Dynamic Gradients

Apache OpenOffice 4.1 Draw Guide

Chapter 4: Changing Object Attributes

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• Toolbars and Menus
  • Line and Filling Tools
  • Text Formatting Toolbar
  • The Context Menu
• Editing Lines and Borders
  • Common Line Properties
  • Drawing Arrows
  • Line Shadows
  • Customizing Line and Arrow Styles
    • Customizing Line Styles
    • Customizing Arrow Styles
• Editing the Inside (Fill) of an Object
  • Common Fill Properties
    • Fill with a uniform color
    • Fill with a Gradient
    • Fill with a Line Pattern or an Image
  • Adding a Shadow to an Area
  • Advanced Area Fill Options
    • Creating Your Own Fill Color
    • Creating Your Own Gradient
    • Creating Your Own Hatching (Line Pattern)
    • Creating Your Own Bitmap Fill
  • Customizing Shadows
  • Adding Transparency
• Using Styles
  • Creating a New Style
  • Applying a Style
• Special Effects
  • Rotating an Object
  • Flip an Object
  • Mirror Copies
  • Distorting an Image
    • Distort an Object
    • Set in Circle (Perspective)
    • Set to Circle (Slant)
  • Dynamic Gradients

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Dynamic Gradients

You can control transparency gradients in the same manner as color gradients. Both types of gradient can be used together. With a transparency gradient, the direction and degree of an object’s fill color change from opaque to transparent (in a regular gradient, the fill changes from one color to another, but the degree of transparency remains the same).

If you have assigned transparency to an object with a color fill, you can control it by clicking the Transparency icon . To define a transparent gradient, select an object, choose a transparency fill from the Sidebar or Line and Filling toolbar. The transparency icon is now active. When you click on this icon, a dashed line connecting two squares appears on the object. Move the two squares to modify the gradient. You can define the gradient direction (vertical, horizontal, or at any angle) and the spot where the transparency begins.

A regular color gradient can be defined in the same manner. Select an object, choose a gradient fill from the Sidebar or Line and Filling toolbar. The Gradient icon is now active. When you click on the gradient icon, a dashed line connecting two squares appears on the object, just as it does for a transparency gradient.

In both cases, click outside the object to set the gradient.

If the transparency and gradient icons are not visible, you can display them using View → Toolbars → Mode. Moving the squares will have different effects, depending on the type of gradient. For example, in a linear gradient, the start and end squares will always be located to either side of the object's center point.

The three examples in Figure 108 demonstrate how the type and degree of transparency can be controlled.

Dynamic Gradients
	A single color object and a transparency gradient, covering part of the underlying object. The gradient can be dynamically adjusted, made more transparent by moving the white square or more opaque by moving the black square.
	An object with a color gradient, completely covering another object. The gradient is adjusted dynamically by moving the squares — the color of the square relating to the increase or decrease in that color.
	An object with both color and transparency gradients, partly covering the underlying object.

Figure 108: Dynamic gradients