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Applying a gradient effect to an object in Inkscape is done by means of the Gradient Tool. A gradient can be applied to any object that has fill and stroke properties. Linear and radial gradients can be defined. Linear gradients effect a gradient transition from one point to another in line, perpendicular to the line. Radial gradients transition from a center point to a radius point in an elliptical arc.
To apply a gradient to an object with the Gradient tool, first the object to be painted must be selected. With the gradient tool, click and drag the gradient from the starting position (for linear gradients) or the center (for radial gradients) to the end or outside of the gradient. The starting and ending points for the gradient effect can be anywhere on the canvas and not necessarily inside or even intersecting the object. The effect works as though the entire canvas was painted with the gradient, masked by the object selected.
Gradient handles can be enabled in the Node tool, shape tools, Text tool, and Dropper tool (on by default), as well as in Selector and Zoom tools (off by default). Use the Inkscape Preferences dialog to change this.
Any gradient handle, if dragged close to a handle of another gradient, will merge with that handle (drag with Shift to prevent merging). Dragging such a merged handle will adjust any number of gradients attached to it. To separate merged handles, drag them away one by one with Shift.
Radial gradients display handles in the center and at the ends of two radii, which allows you to move, rotate, squeeze, or stretch the gradient to form an arbitrary ellipse. Also, you can independently adjust the focus of the gradient; drag the central handle with Shift to separate the focus handle.
When dragged, handles will snap to the edges (and their continuations) and the central axes of the bounding boxes of all selected objects (drag with Shift to prevent snapping).
Dragging with Ctrl will snap the angle of the linear or radial gradient to the user-settable angle increments (default is 15 degrees). A center of a radial gradient, dragged with Ctrl, will be constrained to horizontal and vertical movement relative to its previous position.
Dragging with Ctrl+Alt will move a handle along the gradient direction (for linear), radius (for radial), or their perpendiculars, allowing you e.g. to stretch or squeeze a linear gradient without disturbing its angle.
Dragging with Ctrl+Shift will scale the entire linear or radial gradient around its center.
The tool control bar for the Node tool has the following commands and options:
The tool behavior can be modified in the Inkscape Preferences window:
This manual is my scratch pad and development site for the Inkscape documentation project. Documentation that appears here may eventually work its way into the official Inkscape documentation, and changes to the Inkscape documentation may work it's way into this draft. It is a work in progress, so please don't mind the mess. Anything that appears here is GPL'ed under the usual licenses for GPL documentation, yada, yada, yada, or has been dedicated to the public domain. For a list of those elements that have been placed in the public domain, please click here.
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