topic Re: Gradient stroke - solid white to transparent white in ArcGIS Pro Questions

Gradient stroke - solid white to transparent white

DaveTaylor011 — Wed, 01 Jun 2022 15:46:43 GMT

Hi folks,

I'm wondering if something has changed in ArcGIS Pro or if I changed a setting somewhere and broke it. Thanks to @JohnMNelson's awesome videos I've started using opaque to transparent gradients in a lot of my layouts to improve the look of them. I think it looks great. Lately though I've noticed that some of the gradients don't perform the way they used to, particularly solid white to transparent white. Gradients of solid white to transparent white used to fade smoothly from the background colour to solid white, but now they have a darkening effect that I don't love:

This is happening on my office and home computers, and with both new and old layouts from a while back. Has anyone else noticed this? Please tell me I checked a box that I shouldn't have, I'd love to fix this!

Thanks,

Dave

Re: Gradient stroke - solid white to transparent white

JohnMNelson — Wed, 01 Jun 2022 15:55:08 GMT

Hi Dave!

Thanks for the kind words, I'm happy you are enjoying those videos!

Based on your snapshot I suspect the transparent color is black, which will produce a darker, gray, appearance in a gradient . Double-check that the transparent color in your gradient is transparent white. When I test, here is white to transparent white:

and here is white to transparent black:

Re: Gradient stroke - solid white to transparent white

DaveTaylor011 — Wed, 01 Jun 2022 16:26:38 GMT

Hi John!

Thanks for the quick response. It looks like this is a setting issue on my end, because I've confirmed I'm using fully transparent white rather than black (good call though, I've definitely done that before by accident).

Here is my white to transparent white (HEX # FFFFFF, 100% transparency):

And here is white to transparent black (HEX # 000000, 100% transparency):

I think I found the source of the issue. Lately I've been producing maps for print and have enabled Color Management. Looks like if I use the "Preserve color appearance" conversion rule the gradient darkening happens, but using "Preserve color values" gives me the same result as yours. Back in business.

Thanks!

Dave

Re: Gradient stroke - solid white to transparent white

JohnMNelson — Wed, 01 Jun 2022 16:38:59 GMT

Ohhhh, interesting. Ok, I was wrong! I should never have doubted you! 🙂

I haven't worked with color management so I don't have experience here. Perhaps @JeremyWright might have some perspective?

Re: Gradient stroke - solid white to transparent white

AaronWorthley1 — Wed, 29 Apr 2026 21:04:02 GMT

I ran into this quirk, thanks to this thread for helping me figure out what happened. I have found that selecting the Color conversion rule: Preserve color values, brings back the correct white-transparent gradient while still utilizing color management.