Variation 5: Text with gradients.
10. Spiral Clockwise. This is a beautiful variation of the angle gradient where the fill pattern provides an alternate back-to-back gradual blend between two alternate colors, radiating in a spiral from the center where the starting position is. This gradient pattern is available in Gimp but not Photoshop. Since the spiral pattern repeats indefinitely, radiating from the starting position, the repeat methods yield identical results.

A starting angle can be specified to initiate the spiral pattern in the clockwise direction.

Instructions: To see the spiral 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). Because of the geometric nature of the spiral, all methods yield the same result in this gradient style.

An optional visual guide can be selected to see a complete period of the spiral gradient fill pattern. A short line connecting the center of the circle and the pinhead of the needle indicates the starting angle of the spiral pattern.

Spiral gradients also work great on multi-colored gradients. The list box shown on the right contains eight multi-colored gradients that you can find either in Photoshop or Gimp or readily available elsewhere on the Internet. Following is an example of a background texture with a few basic colors in spiral gradient patterns.

	Built-in
Guide

11. Spiral Counterclockwise. This is a beautiful variation of the angle gradient where the fill pattern provides an alternate back-to-back gradual blend between two alternate colors, radiating in a spiral from the center where the starting position is. This gradient pattern is available in Gimp but not Photoshop. Since the spiral pattern repeats indefinitely, radiating from the starting position, the repeat methods yield identical results.

A starting angle can be specified to initiate the spiral pattern in the counterclockwise direction.

	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.