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Transform a gradient or tile brush

The Brush Transform tool in Microsoft Expression Blend lets you move, rotate, skew, or resize a linear or radial gradient brush or a tile brush, depending on the type of brush.

To transform a gradient or tile brush

  1. Select an object that uses a gradient or tile brush for its fill, stroke, foreground, background, opacity mask, or border brush. For information about how to create a gradient or tile brush, see Apply a brush to an object's fill or stroke.

  2. In the Toolbox, click Brush TransformCc294804.8dc54a0d-02cc-44cd-b802-5a78309f4503(en-us,Expression.10).png.

  3. In the Properties panel, under Brushes, click the brush that you want to transform.

  4. On the artboard, do one or more of the following:

    • To move a linear or radial gradient brush or a tile brush, drag anywhere inside the object. You can also move a linear or radial gradient brush by dragging the gradient arrow.

    • To rotate a linear gradient brush, put your pointer outside either end of the gradient arrow and drag when your pointer changes to a rotation handle Cc294804.888cbf6b-c442-424d-977d-61d942703c4a(en-us,Expression.10).png. To reset the rotation to its default state, double-click either end of the gradient arrow.

    • To rotate either a tile brush or a radial gradient brush, put your pointer outside any corner of the bounding outline around the object and drag when your pointer changes to a rotation handle Cc294804.888cbf6b-c442-424d-977d-61d942703c4a(en-us,Expression.10).png.

    • To skew either a tile brush or radial gradient brush, put your pointer outside a side handle and drag when your pointer changes to skew handles Cc294804.2be41f49-8a61-4966-bf08-598f4253b610(en-us,Expression.10).png.

    • To resize either a tile brush or radial gradient brush, put your pointer on any handle on the side or corner of the object, and then drag.

    • To stretch a linear gradient brush, drag either end of the gradient arrow.

To change the behavior of the Brush Transform tool

You can change the behavior of the Brush Transform tool in the following ways:

  • Hold the SHIFT key when dragging an arrow endpoint to constrain the movement along the straight line between the endpoints.

  • Hold the SHIFT key when moving the whole gradient arrow to constrain the movement to the X or the Y plane.

  • Hold the SHIFT key when rotating an arrow endpoint to snap every 15 degrees.

  • Hold the ALT key when dragging an arrow endpoint to move both endpoints at the same time, maintaining the position of the center point.

Note

Double-clicking the endpoints of the brush transform handle will reset the brush transform to the default value.