Hi,
I have two (er 3) questions about gradient editing.
1. When I see the number of the gradient stop, how do I know which point it corresponds to on the image?

See my picture...I have drawn a red arrow from a gradient number(top right) to a gradient point (left), but how do I know which point that arrow should really correspond to??

2. Can I simply move a single gradient stop? When I add one it always starts at the bottom..but let's say I want it to be at the top? or the middle? is there a way to drag a gradient stop to a different location on the gradient line (WITHOUT moving all the other gradient stops)?

and I guess this brings up a third question...
3. when I add a new gradient stop, why does it always start from the bottom?


thanks
a

Hi.

Gradients in the current stabile will be reworked in the 0.91 release.
To add a new gradient step at a certain position -related to other steps- browse down in the dropdown list, like you did with stop5194.
If you click on the add new step, it will be placed between 5194 and 5202.
It is annoying indeed that you always have to select from the top if you want to add a new one.
Once there are enough steps added, you can use the node tool to select the colour step handle -to move it, and, also to change it's colour values.
If one is selected, the fill and stroke panel changes to a solid fill -namely the step's.

Have to keep in mind, if it's not the only object having the selected gradient fill, and, if you edit it with the node editor,
it will be a duplicated gradient.
There is/was a bug with clones, when you edited with the node tool the parent's gradient steps, each of the small modifications got stored as separate gradients, leading to crashes sometimes.
So use the vacuum defs from time to time in the file menu to keep things organised.


The pre 0.91 release will supposedly be able to add new gradient steps with the node tool by double clicking.
Also there is a rendering bug in the 0.48 version that avoids to render more than 1024 colours for a single gradient -can be visible time to time.
Here is a test image for the renderer.

Hi..so now I understand how to add a new stop in the proper spot...

However, my first question was how to simply READ the numbers on the right and match them to the proper gradient stop. that is, let's say I know I want to tweak a color but I'm not sure which stop I need to edit.

also...I don't see how using the node tool allows me to move the stops? In fact, when I try I still can'...I can only drag the node a stop a little bit and when I do so I move all the others...

(and ...I knew about the clone gradient problem but fortunately I don't use clones much).
thanks
a

Click and drag with the mouse.
Square handle indicates the centre/starting, circle handle the end stop -which is the bottom one at the gradient editor's dropdown list;
steps inbetween are represented by diamonds, that can be pulled the same way, until they reach another neighboring step.
In the codes each of the steps are presented in an order from 0 to 1 which may explain why they cannot go over eachother.
It would be great to have a gradient editor like sumopaint does in my humble opinion.

Editing through the gradient editor to fine-tune the object's fill can be a try and error. There is no visible/written connection except for the look and a guessing over the stop's position displayed in percentage.

hi...yes you wrote "until they reach another neighboring step. " so you can't move past a neighboring stop?? [ I tried and couldn't...]..


and you wrote "There is no visible/written connection" which means there is no way to look at the stops on the window in the right and know exactly which stop that
number refers to in the image?

and regarding sumopaint..I've vaguely heard of that...it is like inkscape?

thank you for the help
a

Yes, for the first question definitely.

For the second, well, you can use the xml editor too with the same result as the gradient editor. Not much of an indication.
But thinking it over, it would only need a diamond turning to red from white?
Because usually the set colour takes a larger area than that, it wouldn't help much either.

Sumopaint is a free, simple raster editor program, that is available online. I only tried the linked web version of it, which doesn't have masking implemented.
On the other hand, it has some fancy stuff, like various spiral shaped gradients and fractal designer.