Gradients and transparency dithering.

[MEB]

Although gradients in Affinity Designer are quite nice, they are still showing some banding.

I would like to suggest an option (checkbox?) to dither them (all types of gradients) as well as to transparency/opacity.

 

[Andy Somerfield]

Is a small amount of noise not sufficient to help with the banding?

 

AndyS

[MEB]

Yes it usually is. But having dithering applied automatically to all gradients and transparency is a great time saver and improves the quality of the output even for those who don't know how to smooth the gradients.

[Andy Somerfield]

Yes, I see.

 

I don't think it will make the initial release (we are fairly close to the point where we will stop adding features, and start cleaning everything up) - but I would expect us to look at it in the future.

 

AndyS

[retrograde]

Yes there seems to be a bit of a sharp jump when adjusting the gradient slider...

[Ash]

Hi - What do you mean by sharp jump? Is it snapping (hold alt to not snap)?

[Ash]

Hi - What do you mean by sharp jump? Is it snapping (hold alt to not snap)?

[retrograde]

Hi Ash, no I guess more referring to the colour jumping or a banding in certain places. However after playing a bit more with a shape filled with a gradient I think I am able to remove most of that just by subtly playing with the sliders. I like the option of snapping or not snapping at the half way point and the elegant controls.

[MattP]

Just to add a little extra tease to this - I've managed to get dithering working as an app-wide option for all gradient fills and transparencies - it just needs a tiny bit of tinkering before it's ready to be used :)

[retrograde]

Sounds awesome MattP!

[Andy Somerfield]

I've done the "tinkering" I think Matt is talking about - I'll run it by him tomorrow and check it in.. hopefully this should be sorted soon!

 

AndyS

[retrograde]

Cheers Andy, hurry up Tuesday...   :)

[MattP]

...he has indeed 'tinkered' just right, by the looks of it :)

[MEB]

Sorry for the delay replying to this topic. Just want to thank you for implementing it. I have been in holidays (without internet access) and only now i´m caching up...