Swapping out colors in gradient mesh

Hi everyone,
I have a gradient mesh and I used a single pantone color to shade it, ie. with different tints of the one colour.
I want to see what it looks like in a different pantone color and wondered if there was a way to swap out the original color for a new one and keep the different percentages at the same time.
Any advice much appreciated.

I would do this a much different way.
I would select the gradient mesh object
go to Edit>Edit Color>Recolor Art
then select the icon right center to create a color group from the art.
Then select the change color icon next to color you want to change
then at the bottom center there is a pull down from an icon that looks like swatches and select a library from which to choose you swatch.
The select the swatch you want and the color will be updated at the same tint value, although have other options as far as how it updates color.

Similar Messages

How to pick automatic colors in gradient mesh?

Hi, first, sorry a bad english;.
I can pick automatic colors for points in gradient mesh?
How to make? My mesh have much points and need a long time to color one by one.
I think, all understand-me, thanks;

You've got an awful lot of points there.
Rule#1: work with as small number of points as possible. Often it's better to split the artwork into several meshes. In this case: extra mouth, extra eyes for instance.
There's no automatic way of coloring meshes. Take the lasso tool to select more than one point, but that's about it.

Group vector points for easy gradient mesh color control

I'm working with some gradient mesh shapes, and am finding it a pain to have to individually select the points in the middle of the shape to select their color, and then deselect them when I want to change the points on the outside.
I've tried grouping when the appropriate points selected, but doesn't seem to stick. Is there a better workflow method to keep adjusting the color of gradient meshes?
Thank you!

With the points you want to be able to re-select selected, go to the select menu -> save selection. Then you can get to that selection at the bottom of the selection menu.

Gradient mesh detail problem

My problem occurs when zoom out of a gradient mesh effect and it bocomes something cloudy or in snatches but when zooming in, the problem no longer exists and everything become smooth again.
What's the problem?
please

Which version of Illustrator are you using?
Apart from that, it may just be a harmless screen rendering issue.
Probably no problem at all.

Is it possible to create a gradient mesh object with 2 spot colors which separates & prints as a 2 color print job?

I have a gradient mesh object which uses 2 spot color values (including some tints of those 2 colours) which I'd like to print as a 2 color print job. Is this possible? If not, any suggestions as to how I should proceed? The print job MUST be 2 color. Ideally I don't want to use raster objects but if I have to would appreciate any advice on the easiest way to transform my 2 color mesh object into a matching duotone raster object.

I'd really say it's that PPD with the new n-space features of CS3 and CS4. If I use your PPD I get the same shoddy results you do with the postscript file. In fact, Acrobat Distiller errors with a log...
<PDFX ISO="15930-1:2001" COMPLIANT="false">
PDF/X Compliance Report
1. Color
   The following pages are separated plates:
      Page 1, Occurrences: 1
      Page 2, Occurrences: 1
      Page 3, Occurrences: 1
      Page 4, Occurrences: 1
   Violation. The use of %%PlateColor is not permitted and was found in the document. Occurrences: 7
   Violations: The total found in this section was 11.
2. Summary
   Warnings: The total found in this document was 0.
   Violations: The total found in this document was 11.
   This document does not pass PDF/X-1a:2001 compliance checks.
</PDFX>
%%[ Warning: Did not pass PDF/X compliance tests. No PDF file produced. ] %%
If I use your PPD, print your AI file to a postscript file, then simply open the resulting Postscript file with AICS4, I see the same bad results that I showed in the movie. I think the PPD can't handle the new method of breaking out spots in gradients. Just to test this theory... try a different PPD and see if that works, at least to show the seps properly.

