Noticibly more noise when converting using PitStop Server Vs PitStop Pro

[nathan_ed1]

I have a bit of a strange one here, that I'm hoping someone has run across before and has a solution to

When converting a PDF to CMYK color space, I'm getting significantly more artifacts / blocky in the resulting images if the PDF has gone through the PitStop Server / Switch vs if I use the same Action List from PitStop Pro in Adobe.

In Addition to that, when comparing the resulting histograms, I'm noticing a difference there as well between PitStop Pro and PitStop Server (See embeds).
PitStop Pro on left, PitStop Server on right:

PitStop Pro conversion

PitStop Server conversion


The uploaded images partial images are close to what I'm seeing on my end, but it looks like the image host did it's own recompression so the artifacts are a tad worse

I'm using an M1 Mac Studio for all of these tests.
Things I've Tried:

• isolated my Action list for conversion from all other actions
• Recreated the Switch Flow as a Hot Folder directly in PitStop Server (No change)
• Reconfirming Color Management settings are the same between PitStop Pro and PitStop Server
• Confirmed .eal is the same used between each version of PitStop

Any help understanding what may be occurring would be appreciated

[freddyp]

The artifacts you are getting are typically the result of a JPEG compression, not of a color management setting. Check if the compression settings in Pro and Server are the same, especially if the quality settings are the same. You can also check that in the Inspector.

[nathan_ed1]

The artifacts you are getting are typically the result of a JPEG compression, not of a color management setting. Check if the compression settings in Pro and Server are the same, especially if the quality settings are the same. You can also check that in the Inspector.

That does makes sense to me, as we're uncompressing and re-compressing when color converting. I am not however, seeing a setting in Pro or Server for compression settings. I can override the defaults within the Action List, but I do not see a way to set a default.

I went ahead and set the compression to use ZIP as a test to try to prevent any losses on recompression, and the same problem remains: The Server version contains moire banding and artifacts that do not exist in the Pro version when using the same source Action List (granted it is better, but still noticeably worse).

I duplicated this same thing for JPEG(Max), JPEG2000(Lossless), and LZW compression.

Any other things I can check?

[magnussandstrom]

Interesting one. As Freddy said, this looks like JPEG artifacts. Maybe you can share the Switch flow so I can have a look at your settings?

[nathan_ed1]

Interesting one. As Freddy said, this looks like JPEG artifacts. Maybe you can share the Switch flow so I can have a look at your settings?

I'll share the test flow with settings below, but I think I've nailed this down to how the server version and plugin version handle decompression of the image prior to color space conversion
I was able to obtain a lossless version of the image I was working with, and all differences between Pro and Server went away. No purple or white banding in my sky tones, and the artifacts causing it are non-existent. I can officially blame part of the problem on the initial file.

Still want to see if anything I've done may be causing the differences I'm seeing, but it's looking more likely something is up with how PitStop Server is running on Apple Silicone.

Link to Switch Document Flow (should be live for the next 7 days) I was using during testing:
https://ed1-public-temp.s3.us-east-2.am ... nvert.html

[magnussandstrom]

Interesting indeed, your settings does looks fine but without the action list it's hard to know what's going on.

[nathan_ed1]

Interesting indeed, your settings does looks fine but without the action list it's hard to know what's going on.

True. With each method using the same Action list, I didn't think it mattered too much.

Here is a link off to it:
https://ed1-public-temp.s3.us-east-2.am ... n2022).eal

[Bettylores]

Interesting indeed, your settings does looks fine but without the action list it's hard to know what's going on.

True. With each method using the same Action list, I didn't think it mattered too much.

Here is a link off to it:
https://ed1-public-temp.s3.us-east-2.am ... n2022).eal

Thank for link