Breaks in gradients/gradients not rendering

[MW_JP]

I'm having issues with exporting artwork from Illustrator, which features a stroke (100pt, round cap) with a gradient (2x colours in gradient, applied along the stroke). I keep getting these weird white breaks, almost like some pixels are missing or are not rendering correctly. 

I've tried:

• Exporting a png directly from illustrator and it appears
• Expanding the stroke and exporting and it appears
• I've started a new doc and pasted it in there and exported, still appears 
• I've increased the resolution of gradients in my doc setup setting, still appears when exporting. 

When it does NOT appear:

• Placing the AI file into indesign, exporting it as a png
• Exporting as a jpg from Illustrator
• When you expand the stroke with a solid colour, then manually set the gradient with the free form gradient setting and adding in your point to create the gradual fade from one colour to another. > my current solution to the problem

I've checked the artwork and there's no extra points, weird shapes sitting ontop of the path. I've given the artwork file to another colleague and he also can not figure out what the issue is.

Has anyone else experienced this and found a fix? 

[Ton Frederiks]

Does it also appear when you switch preview fom GPU to CPU? Cmd E or Ctrl E

And when exporting, is Art Optimized selected for anti-aliasing?

[MW_JP]

Tried with just CPU preview on, with type optimised (original selection), no change. 

Tried with CPU preview and Art optimised, made the issue worse. 

[Ton Frederiks]

Can you share that file? To attach it here, change the extension from .ai to .pdf or save it as a pdf file.

[MW_JP]

here you go

[Ton Frederiks]

Thanks, I can see and repeat your problem. I already made a version of your file and that is even worse. The position of the white artefacts change depending on the resolution.

I suggest that you submit a bug report here:

https://illustrator.uservoice.com/

[Ton Frederiks]

I tried it in previous versions and it is not a new problem, it is reproducible in at least Illustrator 2023.

[MW_JP]

Thanks for checking. I hadn't updated to the newest version of AI when it happened. So thought that might have been the cause but alas, it remains. I'll report it and see if it gets fixed. 

[Ton Frederiks]

If you have reported it, can you give the link to the UserVoice report so others (like me) can vote for it?

[MW_JP]

Link to the report if you would like to vote

https://illustrator.uservoice.com/forums/601447-illustrator-desktop-bugs/suggestions/50900618-breaks...

[Bobby Henderson]

Have you tried adding any additional anchor points to see if that might make a difference? Edit: I downloaded the PDF file. I didn't see any of the strange glitches along the stroke in GPU Preview regardless of zoom level. But they did show up when switching to CPU Preview. I found that I could make a lot of the tiny white glitches disappear by adding more anchor points to the path. The white glitches also tend to change position or appear/disappear depending on the zoom level. Adding points isn't a 100% good approach though. Even when adding a lot of points to the path a couple white speckles might still appear depending on the zoom level.

[MW_JP]

Tried adding extra points to the curve but seems to make it worse. 

Checked all my anchor points and all are smooth.  

[MW_JP]

Did you export the file as png to see if they were on the file when you tried?

[Bobby Henderson]

Yes, I did see one or two little white flecks along the path when exporting it in PNG format.

[MW_JP]

Aw 😞 Thank you for looking. Have reported it to UserVoice, so hopefully they'll be able to fix it.  

[Anubhav M]

Hello @mw_digital,

Thank you for providing the information and the UserVoice. Please give me some time to discuss this with the team. Don't hesitate to contact me if you have further questions or require assistance. We would be glad to help.

Anubhav