Gradient Mesh- Coloring individual points

I'm trying to practice on myself using the gradient mesh tool… I understand the point made about making many smaller meshes e.g. eyes, nose, mouth…
I'll start from the beginning…
I open an image of myself >open the layers panel and lock my image…
Create a new blank layer…
Then I select my pen tool…
Start making an outline of my face, approximately 1-3 pixels all the way around the outside…
Then I go up to the menu bar and click on, "Object >Create Gradient Mesh" - 15 rows by 15 columns…
then I use the selection tool and select the whole mesh that was just created…
then set the opacity to 0%…
Using the direct selection tool to select & move anchor points and handles as needed to match light lines…
then I use the mesh tool to select an anchor point to start coloring…
this is where I start to run into trouble…
after selecting my first anchor point to color, I select the color picker tool from the toolbox…
for some reason I'm not able to select that color beneath the mesh (the color underneath the selected anchor point)…
I played around & so far the only way I'm able to select the color beneath is by moving the whole mesh to the side, but… I end up losing the reference point of where that anchor was…
Illustrator CS6
Any help, tips and tricks would be greatly appreciated…
Thank you in advance,
Rob

I ended up watching a video with no sound at YouTube…
What the person did was/sound similar to what you're telling me…
Lock the image layer and create a new layer >used the square tool >added points and move them where needed >while holding down the control key this person clicked on the eyeball of layer 2…
I don't know if your way has the same effect, but… This worked perfectly for me, holding down the control button while clicking on the eyeball…
I'm now able to select the color underneath the anchor points…

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.

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

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:

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.

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

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

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

Gradient Mesh Help

I like the idea of the tool, but whenever I could really use apply it, it seems I mess with it way too much.
My particular problem at the moment is shading a kind of boomerang shape...like the sun was hitting it from the top.
I draw the boomerang shape and when i click inside of it with the gradient mesh tool it to creat a first division of the gradient i get some whacked out lines that are nearly impossible to edit and smooth out.
Is there any advice about creating the mesh or good tutorials about creating it in a complex shape?

We all just sort of learnt this technique a few days a go.
Draw you boomerang shape and select with the direct select tool the four most outer anchor points like such
Then go to Object>Create Gradient Mesh and enter your desired divisions like such
then make sure you have the fill select on the color proxy. Add your colors.

Gradient Mesh Photorealistic Automatisation

Hi everybody,
I'm a vector artist and normally use Adobe Illustrator CS3 to make photorealistic vectors: I usually vectorize human faces with the help of the gradient mesh tool. I often create a mesh first and then sculpt it to follow the features of the face. The result may appear as a coordinate frame projected on a human face. After that, I have to painstackingly color the mesh, that means that I have to select every knot of said mesh individually, and with the knot selected, sample the color of the pixel beneath it with the eyedropper. This process is very time consuming, and I would like to ask this question:
Is there a way to automate it. i.e. to make a mesh automatically sample the colors of the bitmap directly beneath it, each knot to its corresponding pixel ? A patch, a plug-in, something of the sort ?
Thank you in advance.

Hey JET, thanks for the reply.
I got your point. I'm not an expert about Illustrator's ins and outs so I'll just lay out what I initially thought and maybe you could let me know if it's possible at all, with or without plugins and JS coding (though I have the strong feeling it is not doable).
The way I see it, AI gradient mesh handles are akin to polynode bisectors in UV mapping or CAV's (Color At Vertices) for (light, bump) maps in 3D. In Illustrator, gradient mesh handles are ristricted to four (since it's a matrix, thus allowing only quads), as you said, or three when it's a border handle. In 3D there's one bisector per polygon per vertex, generally the average between each poly's coordinates.
What I wanted to do was to export a 3D mesh wire-frame as a vector file and then use that matrix as the gradient mesh in Illustrator. Unfortunately, by exporting into EPS it means I turned the mesh into a two-handle per vertex matrix, which is no good. The only idea which occurred to me, considering the integration between Illustrator and Photoshop is that maybe now that the latest supports 3D layers for some sort of light UV map editing, maybe a matrix or the UV set could be exported (or copied and pasted) from PS to AI's Mesh sublayer... does this make sense??
Anyways, if that could be done, I'd instantly have perfect gradient meshes to work on for every 3d object I have. Then, like the first poster asked, it'd be a matter of waiting for CS5 (CS4 won't cut it!) so that maybe we could have some automated color picking from the render underneath the mesh. But for the time being, I'd be happy to start with a perfect gradient mesh matrix and do the coloring myself.
So... what do you think?

Swapping out colors in gradient mesh

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