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Evan26335194rb34
Participant
September 28, 2022
Answered

Transparent shape gradients

  • September 28, 2022
  • 2 replies
  • 858 views

So, the company I work for has a catalog of brand icons they use for design and animation. They all exist as AI files. I wanted to convert them all to shapes and optimize them for animation, then same them to a library as animation presets for the team to use when needed.

 

The problem is that the outlines have a section that is transparent and then grades into a full opacity color (I've attached an example below. It's not a brand icon, just a mockup for making the point). AE doesn't like that. For the white icons, I simply make a gradient with black and set it to screen transfer, but that trick doesn't work with the color icons as the whole thing goes semi transparent (since it has some black value).

 

 

Is there a way - within a shape - to make a gradient stroke and set one color to be transparent? Much like the gradient tools in PS and AI. Otherwise my master plan is kaput.

 

Any box I'm forgetting to check, expression I'm not thinking of? If not, Adobe should make that possible!

This topic has been closed for replies.
Correct answer Jose Panadero

Maybe I'm missing something but you can create a "transparent" gradient with the same colors and use the opacity controls for every point of the gradient.

 

2 replies

Mylenium
Mylenium
Legend
September 28, 2022

You can't and so, yes, your master plan is kaput (or in more correct German "kaputt") :-). It's unfortunately an unsupported feature and if you can't accept working with the flattened AI files, there's no way to re-create this solely as a shape layer. It really would require introducing these transparencies at a layer level using track mattes or effects, which of course rasterizes your artwork and loses the magic of infinite resolution.

 

Mylenium

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    Evan26335194rb34Author
    Participant
    September 28, 2022

    Thanks. If nothing else, my soul can lay to rest 🙂

    Jose Panadero
    Community Expert
    Jose PanaderoCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    September 28, 2022

    Yes you can do it. Inside the stroke options you have a button to edit the gradient. You can set the opacity as you do in Photoshop. Check attached image.

     

    E
    Evan26335194rb34Author
    Participant
    September 28, 2022

    Thanks for the quick response. Unfortunately, that's an option I've already tried 😞

     

    Unless there's a new version I'm unaware of, that feature only allows you to change the color but has no transparency controls.

    Jose Panadero
    Community Expert
    Jose PanaderoCommunity ExpertCorrect answer
    Community Expert
    September 29, 2022

    Maybe I'm missing something but you can create a "transparent" gradient with the same colors and use the opacity controls for every point of the gradient.

     

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