Hi All,
In appreciation for the help I've been given, I thought I'd pass on something I've developed. If you do graphic design this might be a big assist.
Cheers, Sam
Creating a Gradient Band
This whole thing started becuase I couldn't find a workable solution to try out different gradient bands. If you haven't noticed, gradients are getting popular on the internet (see www.amazon.com home page). Fireworks, at least, doesn't give me the greatest tools for doing this.
Having said that, the link below may scare you because the page looks complex. But once you get used to it, you'll find you can create gradients quickly. PLEASE GIVE ME SOME FEEDBACK!
To get started go to:
http://www.relatebase.com/development/imagecreate/gradient1.php
The best way to do this is to start entering values. I'll give you some values that create a nice blue gradient band. Pay attention to what goes on each time you enter a value:
Height: 50
Hue:
start 220
end 230
Starting Saturation: 19
Starting Value: 87
Ending Saturation: 75
Ending Value: 55
Pretty cool huh? Click the reverse button to reverse the gradient from top to bottom. OK, here are some pointers and explanations:
- Starting saturation and value are represented by the GREEN dot on the graph (think green for start). The acceptable numbers are from 0-100, 0 means no saturation or no value (brightness), and 100 means complete saturation or brightness. The green dot will move as you change these values.
- Ending saturation and value follow the same rule and are represented by the red dot.
- Notice there's a black dot on the Value (y) axis which keeps in line with the red and green dots. This helps you picture the slope of the graph. The way this works is, as the colors vary from the top to the bottom of the band, the saturation varies from starting to ending saturation, and the value varies from starting to ending value. It's a linear relationship.
- The hue is between 0 and 360. An added feature is that your starting hue and ending hue can be different. Try ranging between 220 and 275 for example, and you can see purple at the bottom. The wider the hue variance, the wilder things get though.
- The Rot. (rotate) CW and CCW buttons aren't developed. I'm sure they'd be helpful if I did.
- Use the Up/Down buttons to shift brightness overall, and Left/Right buttons to shift saturation overall. You'll see the "line" on the graph move as you do. Moving the line left, for example, will "wash out" the color, and moving to the right will make it more saturated or prevalent.
What I do once I get a gradient the way I like it is print the screen and send it over to Fireworks or Photoshop. Hope this feature is helpful to you as well.
Upcoming improvements (when time permits). I will allow for a curvature or "profile" instead of a linear saturation-value relationship between the two points. I also want to lighten the edges to give an embossed appearance.
