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Gradients showing up with white box

yamaha581

New Member
I am not sure what caused this but for some reason all of the sudden I am having an issue with anywhere I have gradients in any old files when I open them now they have a white box showing up around them. The only way to fix it is to redesign them which can be a pain for some and especially since it is on any file. I have this illustrator on my iMac and MacBook and it works perfectly fine on my MacBook. Has anyone had this happen before? I checked and there is not an update. I believe it did recently update and not sure if that caused it but I am on the current version on my iMac and MacBook so not sure why this one is giving me issues.

ai gradient.png
 

Kemik

I sell stickers and sticker accessories.
Is this in Versaworks?

3 different things to try..

1. Don't use spot/named colors in the gradients.

2. Try saving the file as 2 seperate PDFS with the exact same size artboard.
Save the first file without the cutline visible.
Save the second file with the cutline only, no artwork visible.
In Versaworks, import both files, setup the print only file with "Return to orign" or what ever it's called. (I don't use Versaworks anymore)
Then use the cut file after that to "cut only"

3. Alternatively, you can try to rasterize the gradients.
 

yamaha581

New Member
Is this in Versaworks?

3 different things to try..

1. Don't use spot/named colors in the gradients.

2. Try saving the file as 2 seperate PDFS with the exact same size artboard.
Save the first file without the cutline visible.
Save the second file with the cutline only, no artwork visible.
In Versaworks, import both files, setup the print only file with "Return to orign" or what ever it's called. (I don't use Versaworks anymore)
Then use the cut file after that to "cut only"

3. Alternatively, you can try to rasterize the gradients.
This is my adobe illustrator. It is only on my work computer though and not my MacBook which is linked with the same adobe account.
 

Gino

Premium Subscriber
Are you using the same printer ??
Have you updated any software or firmware ??
Are you using the same software w/o any updates ??
Is there any different approach to doing your work ??
Have you tried an 'older' file which you know worked correctly ??
 
Last edited:

yamaha581

New Member
Are you using the same printer ??
Have you updated any software or firmware ??
Are you using the same software w/o any updates ??
Is there any different approach to doing your work ??
Have you tried an 'older' file which you know worked correctly ??
This is not even being sent to the printer yet. This is as soon as I open any job in my illustrator. I can open the same job on my MacBook and it works perfectly fine. It is only on jobs that have already been made and now when I open them on this iMac any gradient will have this white box show on the screen. Both my iMac and MacBook are on the same version of illustrator and apple updates.
 

Bobby H

Arial Sucks.
When you talk about "jobs that have already been made" what does that mean? Are you opening files that have been exported in another file format (such as EPS, PDF, etc.) or saving Illustrator .AI files down to earlier file versions? Regular Illustrator .AI files saved in the same file version should look identical in either the OSX or Windows versions of Illustrator.

It might be possible some kind of technical problem has occurred with the copy of Illustrator on the iMac or the other computer. You could try resetting the Preferences file in either installation. If that doesn't work it might be worth reinstalling one or both copies of Illustrator. The Creative Cloud Cleaner tool can be used in stubborn cases; it will remove all traces of an Adobe application so it can be reinstalled clean.
 

Signstein

New Member
Just another idea - could it maybe be some kind of webview/security or processor rendering bug? I remember Windows having some weird text display bugs because it was using Edge to render the text - which was being blocked by the OS since it was coming from an insecure source. Could something similar be happening here? Are both the iMac and Macbook running on the new M-series chips? Could there be some weird rendering differences between these and the older Intel chips? Maybe it's just the age difference of the computers and they just have different graphics engines?
 

Kemik

I sell stickers and sticker accessories.
Could you just delete that white block and make a new gradient?
Not the best fix, but it may be the quickest to get the job out the door.
 

yamaha581

New Member
When you talk about "jobs that have already been made" what does that mean? Are you opening files that have been exported in another file format (such as EPS, PDF, etc.) or saving Illustrator .AI files down to earlier file versions? Regular Illustrator .AI files saved in the same file version should look identical in either the OSX or Windows versions of Illustrator.

It might be possible some kind of technical problem has occurred with the copy of Illustrator on the iMac or the other computer. You could try resetting the Preferences file in either installation. If that doesn't work it might be worth reinstalling one or both copies of Illustrator. The Creative Cloud Cleaner tool can be used in stubborn cases; it will remove all traces of an Adobe application so it can be reinstalled clean.
By that I mean jobs that were already designed on this exact computer. All I am doing is reopening them to either transfer the design to another customer job or if the customer needs a change to an existing job that was already made.
 

yamaha581

New Member
Could you just delete that white block and make a new gradient?
Not the best fix, but it may be the quickest to get the job out the door.
I have been doing that. It seems like it will work but if I need to do a clipping mask to keep the gradient inside the template the box comes right back even if I recreate it again.
 

Humble PM

Mostly tolerates architects
Try copying the illustrator .pref file from the lap top and place it in the same folder on the iMac. You might want to take the existing pref file from the iMac, and place it somewhere safe, like the desk top.
 

Kemik

I sell stickers and sticker accessories.
Not sure if this may help.. When I open files sent from other clients, occasionally there will be some kind of glitch.
First thing I will try is to open a new document and PLACE the clients file on the New artboard, for some reason this gets rid of the glitches.
If this doesn't work, I will use a web based file converter to convert the file to a PDF or EPS and then try to open it or PLACE it on a new artboard.
 

bob

It's better to have two hands than one glove.
It looks very much like whatever saved this or whatever opened it is treating these gradients as bit maps without transparency. The white areas for each gradient represents the non-transparent background for each bitmap. There is no standard for gradients, each bit of software handles them in their own way. This leads to problems exactly like this when creating an image in one platform and then opening it in another.
 
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yamaha581

New Member
It looks very much like whatever saved this or whatever opened it is treating these gradients as bit maps without transparency. The white areas for each gradient represents the non-transparent background for each bitmap. There is no standard for gradients, each bit of software handles them in their own way. This leads to problems exactly like this when creating an image in one platform and then opening it in another.
These files were designed on this same computer I am trying to open them on again. This was not designed on another computer and just trying to open on this one. Yes some may have been done on my MacBook but 90% of these have been designed on this computer and open fine on any other computer but not on this all of the sudden.
 
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