Learners Desk: Craeting Custom Gradients

In our previous tutorial we have learned about different Gradient types. In this tutorial we will focus on creating custom Gradients by our own.

1. First open a new document. To do this go to File menu and click on New option or simply press CTRL + N. Then set measurements of your choice and press ok.

2. Then select Gradient Tool form Tools Panel or simply press SHIFT + G in keyboard.

3. Now you will find some options in options bar. Click on Gradient Picker to open Gradients of a particular set( default one is simple Linear gradient set). You will also find a Gradient Picker Panel Menu which contains options for creating and managing Gradients. Click on inverted Triangle to open Gradient Panel Menu.

Actually in Gradient Picker, a simple Linear gradient set should be present. If this set is not present in that picker or whenever you want to load the default set just click on "RESET GRADIENTS" option in gradient picker panel. This will load default Gradient set in Gradient Picker.

4. Now to crate a Gradient we need to edit the existing Gradient. To edit the existing Gradient, click on the Gradient Type box as shown in the image.

5. Then a Gradient editor will be opened. In that editor, you will find some "color stops" on the long color band. A color stop, stops the color flow of the previous color.

Now we can add a New color by creating color stop anywhere or we can add another color to the existing color stop.

You can also find OPACITY STOP above the long color band which stops opacity flow.

6. Here I want to edit the existing color.

To do this I clicked on the Red color stop. NOw you will observe that, red color appears in a color option box. Now click on that box to open a color picker window.

7. Now a color picker box will be opened. From that box select your color of choice and click ok.
Here I chosen Black color.

8. Now I want to create a new COLOR STOP.

To do this, move cursor to the point where you want to add a color stop. When cursor turns to a hand symbol click mouse left button.

9. This add a New color Stop with the color flow that is present in the color picker. Now you can change this color by clicking on that "color stop" and choose your desired color as we did above. Here I have chosen Pink color.That's all with color editing.

10. You can also change the opacity value. To do this, click on the "Opacity stop". Then drag the slider to adjust(increase or decrease) the opacity. You will observe the changes in the long color band while working.

11. You can also Delete any "color stop" or "opacity stop". To do this, click on any color or opacity stop and then click on Delete to remove.

12. After editing the existing gradient, we have to save this edited Gradient as a New Gradient. To do this, give a Name to the new Gradient in the name box and click on New and click ok.

13. Now we have to create a background with our own Gradient. To do this, open a New document and drag in the document to apply that Gradient. Here my Gradient contains opacity effect. To apply the gradient with this opacity effect we have to check an option "Transparency" in options bar to apply the Gradient as it is.