Shocker! Why does Adobe insist on not making the best gradients?

[U-V2]

Anyone who has ever used Blender knows that if you choose "B-Spline" for your gradient， you get an extremely smooth gradient， no matter what color you choose - it's the softest gradient I've ever seen， bar none!

But I've never seen Adobe add this feature to Photoshop or Illustrator.

First of all， you can be sure that "B-Spline" in Blender is applied in RGB mode， the principle is not complicated， and it can be applied in RGB mode in PS and AI.

At the same time， I also believe that if you study it carefully， the day of using "B-Spline" in CMYK mode is not far away.

All of you who read this post， please tell me if you want to:

Choose any number of colors and automatically create a "perfect gradient" with extremely smooth transitions!

I've tested it， all gradients in AI and PS can't compete with "B-Spline"， if you don't believe me， download Blender and see for yourself， it's a fact!

I think this "basic feature" should have been created 10 years ago， but poor us， we have waited for it， we have not seen any news， and we just sigh all day long "just get on with it".

In the field of gradient， PS and AI and other software features are like old bicycles， users have been waiting for more than ten years， Adobe has never considered upgrading to a brand new car.

Why is this so， is it possible that this feature has not been thought about by programmers， not users need， or with Adobe's strength can not be done?

That's an absolute impossibility!

So， is the answer arrogance?

[Monika Gause]

And sure you have some example images? Or didn't you download Blender because of this?

[U-V2]

First of all, thank you for your answer, but please check out the pictures!
There is no mistake in what I said, is there?

[Monika Gause]

I don't get your point. A couple of rainbow gradients?

[U-V2]

Geez! Apparently， blender's "b-spline gradient" has the most natural transition between the two colors when the colors are exactly the same， and the other gradients don't measure up at all!

What I need is a gradient that just inputs the color values and instantly creates a perfect transition without ever having to worry about it being too abrupt， and that's it.

And yet it hasn't been possible to do that for over a decade!

[Monika Gause]

The dark blue nearly vanishes in your result, which is nice for that rainbow thingy, but exactly when would you need a rainbow?

So maybe you point out some real-life results. And maybe you post it on https://illustrator.uservoice.com, because in this forum you won't reach the engineers. 

[U-V2]

I noticed that my reply to you seems to have been deleted by the system?
If you want to understand what I'm thinking, see my replies to others in this thread ......
Thank you for your reply!

[Ton Frederiks]

Photoshop has since a couple of years various ways to interpolate gradients.

Illustrator can do the same with a script from Sergey Osokin

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q3FG0g5yDm8

And as Monika suggested, for feature requests, use UserVoice.

[U-V2]

Hi， I saw this reply of yours a long time ago， but I never knew how to reply to you.

Until now， I probably know exactly what to say.

You can refer to my conversation with "Jacob Bugge" in this thread.

Here is what I want to say:

1. I can only pay for Sergey Osokin's paid scripts via Google pay， but the "buymeacoffee-APP" is so rudimentary that I can't buy them.

2， I would like a friend who has already purchased the script to use it to generate a gradient image based on the colors provided in my image and insert the image into the reply for me to see， and if I don't think it would look out of place in print， then I will find a way to contact Sergey Osokin to purchase the script.

3， Actually， my real need is that no matter what color I choose to generate the gradient， the result is extremely soft， and I can't figure out the problem from the transition even if I print it， and to print it means it has to be CMYK， which involves a lot of problems.

P.S. By the way， I know that on the image I provided， the colors are all RGB， if possible， I hope you can pick a few CMYK colors that are very different to generate the gradient yourself， I mean generate it with Sergey Osokin's paid script so that I can know if this paid script will produce colors outside the CMYK range in CMYK mode.

Thank you very much for your replies， you guys give me hope， I've been suffering with gradients for too， too long!

[Ton Frederiks]

You don't need the script if you want to see how the gradients look like, just use Photoshop. These are gradients in Photoshop with the same color stops but different interpolations.

And CMYK will always be problematic with these colors, they just are impossible to reproduce.

[U-V2]

What I mean is to make a gradient in AI's CMYK mode by selecting a variety of colors that are within the CMYK color gamut.

With that in mind， would using that paid script give amazing results?

It seems to me that what you are saying is:

1， In RGB mode， changing the interpolation of the gradient around would make it softer;

2， In CMYK mode， no matter how you change the interpolated values of the gradient， even if every color matches CMYK， the gradient will generate colors that are outside the CMYK gamut?

May I ask if my understanding is wrong?

[Ton Frederiks]

In CMYK Mode it can only generate CMYK colors (depending on your CMYK profile).

Try it in Photoshop, the illustrator script gives the same result.

[U-V2]

Geez! Even with such a great paid script, it's still impossible to generate a gradient comparable to a "B-spline gradient" in CMYK mode?

Should I expect a god-like character to produce a "B-spline gradient"?

Another long wait ......

[Monika Gause]

Can you make CMYK gradients in Blender? And if so: please export an example JPEG and upload. 

[U-V2]

My logic now is:

1， There have been attempts in this thread to generate gradients using scripts， as well as the interpolation algorithm that comes with PS， and none of them have yielded the softer results that Blender has.

