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

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Creating gradient mesh object, object turns into gradient mesh object w/ white fill

Creating gradient mesh object, object turns into a gradient mesh object w/ white fill automatically.
I would like this to be a stroke object as I cannot see the picture that I am trying to recreate.
Illustrator is not allowing me to change the white fill into a stroke after I create the gradient mesh object.
Here is the image when I try to create the gradient mesh object, I do not have the white fill option chosen and the image still
becomes a white fill gradient mesh object.
Please can anyone help??
Thank you.

Sure. A gradient mesh won't have strokes. It will always have fills. If you want no fill, you need to set the opacity of a single mesh point to 0%. But you actually don't want to do that for the complete grid, because it will be very time consuming to adjust this back to 100 percent for every single meshpoint when coloring them.
Instead the usual setup is with the two layers. This allows you to see the gridlines and the template. Then you first adjust the grid (color doesn't matter for this). Then you pick up the colors from the template to color the single mesh points. From time to time you switch into preview to admire your work.

Illustrator CS6 to CS4: White lines along edges of semi-transparent gradient meshes

Hi,
I recently invested in CS6 Production Premium and I've just tested legacy support by saving an Illustrator CS6 image in CS4 format.
The image contains a number of semi-transparent gradient meshes used for highlights.
Having loaded the saved CS4 .ai file in CS6, white lines appear along my semi-transparent gradient meshes (see the attached screenshot).
What's happening is that the anchor points with 0% opacity in CS6 suddenly have 100% opacity when I load the saved CS4 files in CS6.
Is this a known error?
If so, how/where do I report it?
Here are the relevant CS6 and CS4 files:
http://snk.to/f-chcig8s9
P.S. There are no white lines when I save the image in CS5 format and load it in CS6.

The image contains a number of semi-transparent gradient meshes used for highlights.
CS4 doesn't support semi-transparent gradient meshes. So they are simulated by using opacity masks. The masks are generated atuomatically from the meshes in the file, so they have the exact same size, which causes the fringes. If you would create this manually, you would make the opacity mask slightly larger in order to avoid fringes.

White Banding in Gradient Mesh

I recently upgraded to CS3 and now when I use the gradient mesh tool, using only two colors... a white band appears between the two colors. This didn't happen in Illustrator 10. I'm just trying to go from a Dark color to a lighter version of the same color to give a shading effect and the white banding throws it off.
Does using Pantone colors have anything to do with this ? It's driving me crazy.
Thanks

Unless you're printing hundreds, it will be digital. The cost of making plates for color work is high when you go on a press, so you need a lot of copies before that gets absorbed into the per unit cost of the finished product and can compete with the click charges for running the laser printer, which needs no plates and has practically no setup time for each job.
For a job run on my favorite printer's press I usually figure the minimum charge is $1500 (and that would cover any number of impressions up to around 500 copies). As the number of copies increases, the cost for paper, ink, and press time go up, but the very heavy cost of the plates and job setup gets sliced into smaller and smaller chunks until eventually you are paying only pennies per unit (or fractions of a penny). On the other hand, the color copier has a constant cost per page that is I think around $.25 each, whether you print one or one thousand. The setup cost is minimal (I don't know what my guy charges, but where I used to work, we charged $15 per file, and I think that is considered high these days, but it depends a lot on how hard they work on getting the color right).
I just got a quote this afternoon to print 2000 booklets in two colors, 16 pages plus cover, finished size 5.5 x 8.5 after folding and stapling. This is a perfect configuration for the laser printer which can do the finishing inline and spit out a finished booklet that needs no additional handling. It will cost about $3200.00 to run on the press, then trim, fold and stitch, but running it on the copier would be $6000.00. If I add another thousand coppies to the press run it will add perhaps another hundred or two hundred dollars, adding them to the copier run would probably add $2000.00 to $2500.00. On the other hand, if I only needed 50 copies, the digital print price would allow me to consider color where I never would have been able to do it ten years ago.
Peter

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:

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.

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

Can i save a vector with gradient mesh as isolated .PNG?

