Layers magazine Tip of the Day
Finally, in CS4, the answer is no! Select an object, and apply a Radial Gradient Swatch from the Swatches panel. Then open the Gradient panel (Window>Gradient) and in the first field on the right, enter a number that's less than or greater than 100%. Doing this changes the ratio of the height of the radial Gradient as compared to the width. In other words, the Gradient is no longer circular, it's elliptical. If you enter a number of degrees other than 0 in the Angle field to the left, the elliptical Gradient will rotate. Wow! An easy way to create a rotated elliptical gradient, something that's been on my Illustrator wish list since Gradients were first introduced in Illustrator 5.