part of path unfilled/transparent & color gradient tools

[goodgood_magic]

Hi,

I want to make below object to have two colors without any path between, I think making the path (the RED cross) between them unfilled/transparent would be worked, is it the right way? Or any other convenient tools I can use?

Another question is that can I gradient the color I already filled on artwork? I found the gradient tools only let me select the color from the color panel instead of the one from the object I made. Please help. Thank you.

[jdanek]

"Or any other convenient tools I can use?"...

Not really.  I understand you want to create a transparent Black line behind the crosses or "x's"?  You might try using the "Knife" tool on that segment ( on a copy of the file ) or Pathfinder > Divide, but those tools will allow you to remove that portion of the line.

..."can I gradient the color I already filled on artwork? I found the gradient tools only let me select the color from the color panel"...

Select the color element from your artwork you'd like to use in the gradient > add a swatch of that color to the swatch palette > using the Gradient palette, drag the new swatch to the gradient palette.  Do that for all the colors you want to create in the Gradient.

[goodgood_magic]

Thank you. I got your point about the gradient.

For the 'X's line, I use "Add Anchor Point Tool" to add points on the 'X' path to split out the portion I want to erase, then use the "Live Paint Group" to make is unfilled. It looks good now. Thank you.

[edgrimley]

I'm not certain that this is what you're asking, but you can use live paint to separate colors on a single object. In this case I used the line segment tool to make two 45° no stroke lines through the square.

[goodgood_magic]

Many Thanks! I use the Live Paint Group tools and it is fine now.