Color gradient shading

Gradient shading is probably one of the most powerful features of IconPainter because it can produce subtle and beautiful color transitions that make icons really stand out. Use the option combo-box at the left hand side of the toolbar to set the desired gradient. The gradient direction is described by the 8 points of a compass (North, NorthEast, East...).

If the gradient is set as being to the East for example, then whatever is drawn next will have the current color in the SouthWest corner and the second color in the NorthEast with a smooth transition in between. This shading will work with anything that IconPainter can draw including curves, text, shapes, lines and so on. Flood-filling is also subject to the current gradient setting.

A good example of this shading is the EquitySoft logo at the bottom of this page which has a transition to the NorthEast for the circle with a transition in the opposite direction for the text. This kind of transition would be almost impossible to do successfully by hand and the results can give an otherwise dull icon an exciting, 3-dimensional feel.

Speeding up gradient shading

When the dimensions of an icon become large, which is usually when you would draw directly on the image, accurate gradient shading becomes slow. The reason is that the dafault method looks at every single pixel to determine the extent of what you're drawing. In the "Display" menu is the option to use fast and approximate shading.

The fast method works out the size of a box that fits around the shape or text drawn then uses this box's dimensions to do the shading. This is very fast and is recommended on large images however it can be a little inaccurate for some shapes and for some fill directions but can still produce the desired effect.