Gradients from a solid colour to alpha

[Darramouss]

Hey there, true believers. Having an issue I hope you can help me with.

I'm trying to make a rectangle that is solid blue at one end that fades to transparent on the other end. Not sure how to do it, though.

I have tried making a rectangle, placing a gradient on it and making one colour of the gradient transparent. When I render it the transparent end shows up as the original colour of the rectangle. (Should have typed square as it's shorter to type than rectangle...)

I have tried making the original rectangle transparent but that makes the gradient colours transparent, including the nice solid blue I want at one end.

I have tried varying levels of transparency for the original rectangle, but again, that affects the blue.

Any ideas on what to do?

[heyvern]

The main problem is that gradient effect fills don't allow for transparent colors.

There are a few options...

What you could do... although not "perfect" is blend from blue to white and use the multiply color blending mode for a layer with the shape. Unfortunately the blue color will not be opaque. So that's out.

The simplest would be to use a PNG image that has a gradated transparency mask. This of course means it must be on a separate layer requires an image editor and is limited by the resolution of the image when rendering.

One more option I can think of involves masking and I cover it in this thread. There is a sample file download as well:

viewtopic.php?t=9669

The trick is using an effect that does have transparency blended from a color like a soft edge effect and masking it to the shape you need. Like the trick with the image layer it requires that single shape to be separate from every thing else which can be a pain.

-vern

[payaso]

i've had this same problem, and my work around is i make the gradient and then thicken the line onthe outside of the shape, match the line color to the second gradient color, and then give the line a soft edge, and making it a little transparent

[basarat]

i am having exactly the same problem ............ wanted to make a jungle background that goes black at the far end ... ah well...... guess i will need to draw it manually

[basarat]

Found an alternate way to do it......... saved me time too