Create angle, reflected, diamond gradient using actionscript

Hi,
As you know, in Graphics class there is beginGradientFill
method to draw
gradient:
beginGradientFill(type:String, colors:Array, alphas:Array,
ratios:Array, matrix:Matrix = null, spreadMethod:String = "pad",
interpolationMethod:String = "rgb", focalPointRatio:Number =
0):void
I saw that the first parameter "type:String" only have two
values: "linear" or "radial". In photoshop, beside theses there are
"angle", "reflected", "diamond" gradient type also.
So which class (or libraries etc) I can use in order to
create "angle", "reflected", "diamond" gradient using fully
actionscript?
Or "angle", "reflected", "diamond" gradient type can not be
implemented using AS?
Could anyone point me to the right direction?
many thanks and best regards

gghfh,
you can get your gradient set to a different angle (not just
horizontal/vertical) by using the matrix argument you mention, eg:
graphics.beginGradientFill("linear", fill_colors,
fill_alphas, fill_ratios,
rotated_matrix (0, 0, actual_w, actual_h, gradient_angle));
where rotated_matrix is a function like
private function rotated_matrix(x:Number, y:Number,
w:Number, h:Number, rot:Number):Matrix
var tempMatrix:Matrix;
tempMatrix = new Matrix();
tempMatrix.createGradientBox(w, h, rot*Math.PI/180, x, y);
return tempMatrix;
I don't know what the "reflected" or "diamond" patterns look
like but maybe this would solve the "angle" one?
Richard

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rotate
(angle
[,changePositions]
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A tall order for a single thread! There are many possible
answers to each question. Plus there are not enough specifics to
guide you to the correct alternative. The good news it you can do
what you are planning.
1. How to create a new scene using Actionscript,
Do not be confused with the technical feature of a scene in
Flash IDE. It is not something you use in Actionscript. However
from a design view, you can create any page oriented content
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page is a MovieClip or the as you mentioned the component
ScrollPane which is MovieClip.
Beyond that there are many many ways to go.
In general you would create one or more template layouts and
load the content in selecting the template.
A shell Flash movie would handle the loading of the templates
and the data or content that would show.
As well there could be swf that are custom pages that simply
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2. How to add a few images (jpgs) from the library using
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MovieClip.attachMovie
You also can load externally using
MovieClip.loadMovie
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MovieClipLoad.onLoadInit
3. how to add a scrollPane (all using actionscript),
Explained at
ScrollPane.contentPath">MovieClipLoad.onLoadInit
4. how to add some text fields,
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MovieClip.createTextField
5. how to add a video player to access a video from a folder
on the server and lastly
Use the FLVPlayback component that is delivered with Flash 8
Pro. You need to encode the video as FLV format using the video
encoder that comes with Flash 8 (also possible with import except
you elected to make it external) or a third party encoder.
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the FLVPlayer and use the
FLVPlayback.contentPath
method.
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I see... I played around with the line chart ...
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strive for OOP oneness, it isn't there 100% like VB is which has
been around 20 years longer and gone through numerous additions
etc. Whenever I learn a new language VB, PHP, C, AS, Java....I try
my best to look at the language as its own identity. All language
share similarities but they all have their own idiosyncrisies. Keep
an open mind and you'll find what you need.
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Worked perfectly. Thank you thank you!
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Mesh gradients using pantone colors

Hi,
I'm struggling to create gradients for screen printing purposes. The artwork will be printed on 12oz canvas using 3-4 pantone spot colors.
1) if I fill an object with a single Pantone color, create a mesh gradient from it using a variety of different opacity settings, say 100%, 50% and 25%, then play around with the mesh handles to produce a pleasant, mixed background, will a gradient of this type work for screen printing? I don't know if a gradient of this type will require halftones, as a linear or radial gradient would.
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The problem is that I'm familiar with off-set printing, and apparently gradients have to be converted into halftones when screen printing, so I'm trying to figure out the best way of creating shadows and highlights.
Thanks for any help you can provide.
Mark

