Graduated Feathering?

[Rik]

Is graduated feathering possible?

So that one side has none and the other side has more.

I've attached an image to give an idea as to what I am asking.

Now, please don't say "There, you've done it!"
That's 3 images put together to get the effect.
If you were doing more complex things, then it gets rather tricky. Well, for me at least.

[handrawn]

you might get away with two shapes [rectangle and clone] feather one, linear transparency on the other [edit: or both]

unless there is one buried in live effects somewhere, I don't know of a one step method

[Drwyd]

Gaussian blur might be the way to go. Two objects used.

[MarcT]

Gaussian blur might be the way to go. Two objects used.

Hi Rik,

There can be several methods,

A quick and dirty one would be to create a wall shadow on a rectangle and "convert to editable shape" and ungroup afterward. You might want to scale up the rectangle to have a better resolution.

Another way is to use feathering and linear transparency, note quite the same but may work.
Also lot can be done creating opacity masks with feathered objects.


I wish there were a linear variable feathering tool, it has been suggested a while ago.
But I guess it would be a too much specialized tool.

Marc

[Rik]

Thanks for your input, guys.

Not sure about others, but, quite a few times I've found the need to feather not much at one end and much more at the other end.
The latest example is the Fidelio SoundRing Speaker I had a go at drawing.
Graduated feathering would have come in dead handy here, when I was doing the inner part of the speaker.

There are times I want the shadow to be relatively sharp near the object and more feathered at the other end.

Xara have given us the 'Erase' tool.
Surely, 'Graduated Feathering' must be much easier?!

[David O'Neil]

This might also be a good application for the transparency mask tool, but I don't have that, so another alternative is a blend between a feathered shape and a non-feathered, altered one on top, to show the edge/s you desire.

[Albacore]

Make the object larger than required to allow you to feather all sides then cut it leaving sharp side on one side. Don't complain about the planning of it, it is a work around. Drwyd gave you the best solution to use but it may lack the control that you want in Live Effects and you might have to use a PS type plugin from Adobe.

[ZEBtoonz]

I just started using a technique that I had never tried before. I kind of stumbled on it while doing a recent illustration. I draw a shape over the object I want to add some graduated shading to and then I apply feathering and transparency. The shape extends well beyond the edge of the shape I will apply it to so that only one feathered edge will appear. I select this shape and the shape to apply it to and use clipview. I have often wanted to be able to get an airbrushed edge shading on my flat vector drawings and had tried lots of different techniques before, but this one is pretty effective and simple. I used it on the attached drawing, particularly on the feet, legs, and body of the rabbit.

[jclements]

David O'Neil's method is kind of like what we used to do before the advent of the drop shadow tool. Blend an object to another that has a near-100% transparency.

I think "Emeritus Guy" Gary Priester had a tutorial on this.