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bluefire777
bluefire777
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photoshop banding on gradients and brushes

May 30, 2012 5:30 AM

Tags: #brush #lines #blending #banding #smoothness #gradations

Ok so i`m trying everything to get the smoothest softest blends possible in photoshop, and I think its possible because Ive seen a lot of digital graphics where it is really nicely done, but mine is a disaster.

 

the banding and artifacts in it are disheartening. whether with brush or gradient, even on small areas like 7 to 12 inches. I`m not talking about poster size just average A4 pages being painted.

 

Ive used the brush tool on the softest setting, and a wacom bamboo tablet, with pen pressure determines opacity seeming to produce the best results, low opacity to try build it up, opaque etc, and very close tones, as close as possible, and the gradients dont fair much better,

 

is this the way it is or is there another technique to get smooth blends with teh brush or gradients?

 

gradient_banding.png

 

the colour picker seems to have smooth silky powdery blends, I thought it would be possible to paint like this with the airbrush in PS but it doesnt produce this kind of softness.. of course the colour picker is code generated not with a brush,,

colourpicker.png

 

here the brush is used on 3 types of settings, the last being with pen pressure determines opacity producing better results, but not what I expected.

brush_banding.png

here I used a large soft brush which was larger than the oval, and a few swipes across but I can still see artifacts or shapes in there,

 

largesoftbrush.png

 

i`m not wanting ultra powdery smooth for everything I do, but there are times when I want it for certain surfaces or illustration work,

 

any tips please,

1131 Views   17 Replies   Latest reply: RezKhan, Mar 4, 2013 6:08 AM
 
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  • RezKhan
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    1. RezKhan,
    Feb 27, 2013 7:50 PM   in reply to bluefire777
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    bump up

     
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  • Doug.S
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    2. Doug.S,
    Feb 27, 2013 8:03 PM   in reply to RezKhan
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    for brush work maybe the brush spacing needs to be adjusted? to get the dabs closer together.

     
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  • RezKhan
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    3. RezKhan,
    Feb 28, 2013 1:42 AM   in reply to Doug.S
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    Untitled-1.jpg

     

    Im getting this with my brushes, they ussualy blend really well, with pen pressure. but for some reason it doesnt anymore.

     
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  • c.pfaffenbichler
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    4. c.pfaffenbichler,
    Feb 28, 2013 5:27 AM   in reply to bluefire777
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    Have you tried working in 16bit?

     

    Also you might want to use the Brush Tool’s Flow, not just its Opacity.

     

    As for Gradient Layers have you checked »Dither«?

     
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  • Doug.S
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    5. Doug.S,
    Feb 28, 2013 6:20 AM   in reply to RezKhan
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    To me it looks simply like a feathered brush edge and overlapping opacity differences.

     

    I would try a 100% hard edge brush at min. brush spacing and see if that is different...in other words try everything you can to set every variable to produce a solid opaque edge....if that is still not possible then maybe you have a video card problem?  Does a printed output show the same as "on screen"?

     

    Here is my example of hard edge brush. You can see anti-alias along edge and feathering  at start/end. Can you generate this? or all brush settings give you soft edges?Untitled-1.jpg

     
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  • Noel Carboni
    20,949 posts
    Dec 23, 2006
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    6. Noel Carboni,
    Feb 28, 2013 6:33 AM   in reply to RezKhan
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    You're confusing people because what you continue to show is normal and expected - under some combinations of settings.  In the case of the image in post 3 above, that's perfectly normal for a brush with Opacity set to a small number

     

    OpacityLow.png

     

    Perhaps you could show an image where two brush strokes overlap and you get the effect you desire, if what's showing above is not it?  Christoph mentioned changing your Opacity and FLow above.  Have you taken the time to try that?  What happens when you set it to 100%?  Is that what you're expecting?

     

    You've mentioned pen pressure...  What is it specifically that you're expecting to happen when you raise or lower your pen pressure that is not happening?  You do know that in the Brush panel there are specific controls for that, right?

     

    Isn't it clear you need to express yourself differently / better / more fully in order to get an answer?

