4 Replies Latest reply: Jan 20, 2010 7:51 PM by Wade_Zimmerman RSS

    How to select colors from a gradient? Make new swatches?

    TF22Raptor2 Community Member

      Hi all,

      I'm on Illustrator CS3 but are finding it rather difficult to grab the colors from a gradient I am using.

      I'd just like to make new swatches from specific colors in the gradient if I may.

      Any help would be great

        • 1. Re: How to select colors from a gradient? Make new swatches?
          tromboniator Community Member

          Open the Color palette Window>Color and the Gradient palette Window>Gradient. You may want to drag the lower right corner of the palette down to make the gradient slider window bigger and easier to see. If the sliders are not already showing at the bottom of that bottom window, click in the window. Click the slider of the color you want to use. That color will appear at the upper left of the Color palette. Drag that color box into the Swatches palette Window>Swatches.

           

          Peter

          • 2. Re: How to select colors from a gradient? Make new swatches?
            Wade_Zimmerman Community Member

            I would be a good feature I agree and probably a needed one at that.

             

            The only ways I knw is to expand or flatten the the transparency and then use the eyedropper so you would need to make a copy of the object filled with the gradient.

             

            The other way is to select the objet and open the gradient panel nd put color markers where you want the get the color and then double click the marker and take a reding for the color panel or swatch panel.

             

            It would be a handy feature.

            • 3. Re: How to select colors from a gradient? Make new swatches?
              JETalmage Community Member

              Assuming you mean you want to pick up colors between color stops of a Grad, so as to apply them to another object:

               

              1. DoubleClick the Eyedropper tool. Make sure its Appearance checkbox is on.

              2. Rectangle Tool: Draw a rectangle. Leave it selected. Assume this is the object to which you want to apply a color sampled from the unselected grad-filled object.

              3. Eyedropper Tool: ShiftClick the grad-filled object anywhere within its gradient.

               

              If you have the Color palette open, you'll see that the sampled color also becomes the current fill color. So from the Color palette's flyout menu, you can now select Create New Swatch.

               

              JET

              • 4. Re: How to select colors from a gradient? Make new swatches?
                Wade_Zimmerman Community Member

                The technique in the previous post is not quite right as it will select the gradient s a fill but only for that area of the gradient it iwill in some case look like it has select only the color in that spot but if you look closely it will be a portion of the gradient as oposed to filling the rectangle with the entire range of the gradient.

                 

                As I wrote this could be a handy tool.

                 

                I rechecked and I am wrong it does work as advertised.

                 

                My bad.