDF. After the presentation, we move on to other projects and the issue gets forgotten — until it happens again.

Honestly, the 3D renderings linked in Archicad sometimes come out so dark that we wouldn’t want to show them to clients. We’re forced to find awkward workarounds. This really needs to be addressed ASAP — I don’t know a single architect who doesn’t consider visuals a top priority.

[Pavel_N]

I reported the bug through a local distributor who communicated with Graphisoft. They have known about the bug (probably for a very long time, I found the first mention of it here in connection with AC25), the bug is supposedly registered under DEF-1170. Regarding the question of the timeframe for the fix, we received a political answer that other critical issues take priority, etc. Translated, we are not interested at all.

Unfortunately, Mac users do not have a working Publisher and it is not considered a critical bug by Graphisoft.