Working With Linear Gradients

Example=>

You may want to download the FLA file to examine this movie.

1. Drawing the cylinder
 

• Draw an oval with no fill. To do this, select the red slash for the fill color and black for the line color. Select the oval tool and draw.
  
   
• Use the arrow tool to select the oval.
   
• Click EDIT => COPY
   
• Click EDIT => PASTE.
   
• Use the Arrow tool to move to oval to the bottom of your stage.
  
   
• Use the arrow tool to select both ovals.
  
   
• From the align panel found at WINDOWS => ALIGN select the align left button from the alignment tool

• Select the line tool and connect the top oval to the bottom oval on the sides, making sure your line starts at the oval and ends at the oval.
  
  
   
• Click the bottom oval's inside half to highlight it and delete it.

2. Filling the cylinder.

• Open the mixer panel by clicking the triangle next to the title so it points down.
   
• Select a linear Gradient.
   
• Click next to the White Gradient Color Modifier color box so a new one appears.
   
• Drag the Color Modifier to the center of the gradient bar.
   
• Click directly on the right Gradient Color Modifier color box(1). Click on the color box above(2) and set it to black. This will set your right color modifier to black if you click on them in this order.

• Select the Fill tool from the tool bar
• Fill the 2 areas of the main object on the stage with this gradient.

7. Adjusting the gradients

• Select the transform Gradient tool
• Click on the main fill to view the gradient transform handles for rotation, spread and center.
• Grab the center of the adjustment and move toward the right to off-center the gradient.
• Select the top oval fill using the fill => transform
  tool.
• Grab the rotation handle and rotate counter clockwise so the gradient is going from 10 to 4 o'clock.
• Grab the spread handle and widen the gradient spread a little.