Illustrator gradient causing "banding" in Photoshop

[WalczakPhoto]

Alrighty...while I'm using both Photoshop AND Illustrator for this, I'm going to post this here, as it appears to be a problem with PS, not Illustrator...

In short, I'm trying to create a simple background for some work with a fairly simple 3 color gradient...dark gray, dark red and dark gray.  I've created the gradient in Illustrator (CS5) and I'm trying to send to Photoshop (also CS5) to create a bevel around the edges (I don't like the way Illy does the whole bevel thing).  This background will then be placed back in Illustrator to have an image and text applied over the top of it (this is for a webpage, not that it should matter).  The problem is that the moment I take the image into Photoshop, I get some horizontal banding across the image....it's not "oh my god that SUCKS", but it IS noticeable.  I'm pretty sure that this has something to do with that whole raster vs. vector thing, however the image is fairly large....1542 x 867 px...so I'm a bit surprised to see as much banding there as I am.  I have tried exporting the image at higher resolutions, I have tried a direct copy & paste, tried applying a Gaussian blur to the image (in PS) to see if I could smooth out that banding a bit...even tried doing a screen cap of the gradient, but the results thus far have been exactly the same.  Once the image is in Photoshop, the banding is again noticeable and it stays that way once I bring it back into Illy....when I bring the image back into Illy and have it side by side with the original gradient, yea...its' easy to see the banding.  I'm saving everything as PNG's, so I'm sure it's not something silly like a jpg compression issue either.

Thoughts/comments/suggestions on how to smooth this out a bit?

Thanks!

[c.pfaffenbichler]

Could you please post a screenshot taken at View > 100% and with the pertinent Panels (Layers, Channels, Options Bar, …) visible?

[c.pfaffenbichler]

Are the images RGB or CMYK?

tried applying a Gaussian blur to the image

Add Noise instead or convert the layered psd file to 16bit, place the Smart Object, apply Gaussian Blur as a Smart Filter, then convert a merged copy back to 8bit – if »Use Dither is checked in the Colour Settings that should apply dithering anyway.

[Danny Whitehead.]

Is there much else you need to do in Illustrator? It sounds like for this purpose, you may as well create the gradient in Photoshop, and you can specify dither.

[WalczakPhoto]

Yes...still have a great deal to add to the image...including text which I REALLY prefer to do in Illustrator instead of PS (for obvious reasons).

[D Fosse]

WalczakPhoto  wrote

Once the image is in Photoshop, the banding is again noticeable and it stays that way

This could happen with an 8 bit file if there is any color profile conversion somewhere in this roundtrip. Make sure there is an embedded profile and policies set to "preserve".

[WalczakPhoto]

I will check the 8 bit thing as well as the dithering someone else mentioned...had forgotten to check both (hey...I was still on my first cup of coffee this morning when I wrote that, LOL).