Gradient along Stroke

[joel_motion]

Forgive me if this has been said; I didn't see it elsewhere.
I'd really appreciate a "Gradient Along Stroke" option. Affinity has a nice spiral shape, and it's a shame to not be able to apply a gradient along that shape.
Instead, I had to bring it into Illustrator to use the feature. I would love to not need to use Illustrator because it is frustratingly clunky and slow.
I use this gradient feature very frequently. It's a great effect for illustrations, and I'd love to see it implemented in AD.

[NotMyFault]

Can be done in many cases using a crafted brush with a gradient.

This only as workaround, I fully support your request.

 

[joel_motion]

@NotMyFault Do you have some information on how to achieve that? 
From my attempt, it looks like the gradation is actually just a change in opacity, not fading from Black to White. Is that possible?

Also, it seems like another limitation is that it doesn't respect any customized stroke width, instead only applying as a uniform stroke.

[NotMyFault]

The steps in principle:

 

prepare PNGs

1. create a rectangle of at least 360x180px. Should be pixel aligned in position (no fractional positions)
2. add gradient from black to white
3. export selection as png
4. Flip horizontally and export again

brush creation

1. now concentrate on brush panel. Create 2 new categories for your own brushes (my image brush, my intensity brush)
2. create new image brushes from the PNGs. This will give a solid brush (black to white or reverse)
3. Create new intensity from the PNGs. This will create transition from transparent to opaque.

Brush usage

1. create shape like spiral
2. assign one of the new brushes
3. you can assign any stroke color, adjust width etc, set to center / inner / outer
4. from time to time, export your brush category to have an backup, or to copy and import on 2nd device like iPad, or to share as resource in this forum.

there are several limitations:

• Exports will be rasterized
• you can’t set brush properties like round end caps, dashed, pressure profile for custom brushes
• you can’t use expand stroke from custom brush

[NotMyFault]

6 hours ago, joel_motion said:

From my attempt, it looks like the gradation is actually just a change in opacity, not fading from Black to White. Is that possible?

Both is possible, depending on type of brush at creation.

• image brush: black to white
• intensity brush: opacity transition

 

[joel_motion]

11 hours ago, NotMyFault said:

brush creation

1. now concentrate on brush panel. Create 2 new categories for your own brushes (my image brush, my intensity brush)
2. create new image brushes from the PNGs. This will give a solid brush (black to white or reverse)
3. Create new intensity from the PNGs. This will create transition from transparent to opaque.

 

Ah, I see, Image Brush was what I wanted. Thanks for taking the time to write instructions!

[cholasimmons]

This is a feature I've been patiently waiting for since the days of v1.8.3
we're getting there 🥰

[Juhani]

On 8/22/2024 at 11:04 AM, NotMyFault said:

there are several limitations:

• Exports will be rasterized
• you can’t set brush properties like round end caps, dashed, pressure profile for custom brushes
• you can’t use expand stroke from custom brush

+1 from me. Tried with the suggested workaround a while back but ran into these very limitations. Hope this will come soon along with true vector brush engine.

[Poziomka]

I am very much in favor of it. In addition, there could also be an option perpendicular to the line.