     

    You'll not find a more experienced bunch of experts than here.  Please work a little harder to help them help you.

     

    -Noel

     
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  • RezKhan
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    7. RezKhan,
    Feb 28, 2013 6:43 AM   in reply to Noel Carboni
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    I'm sure my brush panel is already provided. Tried the above. I have determined the my tablet is conflicting with windows. As I tried PhotoShop on two computers with both win8 and win7. ,however seems to work fine with a mac, in trying to find an old WIP to illustrate what my brush ussually does. Bare with me.

     

    Sent from my Windows Phone

     
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  • RezKhan
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    8. RezKhan,
    Feb 28, 2013 6:51 AM   in reply to Noel Carboni
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    Okay can't get to my pc atm. But here's a link to my work http://rezkhan.deviantart.com/art/Elven-Nature-290876171 can you see how the strokes transition smoothly. No edges. I used the hard egde brush in transfer and texture. That's what I ussualy get. I paint from dark to light and very light handed.

     

    Sent from my Windows Phone

     
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  • RezKhan
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    9. RezKhan,
    Feb 28, 2013 6:54 AM   in reply to Noel Carboni
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    Oh! There is even a Video in the link if you look under the discription of the pic. That would be the best demonstration on what I usualy get eight brush strokes

     

    Sent from my Windows Phone

     
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  • Noel Carboni
    20,949 posts
    Dec 23, 2006
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    10. Noel Carboni,
    Feb 28, 2013 6:55 AM   in reply to RezKhan
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    R.S.Khan wrote:

     

    can you see how the strokes transition smoothly. No edges.

     

    There's plenty of noise in that image.  Did you maybe accidentally turn off the Noise parameter in your Brush Dynamics?

     

    -Noel

     
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  • Noel Carboni
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    Dec 23, 2006
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    11. Noel Carboni,
    Feb 28, 2013 6:58 AM   in reply to Noel Carboni
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    From the video it's just clear that the flow is very tiny, as the author is having to paint many, many times over the same pixels to get even a small change in color.

     

    Possibly you've lost pen pressure control and instead of a very tiny flow you're getting it all, all the time.

     

    Do you see ANY effects of pen pressure in your strokes?

     

    -Noel

     
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  • RezKhan
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    12. RezKhan,
    Feb 28, 2013 8:00 AM   in reply to Noel Carboni
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    Flow is at 100% like norm. Yes I get pressure on the tablet but I've noticed its not recognising my feather touch

     

    Sent from my Windows Phone

     
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  • RezKhan
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    13. RezKhan,
    Feb 28, 2013 8:04 AM   in reply to Noel Carboni
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    Oh yeah btw the video is mine, that's my work and the brush settings are at 100% flow. Hope that helps better for an understanding of how photohop usually works for me

     

    Sent from my Windows Phone

     
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  • RezKhan
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    14. RezKhan,
    Feb 28, 2013 11:23 AM   in reply to Noel Carboni
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    it was the tablet itself, im going to have to buy a new one, thank you for your help.

    Rez

     

    _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

     
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  • Noel Carboni
    20,949 posts
    Dec 23, 2006
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    15. Noel Carboni,
    Feb 28, 2013 4:42 PM   in reply to RezKhan
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    Thank you for following-up, because it would have bothered me for a long time wondering what had gone wrong.

     

    So what started out being described as a problem with overlapping brush strokes showing banding really ended up as some kind of problem where the tablet wasn't reducing the brush pressure all the way.  Very interesting indeed.

     

    I wonder if this could be the same problem Caroline had after all.

     

    -Noel

     
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  • RezKhan
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    16. RezKhan,
    Feb 28, 2013 5:13 PM   in reply to Noel Carboni
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    Hopefully a new tablet will get to me next week. I'll update on that

     

    Sent from my Windows Phone

     
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  • RezKhan
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    17. RezKhan,
    Mar 4, 2013 6:08 AM   in reply to RezKhan
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    the new tablet didnt fix the problem unfortunaly. still getting wierd banding colours during painting. huh :/

     
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