Freehand Gradients

[connivance]

We hardly ever get jobs in Freehand but needless to say, we have one. We are sending the file to another printer but we are to do the file setup. The issue is that the gradient comes out in steps. Converting it into an Illustrator/PDF file, each step becomes it's own selectable part. The customer is preferring it to be in a PDF and/or Illustrator. Outside of reapplying the gradient in Illustrator, any suggestions?

[DigitalCrapShoveler]

Build a blend in Freehand. Draw a line, set the stoke to 3 or 4 point, then clone it. Move the cloned line somewhere below or above the original line. Set the original line to the color you want, and the second line to another color, or white. Select both and go to the Modify Menu and go to Combine, then Blend. It will stick a default number in as far as steps... to increase the steps, go to the object inspector while the blend is selected. Set the steps to 256 or more depending on the size of the blend.

Of course, just make the PDF from Freehand, so AI does not thrash the gradient, and you should be gold.

[Pointyhat]

I've always had to redraw them, You may want to play around with the pathfinder too.
Are you getting bands in the gradient and that's the problem?

[gnubler]

I always just redraw them. Is the gradient banding?