Gradient Mesh within Path!

How can I apply a gradient mesh within the path, instead of outside as in the diagram ?

Gradient Mesh should be renamed "Gradient Grid." The patches are ordered as if in rows and columns. While trying to get familiar with (in order to actually get practical use out of) Gradient Mesh:
1. Don't start with random shapes. Start with geometric prmitives that can be intuitively divided into columns and rows. (First a rectangle, then other shapes).
2. Add your MeshPoints and pay attention to what happens. Try to discern the "logic" of what it is doing. If something occurs that you can't predict, back up a step and start over.
3. When you think you have enough "grid cells" to fill with the colors you want, then carefully move the individual MeshPoints about to distort the original shape into the shape that you actually want.
For example: How many of you would thnk the rotation of a bounding box would have a bearing on what happens when you add a MeshPoint? Those who don't, try this:
1. Rectangle Tool: ShiftDrag a square.
2. AltShiftDrag a copy of it rightward.
3. Rotate the second square 45 degrees.
4. AltShiftDrag a copy of it rightward.
5. With the third rectangle selected: Object>Transform>ResetBoundingBox.
6. MeshTool: click in the middle of each rectangle.
Now, would you have understood that about Mesh Grads by just trying to use it on any arbitrarily-shaped path?
I'm just saying: This feature is NOT intuitive. So you need to be systematic in your exploration of it if you every want to make effective use of it. Just jumping right in with converting arbitrary shapes to Mesh Grads (or Mesh Envelopes) is parallel to trying to use Illustrator effectively without reading the documentation.
JET

Similar Messages

Joining Gradient Mesh Paths

I'd like to know if I can join these two points on this gradient mesh ?

Endpoint has a very specific meaning in Illustrator, and it is something that does not occur in a mesh. In fact, there are no "mesh paths": meshes and paths are different things. Confusingly, they both have anchor points, but mesh anchor points and path anchor points do not have identical behavior. Pathfinders (and Shape Modes) work on paths, but not on meshes.
Peter

Need help with adding shadows to a shape (gradient mesh?...blur tool?)

Hello. I'm an Illustrator novice, as you will be able to tell from my question. I'm somewhat familiar with the gradient mesh tool as well as the raster effects that Illustrator CS3 offers, but I can't figure out how to use them to do what I have to do.
Here's my situation. I'm creating a logo design. It is a musical note with a flame coming off of it. I want to add the appearance of the shape having shadows (yellow for the light areas, and red for the shadowed areas).
I can't get the gradient mesh tool to work because I'm assuming the shape is too complex. I understand that I could probably just create a bunch of different gradient mesh areas and just try to mesh them together, but is this necessary? ...and is chopping my shape into mulitple sections really the best method ? (it sure doesn't seem like the logical solution).
Then I tried using Illustrators blur effects. I'm concerned to even use them for a logo design, because the "blur" effect is raster, and with a logo; it's probably not wise to use anything raster, correct? Anyway...i can't get it to work. I created a shape using the pen tool to replicate the shape of the shadow. When i blur it, the blur is visable outside the original logo shape. I don't know how to make it stop at the path edge. Does anyone know how?
If anyone can please help me here, I would be more than grateful. I realize these questions probably stupid ones, but I just can't seem to figure out how to do this, despite reading tutorials and watching numerous youtube videos on the gradient mesh tool; I can't seem to figure out how to adapt it to my situation.
Here is the image I created in Photoshop. I am trying to duplicate it in Illustrator CS3.
[URL=http://img515.imageshack.us/my.php?image=surefiremusicnote.jpg][IMG]http://img515.ima geshack.us/img515/9348/surefiremusicnote.jpg[/IMG][/URL]

