illustrator text gradients

[hypernova]

here's the setup.  it's a mostly black background (pictures).  i'm trying to put a word of text on top of it with a gradient from red to blue running from left to right.

what i've tried has ended up in two ways:
a.  the text has the gradient, but for each individual letter, instead of over the course of the entire word.
b.  i've made a box with the gradient on a separate layer, and used a text overlay, except can't get just the text to appear on the black background.  hiding the gradient portion renders the text invisible.  and placing everything in front gives me a large, ugly gradient box on top (with the text on top of that,) which i obviously don't want that stinkin box.

i've tried checking the help files, but it just loads a completely blank IE page.

any ideas?  i know there must be a way to introduce the gradient across the entire word, and not each individual letter, but i just can't figure out how, without having option b happening.

[grueinthebox]

Since no one's responded yet, the following will walk you through the process:

1) when creating a piece of text, then using the "Create Outlines" command and applying a gradient to a result, you get this:

[grueinthebox]

2) The problem is, when you "Create Outlines", each letter is a separate shape, but grouped together.  You can use the Object > Ungroup command to disassemble them, at which time this will become apparent.

[grueinthebox]

3) What you want to do now, is select all the letters using the standard selection tool (the black arrow), and use the "Add to Shape Area" command from the "Pathfinder" toolbar.  This will cause all the separate letters to become one big shape (albeit made up of separate, non-overlapping bits).

[grueinthebox]

4) Now your gradient will span the whole bit of text, rather than each letter separately.  Enjoy!

[hypernova]

you're freakin' sweet.  thanks!

why do i have a feeling even if the help file was working, finding the answer to that question wouldn't have been THAT specific and informative!

[AceTKK]

another way to do it is with a clipping mask. http://www.carijansen.com/tips/007/index.php

 

[Crowquill]

There's an easier way--the gradient tool:

1. select Text you created.
2. create outlines
3. select the text with the black arrow tool if necessary.
4. select the Gradient tool (see pic below or hit 'g' on keyboard).
5. drag from the edge of the artwork that you want the gradient to start at to the opposite edge of the artwork. Holding down 'shift' will keep it straight as you move horizontally or vertically.
6. if you don't like the way it turned out, just drag again in a different direction or even start and finish outside of the artwork. I've found that making a gradient slightly angled makes it look more dynamic.

Two advantages to this method:
1. more control over the gradient
2. since you didn't use the pathfinder or masks, everything's edit-able seperately still.

Clipping and opacity masks work great for masking out background artwork and imported pictures, but for simple gradients they're overkill. They can definitely be used for great effects though. It'll also make it more dificult to place gradients on top of each other. Much more difficult than just Copy-->Paste in Back.

Hope this helps.