16 Replies Latest reply: Nov 29, 2013 5:50 PM by MW Design

Gradient oddness in InDesign CS6

shawninvancouver Nov 29, 2013 11:40 AM

I am trying to grasp the strangeness Adobe InDesign's gradient tool.

First, am I the only one who is constantly becoming frustrated that there is no consistancy between the tools in the Adobe line of products. Gradients are easy to accomplish in Illustrator and in Adobe Captivate 6 but then InDesign, not so easy. All I am trying to do is create an thick arrow where the top end is a light red and it smoothly transitions to a deeper red, at the bottom; a very simple task in any other tool I've used.

The problem?

The center marker is creating a bright spot so the gradient transistions from bright to a little brighter and then drops off to darker. Why is the center marker creating a bright spot? I don't see this behavior in the other Adobe products.

Thank you.

1. Re: Gradient oddness in InDesign CS6

Fede Gianni Nov 29, 2013 11:59 AM (in response to shawninvancouver)

can you post the values of both reds?
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2. Re: Gradient oddness in InDesign CS6

shawninvancouver Nov 29, 2013 12:48 PM (in response to Fede Gianni)

That is the other problem of many (unless it is my fault for simply not understanding the tool properly).

I just happen to remember which two swatches I assigned... BUT how does someone else determine the start and end color values? There doesn't appear to be a way of determining the two assigned color values?

I might be better off, creating the arrow in Illustrator and then drag/drop it into InDesign.

BTW, the RGB values are:
250, 98, 70 Light red
196, 50, 39 Dark red

Thanks for your reply.
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3. Re: Gradient oddness in InDesign CS6

Peter Spier Nov 29, 2013 12:57 PM (in response to shawninvancouver)

I also would like to know the values of red, but I should add that I also see this apparent brightening in a test with a process color swatch with more than one ink using the color and a tint of the same color, but not with spot or single ink process colors. It also seems to be related to the gradient not starting at the edge of the frame.
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4. Re: Gradient oddness in InDesign CS6

Fede Gianni Nov 29, 2013 1:15 PM (in response to shawninvancouver)

i do not get the center brightness.
do you have a consistent color setting in all the suite?
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5. Re: Gradient oddness in InDesign CS6

Peter Spier Nov 29, 2013 1:39 PM (in response to Fede Gianni)

I wonder if the result is different using RGB and CMYK....

And whether it matters if it's Mac or PC. I'm on PC and it looks like you're on a Mac.
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6. Re: Gradient oddness in InDesign CS6

MW Design Nov 29, 2013 2:19 PM (in response to Peter Spier)

I don't have this weirdness using RGB or CMYK on a PC. This is using RGB in a CMYK document, but the results are the same in an RGB document (except the brighter reds, of course).
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7. Re: Gradient oddness in InDesign CS6

Peter Spier Nov 29, 2013 2:22 PM (in response to MW Design)

Move the left stop a little to the right, or drag the gradient starting a quarter inch below the top of the frame and check...
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8. Re: Gradient oddness in InDesign CS6

MW Design Nov 29, 2013 2:27 PM (in response to Peter Spier)

Like so?
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9. Re: Gradient oddness in InDesign CS6

Peter Spier Nov 29, 2013 2:31 PM (in response to MW Design)

Yes.

Now try it with one of the CMYK mixed swatches. I'm curious if you see it in CMYK. Might be a monitor thing...
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10. Re: Gradient oddness in InDesign CS6

MW Design Nov 29, 2013 2:33 PM (in response to Peter Spier)
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11. Re: Gradient oddness in InDesign CS6

Peter Spier Nov 29, 2013 2:45 PM (in response to MW Design)

Which version of ID is that?

This is CS6 with a gradient from 25% to 100% of the indicated swatch:

It seems easier to see with lighter tints.
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12. Re: Gradient oddness in InDesign CS6

Peter Spier Nov 29, 2013 2:51 PM (in response to Peter Spier)

I see it in CS5.5 too, and also with RGB.

The closer the center blend spot is top the light stop, the more pronounced it seems to be, too.
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13. Re: Gradient oddness in InDesign CS6

shawninvancouver Nov 29, 2013 3:12 PM (in response to Peter Spier)

Thanks so much everyone. I really appreciate the awesome effort to assist me!

Unfortunately, I attempted a your ideas but the bright patch just moved to a new location. Incidently, if the transistion was changed to white -> black, the problem went away. Unfortunately (b/c of all your effort), I finally gave up and produced the arrow in Illustrator (worked perfectly).

Strangely, drag/drop to InDesign caused the Illustrator image to become fowled up (different problems) and I could not fit porportially to shape. Finally, I saved the Illustrator image as a PDF and Placed it into InDesign without further incident.

IMHO, there are too many inconsistancies in the Adobe Suite and differences in how same or similar tool sets work.

Thanks again everyone.
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14. Re: Gradient oddness in InDesign CS6

MW Design Nov 29, 2013 5:39 PM (in response to Peter Spier)

Hi Peter--CS6.

Have you tried outputting to PDF and checking the gradient ramp in Acrobat's Output Preview? If it is actually correct, it should drop from the solid end to the lighter end pretty gradual until it hits the bottom of the ramp and remain steady until off the rectangle.

And so if correct in the Acrobat readings, it is a visual oddity. Here it is correct both on-screen and in the PDF dropping down from the darker version to a 10% tint of it.
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15. Re: Gradient oddness in InDesign CS6

Peter Spier Nov 29, 2013 5:44 PM (in response to MW Design)

The numbers actually seem fine in both ID and in Acrobat. I didn't print.
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16. Re: Gradient oddness in InDesign CS6

MW Design Nov 29, 2013 5:50 PM (in response to Peter Spier)

I looked at some past threads and I found a few that the screen shots have the same/similar look using both tints and two process swatches, with no one commenting on it.

The numbers are fine here too—so no point in burning ink up.
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