Thanks Steve and Jet. I've spent the lasts 2 hours calling around to different print shops in hope that I can maybe trade labor for insight into their printing process. Problem is there seems to be a lack of 4 color offset printing companies who also offer spot colors. I really wish I had the money to take a class, but when I do, I will. I just contacted a few freelance designers who seem to have a lot of print work in their portfolios. Maybe they can teach me a thing or two, and in return I can drop them a few bucks or help them with something.
Jet, you've got me very concerned here. What do you mean by "It's not just a matter of selecting colors; it's also a matter of selecting the number of inks necessary to render them in the various reproduction methods in which the mark will be used"? Are you just stating the importance in using swatch books (Pantone)?
You mention the importance of a design being rendered in different forms (apparel, signs, promotional items..). So how should I go about doing this? Lets say a client wants a "mark" printed on all of the things you stated. Is it my duty to find out what printer they will be using before I submit design files to them? Is it the job of the designer to contact the print shop and get their profiles for different prints (glossy paper prints, matte paper prints, t-shirt printing, vehicle graphic printing)? This is all very time consuming, so should there not be extra charges when dealing with setting up different print settings for particular print jobs?
I've read the blogs of some successful logo designers. David Airey for example just submits his logo design to his client in eps form I believe (plus any requests). Should he be submitting a separate file for each intended use, or is this the job of the client and printer to work out?
You've got me extremely worried that I am going to really deal someone a bad hand here. As far as I know, this hasn't happened yet; but I'm glad you have me concerned. The sad part is that I do have a 2 year degree in graphic design and I didn't learn one thing about printing and it's association with color. The little I have learned is from the internet. I've checked out Amazon(dot)com for a good book on learning about color and print, but there seems to be a lack of recently written books (with reviews) regarding the subject. Can you recommend any?
I started doing freelance work because people would ask me to design a t-shirt for them, or a flyer for their small business. So I did. Now I have more people requesting my services. It's hard to turn down the money, especially in these times. But at the same time, I don't want to cause major headaches for anyone either. Until recently, I had no idea the complexity of the design to print process. Just 3 days ago, I purchased a monitor calibration device and my first set of Pantone guides. They should arrive shortly. I know, don't laugh.
My lack of knowledge regarding this whole thing has really got me questioning what I am doing. I figured all i really needed to know in Illustrator was to use the pen tool, since my use of Illustrator has been strictly for shaping logos.
There are just so many questions I have, and all can't be answered through a google search. I really don't like wasting your time with my ignorance, but I do appreciate your assistance. It takes some time for my little brain to absorb all of this, but I have been reading all I can from the endless tutorials and forum discussions available on the web. The problem I've found is that alongside the large amount of great info on the web, there is seemingly an equal amount of contradictory or partially inaccurate info as well. which only confuses me more. For example, most people say to design in cmyk for print (300dpi higher or vector). A rep from Pantone told me to create my designs using Pantones color swatch groups. Why would I want to start in Pantone? Don't all of their colors cost extra money (spot colors require a new printer plate and ink to be set up). Starting in cmyk seems like a more logical approach. Is he just trying to sell me Pantone?
Sorry for my redundant question regarding the concern for non-single colored paths not being able to join. You obviously answered my question with your example.
For your time, I would like to show my appreciation. If you wouldn't' mind leaving your paypal address, I can send ya a couple/few bucks. Books are great, but they can't answer all questions. Forums like this one are really very helpful and a great learning tool. I do realize I have to continue educating myself as much as possible. I'm not going to give up, that's for sure.
So, do you work for Adobe, or are you a graphic designer? Do you have a website with tutorials or a book I can buy lol?
It would be great to be able to see a walkthrough in the design process of a successful designer and the proper methods of designing for different forms of print.

Convert live trace object to gradient mesh? Help please! :)

Does anyone have advice on turning a live trace object into a gradient mesh? Or some sort of workaround? We love the live trace tool, but cannot get the mesh to apply to it unless created by the pen tool first. Thanks for any help, using CS5.

Yes Monika has this right.
Ths is wha will happen toyour rt if you are first sucessful in creating shapes and then if you are successful in converting to gradient mesh.
You willlose your strokes and some of your strkes will be in part filed objects.
Best to do the live trace for the ink work and the gradient mesh as separate shaphes, but I do not think it is ncessary to lose you strokes by using tham ads clipping paths I think simply placing the gradient mesh objects behind the line work will do the trick.
Sort of like this

Using gradients with the gradient mesh tool

So I have a basic knowledge of using the gradient mesh tool, but in my current project I need the gradients within the object to fade from black to transparent (it will be used for a one-color tshirt). I've tried to do this a couple different ways. First, I created a solid white rectangle (no stroke) then created a 1 row 1 column flat gradient mesh on it. Added the points I needed, even added the color, and the fade is exactly the shape I need, but I can't figure out how to get rid of the white, and just have the black fade to transparent. I also tried creating a rectangle with a linear gradient fill, clicked expand and selected gradient mesh, but as soon as I press ok it changes it to solid black. I included a cropped picture of what I'm talking about. All the tail feathers need to have that black fade but without the white, it needs to fade out to transparent like the other gradients around it. I put a color background behind the image to make these areas easier to see. It seems like there should be an easy solution, but I'm not sure how to do it. Any help would be really appreciated.

