Troubleshooting¶

Quick fixes for the most common situations. If the status line in the UV Tools panel isn't green, it usually tells you exactly what's missing.

The "Gradient Tools" tab isn't showing¶

Make sure the add-on is enabled in Edit ▸ Preferences ▸ Add-ons.
Press N to open the sidebar — the tab lives there, in the 3D Viewport and the Image / UV Editor.
Confirm your Blender version is 4.2 or newer.

I can't paint — nothing happens¶

The status line lists the prerequisites. Check that:

You're in Edit Mode (Tab) with faces selected.
The object has the palette material assigned (use Assign Material).
A Target strip is selected under ① Target strip.

When all three are met you'll see Ready — Edit Mode and material assigned.

"Palette is full"¶

Every cell already holds a strip. Increase the grid (Strips ▸ Layout / Grid, or Auto-Fit Grid), or use Compact Slots to remove gaps first. See Grid, resolution & layout.

Colors look wrong in my game engine¶

Set the palette's Color Space to sRGB before exporting / saving the PNG. Non-Color is for in-Blender use only. See Color space.

Colors look washed out / too dark inside Blender¶

The opposite case — use Non-Color (Linear) for Blender-only work.

My exact client color renders slightly off¶

That's tone mapping. Use the Flat (or Toon) look and set the view transform to Standard in the Color Management panel so Blender doesn't apply AgX. See Material Looks.

The gradient runs the wrong way¶

Press F while painting to invert it, or Flip the strip permanently in the Strips panel.

A gradient looks blocky after baking to vertex colors¶

Vertex colors are limited by mesh density — add geometry where you need a smoother blend, or keep the UV-texture output for pixel-perfect gradients. See Vertex colors.

A curve shows no color¶

A bare curve has no surface. Add a Bevel (depth, bevel object, or extrude) so it renders as a tube/ribbon. See Curves.

Painted faces point at the wrong color after I edited the grid¶

They shouldn't — strips own permanent slots, so reordering and resizing update every assignment automatically. If something looks off, re-run Update Texture (Palette Settings) to force a rebuild.

Coming from the old "GradientSmith" add-on¶

The extension id and material markers changed, so Blender treats Gradient Tools as a new extension (re-enable it, re-set preferences). Very old .blend files may not auto-recognize their legacy materials. New work is unaffected.

Still stuck?

Open the Documentation link from Preferences ▸ Add-ons ▸ Gradient Tools, or reach out through the product page — feedback and feature requests are welcome.