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About Kevin Stohlmeyer
Expertise
I am an Adobe Certified Instructor. I can answer all your questions about Adobe Illustrator version 8 through the new Adobe CS4 version.

Experience
I am an Adobe Certified Instructor for Adobe Illustrator and have been teaching this application to college students for the past 6 years. I now teach this as a corporate instructor.

Organizations
Milwaukee Adobe Users Group National Association of Photoshop Professionals C2 Graphics Productivity Solutions

Education/Credentials
BA - Graphic Design Adobe Certified Instructor - Illustrator

You are here: Experts > Computing/Technology > Graphics Software > Adobe Illustrator > gradient color to transparent

Adobe Illustrator - gradient color to transparent

Expert: Kevin Stohlmeyer - 11/7/2009

Question
QUESTION: I am fairly new to CS3 and need to know probably in more detail than most people how to do a gradient going from white at the bottom to transparent at the top. I tried following Tom Rouse's instructions for a similar question but it did not work - it just did a solid white fill. This us not for a homework assignment - I am self-employed and need help.

ANSWER: Hi Signe,

First select the gradient tool (type "G" on your keyboard to jump to it). Then select white as your foreground color (you can type "D" for default b&w and then "X" to flip white to the foreground).

At the top of your window, below the menu you will see the options bar. This will have a gradient pulldown on the top left corner, click and select the "Foreground to transparent" swatch.

Then taking your gradient tool, click at the top of your image and drag, while holding down, to the bottom and release the mouse. If this is backwards from your desired result, undo, and go from the bottom up.

If you want to do this non-destructively, create a blank layer first then apply the gradient to this layer.

Thanks

Kevin

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Hi Kevin,
Thank you so much for the answer yesterday, however I need some clarification. I cannot find the gradient pull-down in the top left corner on the options bar below the menu, in order to select the "foreground to transparent" swatch. Do I have to activate it?
Signe

Answer
Hi Signe,

I did not realize that this was for Adobe Illustrator, and I gave you an answer for Photoshop.

To create your color to transparent gradient in Illustrator, you first need to create your filled object. Then create another object and fill this with a black and white gradient. Place this on top of the first object.

Select the two objects and go to window>transparency and open the transparency palette. Then go to the palette menu and choose "make opacity mask". This will merge the two objects into one and you will have an object filled with a transparent gradient.

Thanks

Kevin

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