Edit: set all mesh point to black.
Assuming that your version of Illustrator allows it, you can get what you want by adjusting the opacity of the mesh points, something like this:

I'm using gradient mesh tool

Hi. I'm learning how use gradient mesh. the problem I'm having is there is one anchor point on one of my paths that keeps going back to white. I select it with the white arrow and use the eyedropper tool to replace the color, switch to a new anchor, then go back to the original anchor point and it becomes white again. I have even tried deleting the anchor point and replacing it and it encounters the same problem. Any ideas how I can fix this?

We can't know. You have not provided any screenshot, no info about what version of AI, no system info.
Mylenium

Question about gradient mesh tool

Hello, I am using the gradient tool for the first time and when I touch on an object to lay a gradient, the mesh seems to choose a set of anchor points to anchor to. If I want to anchor the gradient mesh to different points, how do I change them?

You need to keep in mind that the mesh is always constucted like a table. It has 4 corners. It's possible to set these 4 corners. All the other points are somewhat dependant on them, but can be moved using the gradient mesh tool. Read the manual on that.
To set the 4 corners:
Assumind you have a path that consists of at least 5 points.
Select 4 points with the direct selection tool
OpenObject > Create gradient mesh
Enter values -> OK

Gradient mesh tool and scribble effect

Hi
Was hoping some bright spark can help me! I am trying to apply a scribble effect to an object that is colored with a Gradient Mesh. Is this possible and if so how is it done?
I can apply a scribble effect to a normal gradient but not a gradient mesh.
Thank-you
John

Here I made the gradient mesh into a patern fill by draging it into the swatch panel and then fillinf a rectangle path with that swatch it is tricky gettting the fill to fill the whole rectangle without showing the pttern seams.
But once you have it correctly palce you can then apply the Scribble effect if you want to scale it you have to expand the appearance.

Gradient mesh tool

I appologize ahead of time if this subject has already been mentioned; although, I looked and couldn't find it.
I have a regular vector object and want to convert it to a gradient mesh object, but when I try to do that it keeps saying there's "too many points". I have tried the "smooth tool" and Object\Path\Simplify and by doing that eliminated a bunch of the points, yet still to no avail. does anyone know how many points is too many points?
Thanks!
A

Don't know how many points are allowed, but I'd suggest using your path as a mask, over a simple rectangular mesh object. It will be MUCH easier to edit in the long run anyway.

Gradient mesh tool in a donut-type shape

Hello
I am trying to use gradient mesh in a donut-type shape. Basically I want the inner and outer circle of the donut to be black and the inner to fade to gray and back. In other words I want the gradient mest to follow the path. Now I realise that gradient mesh cannot do this. So what I did was cut my shape in four and then try to apply gradient meshes -- still it didn't work. Hopefully the below will explain what I am trying to do and what I end up doing!
Thanks in advance for your help
John

Or … if you find time to do some origami (note that it's just a related topic to entertain a little bit).
1. First, turn on Smart Guides in the View menu, set up some construction guides and draw a rectangle that has the same width as the circular guide, but 50 % of the circular guide's height. Like this:
2. Select the rectangle
3. Object > Create Gradient Mesh: 1 row, 4 columns
4. Direct select the top left mesh point
5. Double click the Scale Tool and choose Uniform Scale = 0 %
6. Now, select the second mesh point from the top left and scale it: Uniform Scale = 0 %
Repeat scaling each single mesh point until all direction lines completely scarper.
7. Direct select the lower 5 mesh points
8. Double click the Scale Tool and choose Uniform Scale = 0 %
9. The next step is to direct select mesh point B and drag it onto the circular guide's anchor point W.
10. Now, direct select mesh point D and drag it onto the circular guide's anchor point O.
11. Direct select mesh point A and drag it to the South Pole. Do the same with mesh point E. This is the result:
12. Take the Convert Anchor Point tool, click on mesh point N and Shift drag to the left until you reach the vertical guide G1.
13. With the Convert Anchor Point tool click on mesh point W and Shift drag to the bottom until you cross horizontal guide G3.
14. With the Convert Anchor Point tool click on mesh point O and Shift drag northwards until you cross horizontal guide G2.
15. Finally do the same at S, but note that there are actually two congruent mesh points, so you'll have to fiddle around a bit in order to drag out the direction lines. However, you should be able to get this:
Now take this mesh object and add it to any Symbol library, so that you can use it as a conical grad maker in future sessions where you just draw a rectangle, fill it with a linear gradient, place the symbol on top of the rectangle and execute the Object > Envelope Distort > Make with Top Object command.

