Love is BLENDness!

Could anyone explain to me where blends end and gradients start? It's kind of hard to determine at what level of contrast something is no longer really a blend. I get that it isn't exact science, but how do you feel about this?

I didn't realize there was a difference. Is one from dark to light in the same color family and the other a transition from one hue to another? It seems to me that the palettes in this group fit both descriptions.

Sorry, I should rephrase it. I meant gradation not gradient. I'm keen on the difference because there is a gradient group too. On the one hand there's gradations (palettes with constant steps) on the other hand there's blends (palettes of which the individual colours are so close they blend). for instance:

obvious blend


obvious gradation

I entered this into both groups...gradiants and blends. Who knows?

This is a 36 color every 10 degrees of saturated hue blend/gradiant. 9 palettes have end colors overlapping.

Was that a circular blend or a circular gradient or a circular gradation? It starts with a color, goes all the way around the hue circle, and ends on the SAME color. The palettes could be reworked to start and end on any of these colors...in either direction.

Since this is still in my clipbook, I'll paste a double blend/gradient/gradation from my Muppet series. Color 2 is halfway between color 1 and color 3. Color 4 is halfway between color 3 and color 5.

What the heck? Now I have to check whether it's a gradiant or a gradient.

Gradient; from Wikipedia:

In graphics software for digital image editing, the term gradient is used for a gradual blend of colour which can be considered as an even gradation from low to high values

Blend; from dictionary.com:

1. to mix smoothly and inseparably together
5. to mix or intermingle smoothly and inseparably
6. to fit or relate harmoniously; accord; go
7. to have no perceptible separation

Hmm. I may rethink which palettes to put in each group.

well, it's interesting colourwise since very soft blends have a very different effect from gradations. There's a point in mixing 2 colours where they appear to swim. I guess it's a matter of colour perception (with all the monitor calibrating headache stuff) but in some blends you can easily "drift" from colour to colour whereas other blends have clear distinct steps with colours with a separate character. When I make a palette for a website for instance: I create and use soft blends to enrich flat single colour backgrounds, too guide the eye gently down the screen, etc. Quite oppositely I use gradations to create distinct areas in the same "flavour". To demarcate and to break the flow of the eye on the screen.

In graphics software for digital image editing, the term gradient is used for a gradual blend of colour which can be considered as an even gradation from low to high values
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VALUE is a critical word here, as in the Munsell HUE, VALUE and CHROMA. Let's see what that means.

Hue is the color, as red, yellow, purple.
Value is the change in grayness or density of white to black
Chroma is the color saturation, from nothing to high level, or in other schemes other than RGB, even more.

Soft blends can be a pain in the butt for dialup users. One especially bad one was the simcity site from electronic arts. I saw a note on the bottom that a couple of hundred gradations were waiting, and I could go out for dinner. They've changed their site to promote Sim City Societies, so it's gone now.

Never mind. Something is still around...go to their Sim City 4 page from http://simcity.com
68 items awaiting download...

W3C uses "value" from a programming background, i.e. the hex values for hues.

I can't even get away from this by looking at some family history...

Chilperic II (c. 450 – 493) was the King of Burgundy from 473 until his death, though initially co-rulin with his father from 463.

After his brother Gundobad had removed his other brother Godomar (Gundomar) in 486, he turned on Chilperic. In 493 he drowned his wife Caretena and assassinated him, exiling his two daughters, [font color=red]Chroma[/font], who became a nun, and Clotilda, who fled to her unlce Godegisel.

can't even get away from this by looking at some family history...

Chilperic II (c. 450 – 493) was the King of Burgundy from 473 until his death, though initially co-rulin with his father from 463.

After his brother Gundobad had removed his other brother Godomar (Gundomar) in 486, he turned on Chilperic. In 493 he drowned his wife Caretena and assassinated him, exiling his two daughters, Chroma, who became a nun, and Clotilda, who fled to her unlce Godegisel.

What goes around comes around.

http://wasmerconsulting.com/nmplot_usersguide_colorgradientplots.htm

For the best color gradient, use the same hue, not different hues, and make it look blended.

i.e. it would seem that color gradient = color blend.

So the difference is in the eye of the beholder?

thanks for all the research retsof... But if Gradient = Blend, then don't we have one group too many? shouldn't we merge the gradient and blend groups?

I agree that would make it easier, since most people are adding their palettes to both groups.

Just to say, the gradient group does NOT like gradients - go figure.