Objects with Perceptual Gradients applied (and no Dither) gets rasterized fully on PDF export, instead of becoming clipped rasters
It still rasterizes the whole object, rather than converting it to a clipped bitmap (unless you also enable Dither though).
Here’s a demo.
AdminEgor Chistyakov
(Admin, Adobe Illustrator)
shared this idea
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monokano
commented
As Egor mentioned, there seems to be an inconsistency in how gradients are handled in exported PDFs. Classic gradients are correctly clipped by their path objects, whereas perceptual gradients are not clipped, and the path objects themselves appear to be missing entirely. This difference in behavior between the two gradient types in PDF output should be straightforward to verify.
Update: To reproduce this issue, please apply the gradient to a circular object rather than a rectangular one. In the exported PDF, perceptual gradients are output as rasterized images without being clipped by the path, resulting in blurry, anti-aliased edges. Classic gradients, by contrast, are properly clipped by the path in the exported PDF and therefore have clean edges.
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Akshaya, it is exactly like the GIF attached to the original report, nothing changed.
1. Create a circle (I did this in a CMYK Print-based doc)
2. Fill with a default gradient, remove stroke
3. Make a copy of it
4. Change the type of one into Perceptual, leave the other Classic
5. Export a PDF with a low resolution for images, to instantly spot the rasterization
6. Look at the PDFThe result is bad. While the ellipse’s edge with the Classic gradient is true vector, the Perceptual one is just a raster blob. It should be a raster image CLIPPED into ellipse.
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Egor - can you attach a screenshot of the remaining issue? And does that happen only with Perceptual gradients? What about classic gradients?
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Not confirmed. The bug is still present, the edges are still rasterized.
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monokano
commented
Isn't what's being requested here that perceptual gradients should be clipped with a clipping mask in PDF output?
In 2026 (30.2.1), the edges still appear jagged due to rasterization.
