applying a gradient to an object

[Phil Personal Acct]

Hi guys,

i am new to illustrator and I am finding it extremely hard to use. It never seems to behave in the way that the tutorials suggest it will. In this instance, I am trying to apply a gradient to a simple object in Illustrator. 

I placed the object in the canvas. I then clicked on the object to highlight it. Then I opened the Gradient editor. Then I click the gradient button, and nothing happens. When I select the color swatches, I only have 2 color options - Black and white. The selected object simply remains black. no gradient whatsoever. 

Bascially nothing is happening. Can anyone help or suggest what I am doing wrong before I take my mac and throw it against a wall?

Thank you !!

P x

[Ton Frederiks]

You placed an object, from where?

What kind of object?

Seeing only black and white swatches it seems that you opened an image or other file not created in Illustrator.

When you create an new Illustrator file, you will see a set of default swatches.

[Ares Hovhannesyan]

Please review Create gradients in Illustrator (adobe.com)

[Phil Personal Acct]

I placed a png file that I took from outside of Illustrator. How could I add a gradient to a png file that i bought in from outside AI?

[Monika Gause]

A PNG file is a raster file.

You cannot apply a gradient to it.

Maybe it's possible to autotrace that PNG. Maybe you can just draw something. Or get new artwork to place.

[Ton Frederiks]

There may be a way around it.

Create a new document. 

Place the image and make sure it is Embedded.

Select the image and in the Appearance panel create a new Gradient Fill above the Image Pixels.

Select that Fill and choose Effect > Path > Outline Object

Adjust the Blending mode and Opacity.

(thanks to Teri Petit).