Does Illustrator have a Gradient Feather tool like InDesign?

Forum|Forum|16 years ago
May 15, 2009
3 replies
67617 views

CS4...I know it has to be here somewhere, I know the gradient tool in In InDesign but cant find one in Illustrator. I see the normal feather but it seems to just feather the edges. I need it to start full on one end and fade out to the other end

Correct answer Scott Falkner

Illustrator can feather transparency just as well as InDesign. Better, in fact. But the interface for doing so is convoluted and has long been one of the most asked questions on the forum. Look up Opacity Mask in the help files. Basically, you first create a gradient, gradient mesh, or a number of objects with different grayscale fills, which are then grouped. This object or group is placed above the object, image, or group to be masked and you Make Opacity Mask in the Transparency panel.

kjschskjdcskdjc

Participant

Like most things in Illustrator, you have to do 2-3 steps, vs InDesign where you can do it in 1 step (natively).
When I have to work in Illustrator, I typically just do the gradation in PS, then bring it into AI as a PNG.

Scott Falkner

Correct answer

Community Expert

Illustrator can feather transparency just as well as InDesign. Better, in fact. But the interface for doing so is convoluted and has long been one of the most asked questions on the forum. Look up Opacity Mask in the help files. Basically, you first create a gradient, gradient mesh, or a number of objects with different grayscale fills, which are then grouped. This object or group is placed above the object, image, or group to be masked and you Make Opacity Mask in the Transparency panel.

J

Jesseham

Inspiring

Just a followup to Scott's answer - If you use 100|100|100|100 for your masking black, as opposed to 0|0|0|100, it will fade all the way to transparent.