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

Similar Messages

Can I use Gradient Mesh tool as a template to create a 3D looking graphic?

I am attempting to make a similar graphic with this 3D appearance , using AI CS5.1
The nature of how the gradient mesh tool appears would achieve the desired effect.
I am trying to find a way, to capture and/ or add a stroke to the gradient mesh framework (seen in red) and/or save the mesh as an object.
Suggestions most appreciated
Thank you.
~design_element

design element,
This forum is the right place to be told that there is no such way, and then some suggestions:
http://forums.adobe.com/community/illustrator/illustrator_general?view=discussions

Can the Gradient Mesh Tool "web" be converted to an object to create 3D looking graphics?

I am attempting to make a similar graphic with this 3D appearance , using AI CS5.1
The nature of how the gradient mesh tool appears would achieve the desired effect.
I am trying to find a way, to capture and/ or add a stroke to the gradient mesh framework (seen in red) and/or save the mesh as an object.
Suggestions, thoughts, work-arounds most appreciated.
Thank you.
~design_element

Assuming you're not going to do some very precise scientific studies, you may want to create rectangular grids and experiment with Envelopes (located in the Object menu).

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:

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 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.

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 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.

Gradient mesh tool problem

On screen everything looks as it should, but when printed the shape with the gradient mesh doesn't come out correctly. It appears as a solid grey shape.
The strainge thing about this is that I have used this file several times before as a templete (for a product line) and never had an issue...

The printer gradient and meshes option did not do anything.
We also do not print directly from illustrator, we import this file into indesign and then we export as a finalized pdf to print. We have narrowed the problem down to the mesh gradient that was used in the file created in illustrator.
The mesh gradiant on the right side of the swoop in the black bar below "demon" is not turning to complete black where it should when we print. It almost looks like there is a gradiant on that side, which there isnt. It prints out as gray instead of black. When we printed the file directly from illustrator it seemed to mirror the gradiant over the whole black area to the right of the swoop.
Can you apply the printer gradiant and gradiant meshes option that you showed us in the printer dialog box to exports?

Gradient Mesh Tool Improvements toward photo realistic vectors

Hello Guys,
Please look into adding the possibility of reading a 3D UV Map from say an OBJ (or any other 3D industry standard file type) and copy it to the Mesh sub-layer.
After that, automate a function to allow each vertex to sample the color immediately underneath it so that we can have a 3D render turned into a realistic 2D vector image.
Are you guys already on that road?? Thanks.

How I can divide an gradient colored object into pieces?

Hi, I'm new here.
I'm trying to draw a Saturn. Here's the problem: how I suppose to cut the ring in half make it circle around the Saturn?
If I just cut with scissors, then the gradient color will be out of order. I don't want to rasterize it.
Anybody can help, appreciate it.
Thanks, guys.

I would just copy the ring grad and paste in front, Draw a box covering only the lower front portion of the copy of the ring. Select both the ring and the box, use Pathfinder panel>Crop, This should retain the lower front portion of the ring, now just move the full ring behind the planet and you should have it.

My question has to do with analog input and triggering? Does anyone have any suggestions on how i can improve the attached vi so it can trigger on a 50kHz ten cycles pulse after the pulse has been sent out on the output?

Could you just look at this vi and tell me if i am doing anything wrong? I get errors that are different each time I change something. here are the inputs I am using
Output Side:
amplitude = 1
freuency = 50kHz
Sampling Frequency = 1MHz
3 of Samples = 200
Input Side:
Input Buffer 4000
trigger type = analog
pretrigger = 5
edge or slope = rising
scan rate = 500kHz
# of scans = 2000
Conditional Retrieval
mode = on
slope = rising
skip count = 0
level = .1
offset = 0
hysteresis = 0
So what we want to do is capture the ten
cycles of the 50k output pulse on the input and need to store that so we can plot it later, do you have any suggestions. we are using the PCI-MIO- 16E board.
Thanks,
Jarrod
Attachments:
InputOutput2.vi ‏88 KB

1) Toss the sequence frames (no flames please).
2) Set you read and have it ready to trigger before oing the output.
3) After the output, go back and read the data that is waiting for you.
4) If you have errors tell us what they are and under what conditions they occured.
End of Ben's suggestions for now.
Ben
Ben Rayner
I am currently active on.. MainStream Preppers
Rayner's Ridge is under construction

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?

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