Man, that stings, losing half your work like that.

I read dithering matters most for gradients, that one checkbox gets everybody.

Kept my original bumper too when I scraped a parking garage pillar in my Camry and the body shop wanted to swap it for one off a wreck. Paid about $200 for sand and paint on the scuffed corner and it came out looking factory. The paint guy told me the trick is blending into the panel so your eye can't find the edge. Three winters of road salt later and it still matches, no peeling or fading. You made the right call keeping your own part.