Choosing Gradients

Gradients are gradual blends between two or more colors. You can paint, draw, or fill with gradients to create interesting effects or helpful color transitions. Use gradients to create Web buttons with shadows and highlights, to make objects look shiny or glowing, or to add dimension to objects. Use gradients to fade Web page graphics into other content or use a black-to-white gradient as a mask. You choose gradients on the Gradient tab of the Material Properties dialog.

Important: Gradients are available for greyscale and 16 million color images only. To increase the color depth of an image, see Increasing the Color Depth of an Image.

To choose a foreground or background gradient:

On the Materials palette, set the Foreground/Stroke or the Background/Fill style to Gradient, and then click the associated property box. This displays the Material Properties dialog, and the Gradient tab will be active.
Click the Gradient drop-list to view a thumbnail of the available gradients. If necessary, choose a Category containing the desired gradients.
Click the desired gradient. This closes the drop-list. The gradient name will appear above the drop-list.
If desired, set the following options for the gradient:

Style The style for the gradient: Linear , Rectangular , Sunburst , and Radial .

Angle (Linear, rectangular, and radial gradients only) The angle or direction of the gradient, from 0 to 359 degrees.

Repeats The number of times (from 0 to 100) to repeat the gradient pattern.

Invert Mark to invert the colors of the gradient.

Center Point (Rectangular, sunburst, and radial gradients only) The horizontal and vertical coordinates of the point from which the gradient disperses or radiates. The distance is measured as a percentage of the fill area's width. Change the center point to create fills in circles or other shapes where the center of the gradient is not at the center of the object.

Focal Point (Rectangular and sunburst gradients only) The horizontal and vertical coordinates of the point where the foreground color of the gradient begins. The distance is measured as a percentage of the fill area's width. Change the focal point to create fills in circles or other shapes where the effective light source is not at the center of the object. This option is available only when the Link Center and Focal Points check box is cleared.

Link center and focal points (Rectangular and sunburst gradients) Mark this check box to have the center and focal points be the same values. Clear the check box to edit the focal point separately from the center point.

Note: You can also move the center point by dragging the control needle or cross-hairs shown in the Gradient drop-list. If you clear the Link Center and Focal Points check box, you can move the focal point by dragging the cross-hairs on the gradient.

To edit the colors, transition points, and opacity of the gradient, click the Edit button. This displays the Gradient Editor dialog. For more information, see Editing Gradients.
To save this gradient as a swatch that you can access later, click the Add to swatches button, type a name, and press Enter.
Click OK.

Choosing Gradients

Related Topics