thin gradient lines with colour?

[yianz]

im stuck and it would be nice if anyone could help..

What i want to do is that once i have drawn with the pen and line tool i want to be able to change the colour of the lines, but not one single colour but rather a gradient, a mix of colours.

The thing i dont understand is that all the lines are selected, (all at the moment one colour, black) and then when i have selected the outline box at the bottom of the tools pallet (the fill box on empty) and i go to click onto the Gradient box just below that, then its suddendly switches to the fill box....

basically i want to be able to draw with the pen tool but then once drawn able to add a gradient to it...

any help or tips would be a blessing

yiannis

[AdobeAce]

Hi yianz,

Seems that there's a good reason why they're called Gradient FILLS. You can't Stroke an object with a Gradient Fill. You can Stroke a path with a Pattern, but not a Gradent.

What you can do to get around this is Expand the Stroke (Object > Expand and make sure Stroke is checked in the dialog window). This makes the Stroke into a separate object (closed path) that can now be filled.

Be aware that your original Stroke is hiding behind your new expanded object, so you may want to go into Outline mode (View menu > Outline) to find it, select it, and delete it.

Hope this helps!

Ace

:)

[scottie]

This person could also "outline" the stroke and then fill it with a gradient.
Outline-Path-outline stroke. No stroked line behind.

[AdobeAce]

Hi scottie,

You're right.
It's always nice to save a step.

Ace
:)

[The Repro Kid]

This person could also "outline" the stroke and then fill it with a gradient.
Outline-Path-outline stroke. No stroked line behind.

Hi scottie,

You're right.
It's always nice to save a step.

Ace


???

Howdy all,

Don't want to get too technical, but "Object-path-outline stroke" does leave the original path behind, just the same as "Object-Expand."

[scottie]

I just tried it again and ah I gave the outlined stroke, no stroke and no fill. I then selected all. Only one 4 items are selected...the transformed stroke is now a rectangle. I don't see a stroke under the rectangle. What am I missing...

line with a stroke of 1 pt
outlined with fill no stroke
rectangle with stroke
rectangle with no stroke/no fill

[The Repro Kid]

If i'm working in preview mode I don't see as Im performing the operation, but it's still there. Have you viewed it in artwork mode?

[AdobeAce]

???

Howdy all,

Don't want to get too technical, but "Object-path-outline stroke" does leave the original path behind, just the same as "Object-Expand."

Hi Repro,

Good catch. There's no such thing as TOO technical on this forum.
We'll maybe those guys writing Scripts. I can't makes heads or tails of that stuff.

Ace

:D

[The Repro Kid]

Hi Repro,

Good catch. There's no such thing as TOO technical on this forum.
We'll maybe those guys writing Scripts. I can't makes heads or tails of that stuff.

Ace

:D

Well, your right, Illustrator is used for Techinical Illustration. And I wouldn't want all the extra lines if I was drawing gradient fills.

yianz, You can also use the blend tool to blend two stacked lines to make a neon style gradient.