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I am trying to reproduce this hard transition of colors with the gradient tool.

I had this gradient:

enter image description here

And what I need was hard transition between of the colors like here -

enter image description here

What is the trick to achieve this hard stop?

1
  • I realize this is a very old question.... the trick is the order in which color stops are added. Add the preceding color stop first, then add the new color stop after it.. i.e. first blue stop - then second blue stop - then first green stop - then second green stop - then first red stop - etc.... If you mix up when the stops are added, it's possible two stops won't stack properly when they are at the same location.
    – Scott
    Oct 6, 2020 at 21:06

4 Answers 4

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Use the location field.
Make two points the same value. That way there is no transition between points.

enter image description here

enter image description here

3

Add an additional colour stop. In your second screenshot, the right stop is actually two at exactly the same spot.

You will achieve a hard transition if you use these:

  • stop 1 at 0%: dark blue
  • stop 2 at 10%: dark blue
  • stop 3 at 10%: light blue
  • stop 4 at 100%: light blue
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I used this method to create a slight blend between the colors. Red at 0%, Red at 18% Purple at 20%, Purple at 38% Yellow at 40%, Yellow at 58% Green at 60%, Green at 78% Blue at 80%, Blue at 100% Thanks.

enter image description here

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  • the other answer doesn't work for me (in the most recent version of Ai) I am blocked from moving the "location" enough to make the transition a "hard" one. this worked. Sep 3, 2018 at 2:46
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A different approach would be to use a live paint object. I achieved the hard stops I needed by using lines to cut through a shape and just fill the sliced areas with the colors you need.enter image description here

2
  • This creates multiple objects though. With a gradient you only need one object. This also, doesn't really answer the question. The question was about gradient functionality, not how to achieve the appearance with other methods.
    – Scott
    Oct 6, 2020 at 21:03
  • I agree with you, Scott. Hard color stops don't exist in Illustrator, but they do in Cinema 4D, and I find them very convenient there. I was just offering a workaround, if the person who asked the question is willing to have multiple objects. The live paint object itself is like a sublayer, so if I select and move that, it behaves as if it's one object.
    – itsmikem
    Oct 7, 2020 at 16:36

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