Smoother fills on large objects

I'm trying to create a high-res desktop background image (1680 x 1050) with a gradient-fill, but the "steps" between the color changes in the background are obvious and I'd like them to be smoothed out. I know that the fill steps are much smoother when a shape is smaller, but I want this to be high-quality and sharp at full size.

Can the "steps" be adjusted to be smaller, or is there a better way I could go about achieving a smoother fill?

Here's an illustration of what I'm talking about. Hopefully it's obvious enough up on this image (you may have to view it full size):
Attachment 98061

Welcome to TalkGraphics

About the only thing I can suggest is to create your bitmap then use the Photo Tool (Blur/Sharpen) slider to soften the image -100. I am not sure if the version you are using supports a larger number but you can try manually changing the slider setting to -200. If your version supports this much blurring that will soften the visible steps.

Gary thanks for this tip

Maybe this is an artifact of your monitor's inability to show subtle graduations ?

@DD I don't think so. Graident fills I believe, and I very well could be wrong about this, are limited to 256 steps. So the larger the fill area the wider the 256 steps.

I tried recreating the fill using grays with some saturation added but this did not solve the problem.

I have a DELL 24" Ultrasharp monitor, the one that displays over 1 billion colors, so I don't think the monitor has anything to do with this problem.

As always, thank you for the tip Gary. I'll give it a try and see how it goes.

And I have the same monitor as you do so I know it's not a monitor issue.

If you have access to a Gaussian Blur, such as Photoshop or newer versions of Xara, that will probably be more effective.

Vector gradients such as what Xara products can produce hit a PDF intended for print as smooth shade gradients. As such the steps between one pole and another are dependent upon the output device. To an image setter, they will be quite smooth. To a level 3 PostScript printer they will be quite acceptable. Consumer level ink jets, less so depending on their internal rip.

Obviously for output to a bitmap, there are noticeable steps, especially with little color data and little difference between the poles. Using a bitmap editor is generally how decent gradients for screen use are made. Even so, adding noise and or discussion along with blur is needed.

As you have XXP5, you could use the Blend Tool.
I used it in XDPX9, with two thin boxes and 500 Steps and applied Rainbow.
Clearly you could use greys and 999 steps and different thicknesses of box, rotation and transparency to achieve a range of effects.

Let me know if you are still getting the artefacts on your display - mine seems OK to x40 magnification.

Attachment 98071Attachment 98072

Acorn

I like the idea of using the blend tool - I wouldn't have thought of that.

:thx

A gradient fill is in many respects a blend.

It is the darker colours that show the bands in the mid tone regions the most so why not break your screen area up into 3 separate areas. Then by using named colours in your gradient you then can make your gradient a lot smoother in your 3 separated areas. Also use the blend tool to get your palette for your named colours

It's amazing that this causes such a problem. I've encountered it myself and it requires serious thought if you really want to hide the banding. Clients spot it straight away. I tend to do large graduated fills restrained to one colour in Photoshop.

@Xara: Is there really a serious technical reason this cannot be overcome in a future update/upgrade?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by gwpriester

Graident fills I believe, and I very well could be wrong about this, are limited to 256 steps. So the larger the fill area the wider the 256 steps.

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If that 256 steps limit is true, then really sounds good alternative the blend creation where higher steps can be entered

I should think a Blend of 999 steps should be enough for most.

Acorn

This, screen representation, is where CorelDraws being able to set the number of steps of a gradient comes in handy. Doesn't change the PostScript output, but it does a good job for exporting bitmaps.

How about creating a a large multi step blend?