Mark,
Getting your head around a few age-old fundamental repro principles will clarify this stuff for you:
First and foremost: Think in terms of INKS, not "colors." Take off your designer hat and think like a mechanic. You're dealing with real-world substances: scoops of thick, gooey, solid-color ink that will be squished onto some object.
Line Art: Artwork designed to be reproducable using only areas of solid ink coverage. No graduations of any kind whatsoever. In other words, nothing but 100% "tint" (often called "solid") of the ink(s).
Tint Screens: Uniform coverage of a given ink, but at any percentage other than 100%.
Continuous-Tone Artwork (often called "contone"): Anything involving varying percentages of a given ink, be it a "grayscale" gradauation of a single ink or graduation involving two or more inks.
Halftone: A photomechanical process used to distribute small dots (or lines, or some other pattern) of ink so as to SIMULATE tints and/or gradations. That's the important concept: There are no "graduated inks." Any given location on the final print either has ink or it has no ink on it. The ink is always a solid color. So anything other than the actual color of the solid (100%) ink is a mere SIMULATION. That simulation requires that the ink be laid down as a series of tiny dots (or array of lines, etc.) so as to suggest things other than the 100% color of the actual, physical ink that is loaded into the press (or silkscreen).
Spot-color (opaque) versus process-color (translucent) is a SEPARATE ISSUE from line art (no tone screening) versus contone art (tone screening required). You are confusing those two separate and distinct issues.
Now put this in the context of screen printing:
All artwork involving tints or continuous tone requires halftoning. Compared to offset lithography, screen printing is very limited in its ability to handle halftoning. Many small local screen printing shops can't do halftoning at all. Typical medium-size screen printing shops (local T-shirt shops, etc.) can often do halftoning at a very course frequency (i.e.; large dots), often no smaller than 30~50 Lines Per Inch (LPI), and both color fidelity and sharpness suffer. Only larger and more sophisticated screen printing shops, running expensive, high-end automated equipment utilizing very fine screen mesh fabrics can reliably hold small halftone dots and consistently maintain color.
Bottom line: The way you prepare artwork for screen printing is highly dependent upon the kind of shop that will be doing the printing.
Screen printing is done on a wide variety of materials (substrates). Substrates are quite often not white. They are often dark. So spot color inks designed for screen printing are usually very opaque. That puts them in a whole other world from the almost-always translucent inks of offset lithography, AND from the real world that Illustrator's interface is capable of simulating. Illustrator does not provide any means by which to specify the real-world opacity of a Spot Color Swatch. So when you use blends, grads, and overprinting, Illustrator cannot do a good job of simulating what you will actually see in the final screen printed results.
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I'm struggling to create gradients for screen printing purposes.
Grads are going to require halftoning. Have you asked your screen printer what halftone frequency (LPI) he is able to reliably hold?
The artwork will be printed on 12oz canvas using 3-4 pantone spot colors.
Understand: Pantone is a company. The Pantone company publishes its own standardized formulae for its own branded inks, which are offset lithography inks, not silkscreen inks. In other words, it's just a commonly-used color reference. You would be better off refering to actual color swatches of the actual screen printing inks your screen printer will be using. Set up your Spot Color Swatches in Illustrator corresponding to the actual inks.
1) if I fill an object with a single Pantone color, create a mesh gradient from it...
Always state WHAT VERSION of Illustrator you are using. Grad mesh did not always support spot colors. Blends still don't.
...using a variety of different opacity settings, say 100%, 50% and 25%...
Don't confuse "opacity" with "tints." What Illustrator calls "opacity" and "transparency" usually involves rasterization and/or conversion to process color.
... then play around with the mesh handles to produce a pleasant, mixed background, will a gradient of this type work for screen printing?
It will work for screen printing IF:
The particular screen printing setup adequately supports halftoning.
The mesh is built appropriately for the color separation model (spot, process, or process-plus-spot) that will be used to print it. Again, you have to be aware of the number of INKS that you are designing for, and make sure your design does not require more than that when it is color-separated (think "ink-separated").
Current version Illustrator provides a color-separation preview feature, which can save you alot of grief if you use it. If using an earlier version, but have Acrobat Pro, save the file as a PDF, open it in Acrobat, and use its Separation Preview feature. If using an earlier version and do not have Acrobat Pro, "print" as color-separations to a PDF virtual printer like Adobe PDF. Then open the PDF in Reader and study the separate pages. (Screen print jobs are, in fact, often delivered as such a pre-separated PDF.)
I don't know if a gradient of this type will require halftones, as a linear or radial gradient would.
Based on the above, you should now know that. Yes, ANYTHING that involves graduated color requires (at least a simulation of) "graduated ink". Since "graduated ink" does not exist, halftoning (or some other kind of tone screening--there are others) is required in order to simulate it.
2) it's my understanding that when you prepare artwork for screen printing using spot colors, each color should be on its own layer.
No. Absolute nonsense. (Don't believe everything you find written by self-proclaimed "experts" or "tutors" on the web, no matter how fancy you think their demonstrations are.) If that were true, then how, (for just one example) could you possibly screen print a rectangle with a spot-to-spot grad fill? The path containing that grad resides on one Layer, doesn't it?
In an attempt to add highlights or shadows to an object, if I copy an object and paste it in front of itself, then apply a gradient using another Pantone spot color, say Pantone Process Black(100% to 0% opacity), does it matter what the blending mode is?
Yes, it matters. Blending Modes has to do with so-called "transparency" effects. Again, anytime you muck around with "transparency" you increase the liklihood of rasterization and/or conversion to process at output. You would be safer setting that copied, pasted, grad-filled object to overprint. Halftoning will still be required, at least on the separation corresponding to the ink(s) for that grad.
Obviously you'll get different results based on the option you choose... I'm concerned here only with screen printing.
If you are designing for SPOT COLOR screen printing (as opposed to process color), stay away from transparency effects unless/until you understand what you're doing.
I can then place the gradient on the Black layer.
Again, forget Layers corresponding to ink separations. A total misconception. Utterly unnecessary.
The problem is that I'm familiar with off-set printing, and apparently gradients have to be converted into halftones when screen printing, so I'm trying to figure out the best way of creating shadows and highlights.
The best way to create shading is HIGHLY dependent upon the technical capabilities of the specific screen printing shop. Always ask:
Can the shop support halftoning?
If so, what is the maximum halftone ruling (LPI) they can reliably hold on the particular target substrate? (If they don't understand this question, either stick to line art or find another screen shop.)
This does not mean that you cannot do shaded artwork without halftoning. (In fact, much of the most stunning screen-printed work is done entirely as line art.) Designer fully acquainted with the limitations of screen printing commonly employ artwork shading techniques to avoid the need for halftoning altogether. They use hatching or stippling or contour linework to build "shading" into the artwork, and all inks are printed as line art. In this regard, preparing artwork for screen printing is often more "creatively rewarding" because you first, understand the real-world limitations of the reproduction method and, second, devise clever and original artwork methods to work within those limitations.
But it's not something anyone can give you a step-by-step, one-size-fits-all-situations crash course in, in an online forum.
JET
JET

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