Gradient Tool

[sarapixels]

There used to be a difference between the way the gradient tool would come up for linear vs radial gradients.  I miss that.  Is there a setting that I can adjust to get back the adjustable gradient bar for adjusting a radial gradient?  It was easier to fine tune that way than just clicking the cursor and trying to hit the spot you mean on first go.  I keep thinking that a new version of Illustrator will put this back for me, but it's been some versions now, so either the functionality has been dropped, or it's just altered in some way that I'm simply not finding it.  I'm attaching a screenshot here.  I know this is a visual crowd .

See how there is just a line with two points?  I'm trying to get back the version that would draw the whole circle for me, so that I could adjust the aspect ratio of that gradient, and that showed any extra points in the gradient, and would allow you to grab points and move them around. 

Is there a way to get that kind of functionality back these days?

[Monika Gause]

Which version on which system is that?

[sarapixels]

CC 2018

[sarapixels]

But this has persisted over several upgrades.

[Monika Gause]

And if you move the gradient tool over the annotator you don't get to see the circle?

[sarapixels]

I can't move the tool at all.  It was actually difficult to take that screenshot because I literally can't touch the tool once drawn.  It's a one shot at placing it right and the next time my Wacom touches the pad I'm drawing a new line.  I haven't seen the circle in a long time now.

[Monika Gause]

Can you disconnect the wacom and try with another input device?

[Ton Frederiks]

Sarah, If I move my cursor over the gradient bar, I see this in 3 different versions.

Is that what you mean?

[sarapixels]

It looks like y'all still have the old feature.  So there must be a setting somewhere that restores it.  I get the same effect using a mouse as I do with the Wacom.  And I've unplugged the Wacom a few times since I first lost this functionality.  The whole computer has also been restarted several times.  And this has persisted across CC upgrades.

When I'm in Illustrator, there is no moving the cursor over the gradient bar.  That's physically impossible.  I just get one shot at placing it, and then the bar disappears as soon as I let go.  Is there a setting somewhere that would cause this?

[Ton Frederiks]

I use a Wacom too, so that's probably not the problem.

Did you try to reset your preferences?

How to set preferences in Illustrator

[sarapixels]

I'm not finding any preference settings related to the gradient tool in any of these menus.

[Ton Frederiks]

Did you follow the link I posted to the help file?

I am not talking about the Preferences  in the Illustrator application:

How to set preferences in Illustrator

To manually restore preferences to default

• Remove or rename the Adobe Illustrator Prefs file. When you restart Illustrator, a new preference file will be created in the original location.

[sarapixels]

I am unable to locate any such file.

[sarapixels]

The other part of the linked instructions took me back to the same preferences box that I screenshot above.

[sarapixels]

And the 3 key shortcut doesn't appear to actually work

[tromboniator · Accepted solution]

If you go to the View menu, which of these do you see? If it's the left one, select it and see if that solves the problem. If it's the right one, I'm out of ideas!

Peter

[sarapixels]

Thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you!!!!!!

I never in a million years would have pulled down that menu, while gradient was selected, or even known to call it an annotator.

This has been bugging me for months.

THANK YOU!

[sarapixels]

I just assumed it was an upgrade glitch the first time that would get sorted out.  This whole time, I just needed to know the word annotator, and turn it back on again.  Oof.  Thank you tromboniator​

[Ton Frederiks]

I am glad you got it solved, but I wonder how you made your first screendump, it shows the annotator.

[tromboniator]

Ton, in 2018 with the Gradient tool selected you can drag out the Annotator and hold it to get the shot, but it vanishes when you release the mouse button. In 2019 the Annotator doesn't show at all unless Show Gradient Annotator is active. Not sure if these sentences make any sense, but trust me on this!

[Ton Frederiks]

  wrote

Ton, in 2018 with the Gradient tool selected you can drag out the Annotator and hold it to get the shot, but it vanishes when you release the mouse button. In 2019 the Annotator doesn't show at all unless Show Gradient Annotator is active. Not sure if these sentences make any sense, but trust me on this!

You are absolutely right, just tried it...

[sarapixels]

It was tricky!  I had to use the full screen capture command while still holding the wacom pen, mid gradient draw, and then I just cropped down to the part i was getting at.  I wanted some visual reference for what I was trying to access, and that was the best I could get.  The reason the gradient hadn't shifted to match it yet is because I hadn't let go yet!

[Ton Frederiks]

I understand now. You sometimes have to use tricks to capture everything on your screen.

i use Quicktime Player to record a screen movie, just to export a single screen.

[tromboniator]

You're welcome! I struggled with that for quite a while when I first encountered the Annotator, so I understood your frustration.

Peter