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Part 4: Working with Opacity Stops

The opacity stops let you adjust the transparency of the gradient. Click on either opacity stop to select it. In the screenshot below I have the left opacity stop selected. The point is black to show it is selected. The Opacity controls will now be active below the ramp rather than the Color controls. Notice you also have a midpoint just like with the color controls. You can adjust this the same way as adjusting a color midpoint, and it will determine how the transparency is distributed on the gradient.

Notice the Opacity setting: you can use the slider to adjust the opacity of the selected opacity slider from 0-100%, and the stop will change too, to reflect the opacity. Notice also that you can see a transparency grid under the colors to show you how the gradient will look. My Location is still 0%, because I have not moved the slider, but you can also change it by typing in a percentage or moving the stop.

Opacity Midpoint: Click on the midpoint to select it, and the location will show in the location box. When you move the midpoint watch the transparency grid below the gradient. This will show you how the transparency is being distributed. When you are done, let's save it.

Saving custom gradients

To save the gradient you made, the natural thing to do it click the Save button, right? Wrong! Here Adobe has thrown you a curve. You have not yet added the new gradient to the swatches, and it must be added before you can save it. If you click save now, the gradient will not really be saved.

Type a name for the new gradient in the Name box, and then click the New button.

Now the gradient will appear in the swatches.

Now you can click the Save button to the right of the preset previews at the top of the editor.

When the browse box opens, probably to the default gradients folder in your Elements or Photoshop folder, type a unique name. The file will be saved as a .GRD file, the format for Photoshop gradient presets. Click Save.

This not only saved the new gradient you just made, but it also saved the ones that were already loaded.

Open the palette options and choose Reset Gradients. When asked if you want to replace the gradients with the default gradients, say Yes. the gradients return to defaults. (Note: Sometimes when loading gradients you may wish to append the the gradients you are loading to the current ones. This will keep the current gradients loaded, and add the new ones to the end of the presets. If that is the case, click Append. )

Loading your custom gradient

Click the Load button next to the presets previews. When the dialog box opens, choose the new gradient file you saved, and click Load at the bottom of the dialog. The whole gradient file is loaded so you will have duplicates of all but the custom gradient you saved loaded.

You can avoid this by opening the palette options and choosing Replace Gradients from the menu. Choose the new file and click Load.

What if you don't want all of those extra gradients loaded? Go to part 5 to see how to save a custom gradient set.

Go to part 5 --->>>

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