illustrator gradient tool not working?

[javierp60369448]

Hello,

I'm doing this logo design of a mascot and doing the colors and trying to fade/brighten things a little bit wit the gradient tool. The tool worked perfectly fine for the gears but for some reason I can't do the same thing for the other none circular figures of the mascot. It doesn't matter if i select the linear or radial type. When I try to click on the selected object with the gradient tool the gradient line disappears after I release the left click key of the mouse and comes back to what you see in the first image, like nothing happened. Any solutions?

Thank you!

First image shows my problem. The second image shows what i achieved with the gears and what I'm ultimately trying to achieve with the other objects. 

[edgrimley]

Fill the shape with a gradient first, then use the tool.

[javierp60369448]

How do you do that? I select the gradient (not the tool) and the color doesn't change. I've tried putting it on top of the blue selected color but it doesn't change. Thank you for the help

[Mike_Gondek]

Sorry, but not sure what you are asking, your post is difficult to follow.

If you select another object and the gradient annotator disappears, then that item is filled with a solid color and not a gradient. What does the appearance palette show on the elected object you are having trouble with.

You may just need to change to a gradient filled by choosing the middle icon at the bottom of your tools. Or use the eyedropper to fill a selected item.

For your screenshots try shift command 4 on a mac

[PrepressPro1 · Accepted solution]

Select the object then in the appearance panel use the fly out menu to Clear Appearance, now try the grad tool. An easy way to set the object to a simple grad would be to select the object and tap the decimal point key in the lower right of the ten key numerical key pad.   

[javierp60369448]

Thank you that did it! Even though the object was colored blue the appearance was set to white for some reason.

[LAkeru]

What if you want to put a gradient on the base layer?

[Monika Gause]

You might want to post some details of your question.

[idellej]

I am having trouble with the Gradient tool where it won't show me the normal gradient "stretch" handle as I click and hold to adjust the width and position of the gradients in Illustrator. I may have accidentally hit a fast key to trigger some setting on the Gradient tool, but can't seem to figure out how to restore it so it works again as usual.

This is using Adobe Illustrator 2020 v 24.3 (most updated version of it).
I've restarted my iMac and reopened the file with the same results. Any ideas?

[Doug A Roberts]

Can you go to View > Show Gradient Annotator?

[Ton Frederiks]

@idellej Do not post twice.

See:

https://community.adobe.com/t5/illustrator-discussions/adobe-illustrator-gradient-tool-not-adjusting...