What's the best way to add gradient to text so each letter is rendered separately?

Which version of Illustrator are you using?

What other versions of Illustrator could you use?

Hi There

Another option

Save every gradient as a Graphic Stile, then you can highlight a single letter and apply the graphic stile

Regards

E

designu,

I'd like to add a gradient to some live text and have the gradient applied individually to each letter.

I have taken this to mean that you wish the gradients to also work straight away when you edit the live Type/text.

So,

Is this possible or do I have to expand the text and ad it to each expanded letter individually?

I am afraid the long answer is no and yes.

Unless Kurt has/finds a way.

You could, in order to obtain the closest possible appearance, starting with (and keeping) the live Type:

1) Ctrl/Cmd+C+B, then hide the original, then select the copy and Ctrl/Cmd+Shift+O, then apply the gradient(s) within the Group;

2) Show the original and select everything, then Ctrl/Cmd+7 to use the original as a Clipping Mask.

You can relase the Clipping Mask and delete the outlined copy Group, then edit the live Type and start over, with 1) and 2).

And if the appearance panel method doesn't work for your task, you might try and create several rectangles with a gradient for each of them and then apply the actual text as a clipping mask

I don't know that you can select each letter individually but you might be able to achieve the results you're after with multiple gradients through the Appearance Panel.

You can see if this gives you the result you're after by following the steps outlined here: Make Gradient Text in Illustrator

Note that link is from 2015 so things may have changed.

do you want all letters to have the same gradient or to be a part of the common gradient line (e.g. red letter - orange letter - yellow letter etc.)?