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Using Flash CS4. The gradient is very "steppy", i.e. there are stripes. How can this gradient be made continuous?

image of gradient

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What colour setting is your document set to? Very slight gradients between two similar colours will look stepped depending on what colour depth you are using. The various colour depths are: 8 bit (256 colours), 16 bit (about 65 thousand), 24 bit (about 16 million) and 32 bit (over 4 billion different colours). – Oliver G Jul 24 '12 at 10:28
i know this is so irritating and mysterious, my photoshop sometimes does this 'step' gradients, and most of the time it does not. When it does that i feel as if this is just not the day. – Muhammad Umer Feb 2 at 2:27
Have you tried just filling a rectangle with a native Flash gradient? – Amy Blankenship Mar 4 at 2:31

2 Answers

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I experienced the same problem with InDesign a few months ago. My solution was to create the gradient in photoshop (I have the feeling it handles gradients better), and then add a very subtle noise and hide it with a gaussian blur.

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I'm not sure there is an optimal solution for this, since with the coming of LCD screens, every gradient seems to have slight banding on it.

Only trick I have is to add a tiny amount of noise to the gradient, which "breaks" the banding. But since you are working in Flash, it would mean switching the software-generated gradient into a Photoshop-adjusted bitmap.

Perhaps a semi-transparent layer of noise on top of the gradient? That is probably even worse a solution...

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