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Flash is the last program we will cover for this round of gradient
fills. If you are new to Flash, and wisely decide to devote time to
checking out other Flash examples on the Web, you will quickly notice
that the sites that really catch your attention often make very good
use of gradient fills. Most also capitalize on the easy transparency
capabilities that are build into the gradient fill options.
A note of caution though – gradient fills do affect file size.
If you are working hard to keep your file size minimal, only use gradients
when they will have the most impact. You can really bloat a file with
many small areas of gradient fill. Not that you should abandon them
– I don't mean that at all, because gradients can bring a screen
to life. Just use gradients with the knowledge that there will be a
cost, so they should definitely be advancing the design.
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Color button leads to custom colors and gradient fills
Custom and default gradient fills can be selected from
the Fill Color window.
Click on the New button to create a new gradient fill.
Choose Radial or Linear.
Color is controlled with color pointers as shown on
top of the Gradient Definition Bar. The key at the far left is the Pointer
Well.
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Create a simple gradient
Gradients fills are applied like solid fills in Flash. Choose
the Paint Bucket tool from the Toolbox, as shown depressed here.
The Fill Color button, shown highlighted in yellow here, is used
to define all fills. Click on the Fill Color button to open the
Fill Color window as shown, at the the left.
Preset and custom gradients appear at the bottom of the Fill
Color window and are shown at left. To fill an object with one
of these colors, simply click on the desired fill.
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To create a gradient fill, click on the Color window button at the
top of the Fill Color window, shown highlighted in yellow in the illustration
at the left. This opens the Color window, where we will build our gradient
fills.
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The custom fills that we saw in the Color window are repeated
here. These will form the base for any gradient we create. Choose
the one that is closest to the fill you wish to create. If nothing
is close, choose the simple black and white gradient, as it is
easiest to edit.
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To create a new fill, click on the New button. The currently selected
Gradient fill will be duplicated and a new icon created for your new
custom gradient. Choose Linear or Radial from the drop down menu above
the New button.
All color is controlled by pointers above the Color Definition bar.
The selected pointer is depressed, as shown at the left. The right pointer
key is down, while the left pointer and the color well are up. Any change
you make to color will apply to the selected pointer.
The Pointer Well, the pointer to the far left, can be used to store
a color which you will need often. Like the other pointers, it must
be depressed to receive color. This well does not affect the gradient
fill. To use, simply drag the Pointer over any other pointer and release.
The color will be transferred to the active pointer.
To add a color point, simply click in the Color Definition Bar at the
point you would like to add color. The new pointer will be assigned
color that appears at that location. To delete a pointer, click and
drag it up or down until it disappears. (You can also drag it to the
side, but it is easy to drop it just at the edge and have it affect
the end color in the gradient.)
Preview your gradient fill in the Preview window, shown in the upper
left corner of the illustration at the left.
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Create transparency
Flash offers wonderfully easy transparency control. You can change the
transparency of any color pointer, which can provide very interesting
effects. I have included a sample of this effect. The gradient fill
is on a layer above the text, and has varied transparency assigned to
the color points. Follow along the bottom edge of the green rectangle
to see the transparency changes.
And transparency could not be easier. Activate the pointer you wish
to affect and drag the Alpha slider, at the far right of the Color window,
to the desired value, which is shown below the slider. 100% is solid
color, and 0 is completely see through.
When you are happy with your gradient, click on the Change button in
the Color window. Your icon changes to represent the new gradient, and
the new fill will appear in the Fill Color window, ready for use with
the Paint Bucket tool.
If you wish to delete a gradient from the Color window, simply select
the gradient icon and click on the Delete key.
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