Fade to White Causing Gradient Mesh Rasterization

This may or may not be a bug, but let me explain what just happened to me. I'm using AI CS4 on a PC. Now, "Flattener Preview" kept showing all my gradient meshes as rasterized. This didn't seem right to me (but I've been using AI all of three weeks), and it seemed to have caused the borders of all my meshes to become jagged in view and print. So, I set out to find out what could have caused this. Through a process of elimination, I discovered a very tiny highlight that I had drawn with the "Blob Brush Tool" had been filled with the "Fade to White" color off the "Basic RGB" color swatch. I then filled that object with pure white, and now "Flattener Preview" shows all to be fine as judged by the fact that all selections within "Flattener Preview" are grayed out.
I still may have a problem because I still see some of my mesh borders as being jagged. So, is my illustration permanently damaged? Am I going to have to redraw my meshes? If I select a mesh and run "Flatten Transparency", I know I can choose "Convert all strokes to outlines", which I read somewhere may solve the jaggies problem. I can experiment with this, but should I do this, and if so, what are the ramifications? After this experience, I'm just a little concerned that this illustration I've been working on for the last two weeks may either be ruined or I may now ruin it out of ignorance.
Thanks,
Paul

After this experience, I'm just a little concerned that this illustration I've been working on for the last two weeks may either be ruined or I may now ruin it out of ignorance.
Why? That's why people use incremental saving and versioning. Just work on a copy of the current state. The rest is not clear, but I suspect you somehow inadvertently mixed RGB and CMYK or spot colors and thus the blending of the colors gives weird resuts. Expanding the artwork may offer a solution, if not the most practical one. Anotehr may be to run it through the Recolor Artwork process to get clean colors. the only real stinker with gradient meshes is, though, that you first need to select the gradient points for it to have any effect on them...
Mylenium

Illustrator CS6 gradient mesh

I've got two objects that I would like to apply a gradient mesh to. They're both compound paths and despite lots of mentions on the internet that you can't apply a gradient mesh to a compound path, you can. When I select one I get the option to create a gradient mesh. When I select the other I also get the option. However, no matter how I try to join the two objects (releasing compound paths, selecting everything, creating new compound path) when combined, they won't allow me to create a gradient mesh. What's weird is that even after I've done this each object still allows me to create a gradient mesh but when I select both of them together they won't. I've tried everything, pathfinder options, reversing paths etc. but nothing works. Does anyone have any ideas? Thanks!

Yeah, I tried Unite, Exclude and Divide to try and achieve what I was after however none of them worked.
Let's say it's this logo. It isn't but it will do for illustrative purposes as it is similar to the one I am working on. Let's say the logo itself is one of the objects and the 'TM' underneath is the other object. In my case the 'TM' is the brand name so it's a bit more important and much larger. I can select the logo and apply a gradient mesh. I can select the brand name and apply a gradient mesh. However I can't select both and apply a gradient mesh. In the case of the starbucks logo, how would I knock out the crown i.e. make it white out of the green, without using a compound path? Using pathfinder commands result in a compound path.

[CS4] Gradient Mesh- uneditable "helper" points

How do I delete the extra points that appear along a path when using the Gradient Mesh tool?
If you create an organic shaped object then convert it to a gradient mesh you get a cross pattern with handles at the mesh points. Adding more paths creates more paths. But sometimes these paths have invisible helper points which cause kinks when you try to edit the line. They try to maintain their original shape when the path is moved via the mesh point handles. Anyone who's worked with gradient meshes knows this. By deleting these extra points, the line becomes smooth and workable. It's absolutely essential for example when an additional line is added with the gradient mesh tool and the line takes a shortcut extending it beyond the parameters of the artwork. By deleting the points, the line can be edited and guided back inside the artwork's edges.
To see these extra points, press the + or - key while the mesh object is selected.
Previous versions of Illustrator allowed these extra points to be deleted. In CS you merely had to click the - key to change the pen tool to the delete pen tool. Clicking the points was identical to removing anchor points. Simple, easy and absolutely necessary.
In CS3 the minus-pen tool stopped working until after many hours of searching on the internet I found that by unchecking the "Snap to Point" in the preferences, made it work again.
I make my living by illustrating. The gradient mesh tool is a huge part of what I do. Without the ability to edit these points the tool is useless.
I hope they are still editable or I'll have to go back to CS3.
Thank you.
BD

