Variation 5: Text with gradients.
8. Shapeburst Angular. This is a variation of the conical symmetry gradient with an alternate back-to-back repeat pattern to give a gradual blend between two alternate colors. Instead of having a pointed tip, this gradient style produces a hollow rectangular box surrounded by concentric color contours.

In this gradient style, pixels on the same contour lines have the same opacity or transparency. The repeat methods do not affect much the appearance of this style of gradient.

Instructions: To see the shapeburst angular gradient in action, click on either one of the following eyedropper tool to choose your gradient color. To choose an arbitrary angle of the gradient, click and drag the needle pin on the wheel guide to select the gradient angle measured from the 3 o'clock position.

Gimp supports three different methods to repeat a gradient fill: none, sawtooth (abrupt change between alternate blending colors), and triangle (gradual change between alternate blending colors). This option creates infinite design possibilities.

An optional visual guide can be selected to show the starting and ending angle of the gradient fill pattern. The gradient fill pattern starts from the center of the circle and ends at the pinhead of the needle.

Shapeburst angular gradients also work great on multi-colored gradients. The list box shown below contains ten multi-colored gradients that you can find either in Photoshop or Gimp or readily available elsewhere on the Internet.

	Built-in
Guide

9. Shapeburst Spherical. This is also a variation of the conical symmetry gradient with an alternate back-to-back repeat pattern to give a gradual blend between two alternate colors. Instead of having a pointed tip, this gradient style produces a deeper hollow rectangular box surrounded by concentric color contours than the shapeburst angular gradient. The repeat methods do not affect much the appearance of this style of gradient.

	Built-in
Guide

Instead of blending colors, gradients can be present in a layer mask to create a seamless gradual blend between opacities of multiple texture patterns. This variation creates infinite design possibilities. The following illustrations show typical color blending patterns achieved with gradients using layer masks.

Both Photoshop and Gimp can store gradients in a gradient library that is available from the menu or options bar when you select the gradient or blending tool.