Hi,
Can i save a vector with gradient mesh as isolated .PNG?
It has some effects, so if i'm taking it out from the blue background it becomes darker.
Any advice? I need it isolated png for using it in an iOS app.
Many thanks

I am using Illustrator CS6, on Mac.
I can't copy and paste the "cloud" into a new document to save it, because it looses the effect of those filters (since the background is no longer behind it).
Sorry if im not explaining it right, i'm a beginner in illustrator. Can i group both the "cloud" and the blue background, to get just one shape: the realistic white cloud?
P.S: i can make a link with the .esp file of the clouds, if it helps.

Gradient mesh transparency problem when saving for web

Hi,
I created a shadow using a gradient mesh but I can't seem to figure out how to set the mesh points to multiply. As a result, when I do save for web, the white parts get saved as opaqe areas and the shadow png can't be placed on a colored background. Help.

...and aside from what Monika said, consider the limitations of transparency handling in web image formats as well as what impact the differences in handling of transparancies between browsers may have on the web site design.
Mylenium

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

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.

Gradient Mesh Tool won't work over a standard gradient

How can I get the Mesh Tool to work over a gradient? If I place an RGB image and create a gradient mesh over it I can select each individual point and then use the color picker to pick a color underneath by clicking the placed image. However, if I create a gradient mesh over a standard gradient I can not pick up the color in the standard gradient that is below. What the color picker does is pick up the entire gradient. It doesn't put any color into the individual points of the gradient mesh.

Thanks guys for the answers. I appreciate it. I did determine that I could rasterize the gradient so it would be treated like a placed image. That breaks the vector attributes but it does work.
I swear that I tried all the modifier keys (ctrl, shift, alt, ctrl+shift, etc.) but I guess not. I was crunching out a job at 4AM and I guess I missed something. I do usually try all of them before I look for other options. I thought that I might have overlooked a switch or preference. But I couldn't find one. Using "shift" does in fact work well. Thanks for redirecting me back to the most simple solution.
It always amazes me how the mind works, although frustratingly. I bet that I tried "shift" and maybe missed the key (I don't look at the keyboard most of the time as I do it by feel) or I didn't push it all the way down. Whatever the malfunction, once my brain thought that I'd tried the "shift" key I never went back and tried it again. It just goes to show you, you need to try each potential solution several times before moving on.
Thanks for the answers. It has me rolling again and having a great time exploring the world of the gradient mesh.

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.

Gradient mesh

Im trying to learn the gradient mesh. Im having difficulty distinguishing mesh points from anchor points. From what Ive read they are supposed to be diamonds and squares. They all just look like tiny white dots to me. Is there a way to make them bigger? How can I tell the difference between them.

...just more to voice your view/opinion...
Look again.
Two of my comments were direct responses to YOUR just-as-opinionated comments.
And regardless, this is an open user forum. Opinion is not disallowed. You don't "own" a thread just because you started it. You don't dictate who can reply or how. And there's nothing wrong with opinion unless it's wrong opinion--which, of course, mine isn't. ;-)
My other comment does indeed "help" in that it corrects a common misconception: It is not the size of the anchorPoint display that makes selection difficult; it is the pick-distance sensitivity, which is far more adjustable than the mere size of the display.
Users accustomed to CorelDRAW, for example, are particularly prone to this misunderstanding because they are accustomed to DRAW's historic comparitively very large display of nodes. They would complain that Illustrator's display was too small, and that that made anchor selection difficult. FreeHand users knew better, because long before Illustrator finally gained the preference setting, FreeHand displayed anchors much as Illustrator did, but provided a pick-distance setting properly independent of mere display size.
...why bother I ask myself...
No argument there.
JET

Gradient mesh -- CS6

I am working on a tutorial using the gradient mesh tool. In the tutorial I draw a rectangle, and with the gradient mesh tool select one point of the rectangle to turn it into a gradient mesh. The problem is that in the tutorial the mesh stays colorless, but in mine it automatically fills with white, and I can't make it transparent again.
I hope there is just a setting that I need to check or uncheck
Thanks!

Nevermind, I missed the instrustion that I was supposed to be in outline view. Thanks anyway!

Fade to White Causing Gradient Mesh Rasterization

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