StrongBeaver wrote:
Using the remove points pen tool does not work for me on gradient mesh points. The gradient mesh adds vertical or horizontal lines I want to remove either a point or an entire line.
rcraighead - Already tried your suggestion before asking, didn't work.
Use the direct select tool to select the anchor point you wish to delete then hit delete. The mesh will be deselected after you hit delete so you have to reselect it and you will see that the anchor point and mesh line associated with it are gone.
Ray-
The need to deselect the snap to point option in the preferences persists for CS 5 *** well.
this is how the direct select to and the delete key work out.
If you want just one line you have to select the point that intersects with the outer path.

How to make a gradient on two paths

Hello,
I am fairly new to Illustrator, although have used Photoshop, Fireworks and DW to some degree in the past.
In CS4, I am trying to make a country map with different counties or states. Using the map of the UK and including Wales, Scotland, and some of the counties as an example. I need to portray the whole country, but only highlight a specific part of the land, along a train line and so quickly fade away to almost transparent in the further edges.
Using the pen tool I have traced the country and county borders as paths. I then used the fill tool to make each country, or sea, a different colour. Now I want to fade the edges of my map away to transparent to bring attention to the middle. I have drawn another path on top and beyond the edge of the artwork and tried to make a transparency overlay and gradient in this path to make it fade to the edges. However, this does not work as I had hoped for three reasons.
1) the darkest edge of my 'fade path' does not blend into the country below but is quite an obvious line.
2) the gradient is a different colour as it sits on top of other paths of different colours.
3) the gradient is linear, from top to north, of radial, from a certain spot. I need the gradient to flow out in all directions from a un-uniform 'blob' roughly in the middle.
Can you please tell me how I can achieve my aim?
3) I had one more query when tracing my map ... I have two shapes and the paths align along one edge, think of the south border of Scotland, and the north border of England for example. At the moment I have these two paths running alongside each other but not joined. So if I didn't draw my pen accurately, there are small pockets where they don't touch. Ideally I would like to borrow the other path line for a time then leave it as it continues on it's own route.
Sorry if I mixed up the terms, I hope you can understand me.
Hope you can advise which tools I should be using, or some tutorials I can follow?
Thanks in advance.

Thanks Mylenium. I've certainly learnt something from both replies. I have now finished tracing the countries using your paste and cut method. It was quite a tedious job! I also found using the lasso tool and direct selecion tool that I could highlight just the area that bordered the next county/country. My the latter stages I had to select multiples, join them and then add, delete more anchor points. I'm sure there must be an easier way to trace an image!
I tried the live trace, but the map I was using was too detailed it traced geography and not the borders. Anyway, I'm there now. Thanks for the advice.
I think I'm on the wrong track with the 'blob'. I didn't mean the blob tool on AI, but was referring to the middle content of my map following the railway line, which is the bit I wanted to 'stand out' from the rest. I have perservered and think I'm getting somewhere with the gradients.
Thanks also Skullmaster for the idea of gradient. It wasn't working how I need, but from your link I found how to make a 'transparent opacity mask' which I have used with a photo in the background to some effect.
It is a feature rich software and hard to know what to look for when I'm not sure of the terms. Unfortunately I have a deadline for what I'm doing and this map is only a small part of it. It will have to remain a work in progress as I slowly learn more techniques.
I'm sure I'll be back with more ...

How I can improve my gradient mesh tools?

Hello there,
I would like to know if I can go faster to do a photorealistic with a mesh tools, cause point by point....
It's a bit hard, or do you have a tutorials on i Can go faster to do my pictures fast as I can do it.
Thanks.

... and even if you decide not to use the plugin, make sure to read its introduction. It will teach you a lot about gradient meshes:
http://vectorboom.com/load/web_roundups/mesh_tormentor_plugin_complete_guide/13-1-0-18

Gradient Mesh within Path!

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for