2， Blender's "B Spline Gradient" has the ability to make the transition between two colors as natural as possible， even at the expense of the color itself， so both in RGB and CMYK modes， "B Spline Gradient" has an incredible in both RGB and CMYK modes.

Of course， I know this is not the truth or the right answer， it is just my guess.

But I will choose to believe that "B Spline Gradient" can be used in CMYK as well and better than any other method because of its amazing effect in RGB mode.

Thank you for your reply!

[Sergey Osokin]

Gradient in Blender in RGB mode. About CMYK, this is just an assumption. In the current discussion, there is not a single example of a gradient in CMYK to discuss in practice, not in theory.

My script inserts intermediate stops with a recalculated color value into the original Adobe Illustrator gradient. This improves the smoothness of the gradient because Illustrator builds the transition not between the original colors, but between the original and the added stops. This is an improvement made possible by third-party automation, but it does not fix the original problem with the generation algorithm in Adobe Illustrator.

Creating smooth gradients depends on the mathematics and physics of human color perception. It even depends on the color mode in which the color interpolation miscalculation occurs. In CMYK mode, there are more problems with color transitions.

For CMYK documents, I have a warning in the script that the results of adding intermediate stops may not greatly improve Illustrator's original bad gradient.

[U-V2]

Geez! You're the author of "GradientBlender"?

I really didn't expect to meet you here and get a reply from you.

I have at least tens of thousands of words to say to you， but I know I can't harass you like this.

I've summarized 3 of my most pressing questions and I hope I can get a response from you， thank you!

1、May I ask if you know about Blender's "B Spline Gradient"， and if you would consider making a "B Spline Gradient" script for AI， to help designers all over the world to make "Perfect Gradient"?

2、If you know "B Spline Gradient"， is it still good in CMYK mode?

3、I want to buy "GradientBlender"， but I don't have a suitable bank card， I can't bind "buymeacoffee"， and its app doesn't have a channel to buy scripts， can I pay you $7 directly through Google Pay? I really can't think of a way to pay for it， so I'm at a loss.

Anyway， thank you so much for your reply， I'm thrilled!

[Sergey Osokin]

1. Blender and Adobe Illustrator are completely different applications. There is no way they can have the same built-in algorithm for generating a gradient on the screen. The scripts in Adobe Illustrator will not help. That's why I described how my script works, that it adds intermediate colors if possible to smooth out dirty gradients.

2. I don't work in Blender, but as far as I know you can't work in CMYK there. If you render an image in Blender, you will have to convert it to CMYK later, e.g. in Photoshop.

3. I have a second store on Gumroad https://sergosokin.gumroad.com/l/gradientblender, but I'm not sure if Google Pay works there. Other than Gumroad and Buymeacoffee, I have no other way to sell scripts. Again, the Adobe Illustrator script does not guarantee to solve all possible gradient problems.

[U-V2]

Thank you very much for your reply， I have already paid $7 for the script via Google Pay in the "Gumroad-APP"!

Regarding the "B-spline gradient"， I took it for granted that the principle is very special and simple， and that AI and PS can realize it through code， but I didn't know the truth at all.

Of course， I would like you to delve deeper into "B Spline Gradient" and make a better gradient script.

I will test this script in the next few days to see if it meets my needs， really， thank you very much!

Thank you very much!

[U-V2]

Hello Dear Author, I really can't create a gradient that meets my needs.

Is it possible to generate a "b-spline gradient" svg file in python and then take it directly to AI to use it and print it as a product?

Are you interested in this?

[Kurt Gold]

U-V2,

if I were you I would prepare and provide at least two sample Illustrator files (one in RGB and the other one in CMYK colour mode) that both contain a couple of gradient filled objects that you do or do not like for whatever reason. Include detailed instructions that may help to understand what improvements are required.

This way, all intrigued participants in this forum would be able to discuss and probably help based on real illustrative material, not just on screenshots or vague statements about what you actually want to achieve.

[U-V2]

Thank you for your reply， you made me realize a harsh truth.

I thought almost everyone recognized the power of the "b-spline gradient".

I thought almost everyone understood that the strongest part of the "b-spline gradient" is the perfect transition between two colors.

I thought almost everyone understood "I've done my best to make this clear".

I didn't realize that everything was just what I thought it was， that's all.

Probably many of my friends didn't even know what I was talking about.

Suddenly I was ashamed and helpless.

I don't know what to say.

[Ton Frederiks]

I don't know about your "B-spline gradients" are they CMYK? Did you try the Photoshop gradients?

Can you show some of your  artwork that would look better with a "B-spline gradient"?

[U-V2]

Thank you for your reply!

My logic now is:

1， There have been attempts in this thread to generate gradients using scripts， as well as the interpolation algorithm that comes with PS， and none of them have yielded the softer results that Blender has.

2， Blender's "B Spline Gradient" has the ability to make the transition between two colors as natural as possible， even at the expense of the color itself， so both in RGB and CMYK modes， "B Spline Gradient" has an incredible in both RGB and CMYK modes.

Of course， I know this is not the truth or the right answer， it is just my guess.

But I will choose to believe that "B Spline Gradient" can be used in CMYK as well and better than any other method because of its amazing effect in RGB mode.

[Monika Gause]

Blender operates in RGB color space. So can you please deliver proof that its gradients works better in CMYK? 

Or do you only "believe".