Some gradients look terribly bad...

**dv986** · 08 July 2010, 05:52 PM

Hi

What i noticed is that, whenever I would make a gradient from black and a very very dark gray, and stretch it long enough, the entire gradient would look like its made of only a few shades of gray, instead of looking nice and smooth. Photoshop does it great no matter what, so it must be something about Xara.

Am i doing something wrong or is it just the way it has to be.. if so, why??

**amoore** · 08 July 2010, 05:58 PM

Hi dv986

The gradient in your jpeg is so subtle that I can't see it. In your xar file, I don't see any banding.

Allison

**ss-kalm** · 08 July 2010, 06:01 PM

Check that the view slider is showing high quality

**handrawn** · 08 July 2010, 06:05 PM

if I understand you right - I think you should be adjusting the gradient profile sliders ratrher than trying to extend the gradient line

**dv986** · 08 July 2010, 06:05 PM

Yes its set on the highest quality... I also tried to upload the png file but it got converted to jpeg, so it got compressed. Let me try zipping.

**highfrontier** · 08 July 2010, 06:06 PM

I was going to post the same question ..

The fact that photoshop produces fine gradients on your system rules out the monitor being at fault (I'm using a cheap monitor with a poor gamut at the moment so that was one thing I was wondering about)
I've not found a way to edit the number of steps in a gradient I'm afraid. Applying a gaussian blur live effect might do the trick, though that will slow your system down a lot.
Does anyone know if this is an editable option in the registry?

**handrawn** · 08 July 2010, 06:13 PM

ah - if its gradient steps we are talking about - there is a maximum number in xtreme/designer .. not sure what it is offhand, but that might be a limiting factor?

**dv986** · 08 July 2010, 06:17 PM

Here, i tired emphasizing these shade "blocks" that happen in the gradient. Hope this makes it more obvious. and its also not barely noticable in most cases.