Transparent Gradients in Adobe Illustrator

Tutorial: Page (2) of 2 - 03/23/05

Transparent Gradients in Adobe Illustrator Creating gradients with opacity masks Now we want to create our gradient proper. To do this, we're not going to apply a gradient to our primary object, but rather to our mask object. So, with the mask still selected in the Transparency palette, go to the Gradient palette (Window > Gradient), and select the gradient type that you want to work with (linear or radial). When you do this, you'll see your mask change as well in the Transparency palette.

And, of course, you'll see the transparency of your object change. If this isn't the exact transparency you want, you can adjust it by moving the stops in the Gradient palette left or right; by changing the values in the stops; or by adding new stops. To change the value in a stop, click the stop, and then, in the Color palette, choose a new value. To add a stop, click at the bottom of the Gradient palette where you want the new stop to appear. In the example below, I'm showing my object on top of other objects to demonstrate the transparency.

But also note that there's a little problem with the transparency itself. If I deselect the object, I can see clearly that the opacity of the gradient doesn't go all the way to 0. The reason for this is that, by default, black and white gradients use grayscale values.

But I can overcome this by simply selecting by black stop (fully transparent) and switching the color model in the Color palette from grayscale to RGB (or CMYK or HSB). ANd that will give me a nice, smooth transition from fully opaque to fully transparent.

Multi-color gradient with transparency
In addition to this, it's also possible to create multi-color gradients in Illustrator with transparency. For this example, I'll use my existing object, simply converting the primary object from a solid to a gradient.

To begin this, select the object proper in the Transparency palette to exit mask editing mode.

Then apply the gradient to the object. And voila! You now have multiple colors in your gradient, along with transparency.

And, if you wish, you can even set the color gradient to a different angle so that your color gradient will be perpendicular to your opacity gradient. To do this, with your object still selected, simply change the angle to 90 degrees in the Gradient palette. (Of course, you can set the angle to any value you wish.)

And that's all there is to it. If you have any further questions, be sure to visit me in the Adobe Illustrator forum by clicking here.

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