Gradients
The strip, the dial and the gradient on the canvas
The strip
With a gradient, a strip as wide as the panel appears below the type row: the paint laid out, with one stop handle per color stop. There is nothing else below it.
| Gesture | What it does |
|---|---|
| Click a stop handle | selects the color stop and opens its color |
| Drag a stop handle | moves the color stop |
| Drag a stop handle off the strip | removes the color stop |
| Double-click the strip | adds a color stop, in the color the gradient already has at that point |
The dial
The first button at the end of the strip opens the angle dial:
- Drag the dot around the circle and the gradient rotates. On a radial gradient the dot is the center, and you can move it wherever you like.
- On a linear gradient, below it, four ready-made directions — up, right, down, left —, each drawn with the gradient you are rotating, already angled.
Click or drag, one single step.
The gradient on the canvas
The second button (edit on canvas) opens the gradient on the object, for that side — fill or stroke. Press it again to close; it stays highlighted while the gradient is open. In place of the bounding box you see:
- the line from one end to the other (linear), or from the center to the edge with the dashed circle (radial);
- the color stops as dots in their own color, the selected one with the blue ring.
| Gesture | What it does |
|---|---|
| Drag a middle color stop | slides it along the line |
| Drag an end | moves that end; on a radial gradient, the center (with the focal point behind it) or the radius |
| Click a color stop | selects it and opens its color alongside |
| Esc, a click on empty space, another selection, another tool | closes the gradient on the canvas |
The ends snap. Every gesture is one step; Esc during the gesture cancels it.
A shared gradient
If objects that are not selected also use the gradient, on the first edit it is copied ("g1-2"…) for the selected ones, and the edit goes to the copy: changing one object does not change the others. The copy and the edit are one single step.