GRADIENT — Gradient

Fills an enclosed area with a gradient fill.

• Command: GRADIENT · Global name: _GRADIENT · Alias: GD
• Ribbon: Home › Draw
• Menu: Draw

Fills a closed area with a color gradient: from one color to another, or from a color towards black or white. It is HATCH with its dialog open on the Gradient tab: the boundary is given in the same way.

Usage

1. Enter GRADIENT (or GD) or click the button.
2. In the Hatch and Gradient dialog, choose One color or Two color and the colors (from the AutoCAD palette or a true color).
3. With one color, move the slider between Shade (towards black) and Tint (towards white).
4. Choose one of the nine types by clicking its sample, and set Centered and the Angle.
5. Click inside each area you want to fill (or select its boundaries, as in HATCH).

Pick internal point or [Select objects/Pattern/sCale/Angle/Gradient/Origin/inHerit/adVanced/dRaw order]:

6. Press Enter or OK.

Types

LINEAR, CYLINDER, INVCYLINDER, SPHERICAL, INVSPHERICAL, HEMISPHERICAL, INVHEMISPHERICAL, CURVED and INVCURVED: the same as in AutoCAD. When not centered, the gradient is shifted towards one side, as in AutoCAD.

On the command line

The Gradient (G) option of HATCH and HATCHEDIT asks for the type (? lists them), the angle and whether it is centered; it uses the colors of the last gradient.

Enter gradient name or [?] <…>:
Specify gradient angle <…>:
Centered gradient? [Yes/No] <Yes>:

Notes

• The gradient is saved as in AutoCAD (a solid hatch with the gradient data) and AutoCAD draws it the same way.
• When plotting to PDF, PNG or SVG it comes out in thin bands of flat color, which cannot be told apart by eye.
• The settings are remembered for the next gradient. They are changed later with HATCHEDIT.

See also

HATCH · HATCHEDIT · HATCHGENERATEBOUNDARY · Hatches